14 Year old Dies at THAYER LEARNING CENTER

[Anonymous]

My daughter told me about a girl at Thayer who wants to stay until she's 18. The girl told my daughter that at home it was worse. Can you imagine home being worse than Thayer? The girl is only 14 years old and her dad married a woman a couple of years ago and the woman he married has been abusing this girl the whole time. My daughter says she's a really tiny girl. Her step mom used to lock her in the closet for up to three days at a time when her dad was out of town. He had no idea about the abuse.I guess her stepmom wouldn't feed her while she was in the closet. Her father had no idea she was being abused by the stepmom. It was of course the stepmothers idea to send her there. My daughter askes her what she did to get sent there and she told her nothing. My daughter laughed and said "Yeah right. We all say that. Now really what did you do?" The girl told her that she wasn't lying, that she really hadn't done anything. My daughter told me that every Sunday when the kids write letters home to their families the girl would just sit and cry the whole time the others took to write their letters. The sergeants would tell her that eventually she would have to write a letter. She told them that she had nothing to write. She told my daughter that she wanted to tell her dad about what the stepmom had been doing to her but she was scared he wouldn't believe her. I guess the abuse was more than just the closet. She used to get beat as well. My daughter told her that she could come live with us when they both got out. I feel so sorry for this girl but I also believe that lots of kids get thrown away so to speak because of step parents I mean jealous step parents. I don't mean to say that all step parents are jealous but believe me plenty are and given enough money would do this to their step kids. It seems that men are more jealous of stepsons and women are more jealous of stepdaughters. I just really find it sad that a kid would rather live at Thayer than at home because of the living conditions at home. And I don't believe for a minute that the father of this child didn't know what was going on in his own house. Maybe not the extent of it but come on as human beings unless we have some sort of deficit we can feel when things just aren't right.Some people live in such a state of denial that I suppose it is possible to convince themselves that things are just peachy when in reality terrible things are going on right in front of them. I've never lived in such a state of denial but I've sure seen alot of others and it's frightening to think that children are at the mercy of these types of parents. I've heard of girls being molested for years by fathers, stepfathers, brothers, etc... and the mom never had a clue.Yeah right. That's called LIVING IN DENIAL. Leaving your kids at TLC because TLC or a stepparent or a teacher or whoever says you should is living in denial. You hear all the things that happen there,a kid was killed, no not bitten by a spider the poor thing, but killed by incompitant staff who beat him, exercised him beyond his ability and then threw him in a room the size of a broom closet for a few days before he finally gave up and died. This is crap. Get real everybody. Get your heads out of your asses and quit living in denial. Your kids aren't safe at Thayer I don't care how many times Thayer says they are. The proof is everywhere so believe it. Yeah! I'll admit most kids will lie and manipulate to get what they want. They'll lie and say that they are going to the movies and really go to a party or say that they're staying the night at a friends house and really stay out with a  boyfriend. This is how Thayer gets people to believe them and not the kids. All of our kids have lied to us at least once so Thayer uses this to manipulate us into believing that they are lying and manipulating us about Thayer. Do you see how sophisticated Thayer employees are? They are trained to prey on our weaknesses and convince us that our kids are liars and manipulators when in reality Thayer wins the prize. They've managed to lie to us and manipulate us far more than our kids are capable of doing and if we leave our kids there for about a year they should be able to pick up a few new tricks from the staff and be masters of lying and manipulating for life. I regret to inform you that if you leave your child at Thayer you may get back more than what you bargained for. And please anybody out there who has ever gotten a legitimate parent or child reference please let the rest of us know. Thayer claims it's confidential information and they don't give that information. Well lots of other programs do with the consent of the parents you can call their house and talk to parent and child. Another lie. They list all sorts of referrals on their site but no names or phone numbers. Another manipulation. Roberto Reyes died from a spider bite and they did everything they could to save him. Another f...ing lie. If you do chose to leave your kids at Thayer for the full sentence and you get your child back all nice and well behaved just remember that your child learned to lie and manipulate from the best of them just to survive so don't count on your child being genuinely well behaved and respectful. It's just yet another LIE.

[Anonymous]

I forgot. Please say a prayer for the poor little girl who would rather live at Thayer until she's 18. Her whole life must be a living hell and she has nothing to look forward to. Where the heck is her biological mother? Off on drugs according to my daughter. If her life is worse at home than at Thayer what's going to happen to her when they get shut down? I wish she could come live with us. My daughter wasn't lying. I'd take her in in a minute.

[cherish wisdom]

If you and your son witnessed this child's abuse then you have an obligation to report it to Child Protective Services. I'd suggest that you call CPS and tell them about this boy's abusive treatment. Since this death CPS may take it seriously and send in a social worker to investigate and question this child. If you have the child's name this would be helpful. I'd also suggest that you report it to the local police.  Using excessive exercise for punishment and inadequate nutrition is usually a violation for residential facilities.  Please follow up on this.

To the annoymous poster whose daughter was told about the abuse of the girl at Thayer - again - if you know the girl's name and her home-town you can and should report this abuse to CPS in her area.  At least the father of the girl would be aware of the allegations.  He may not be aware of what's been happening.  Most CPS agencies take reports of child abuse seriously.

If life were fair, Dan Quayle would be making a living asking 'Do you want fries with that?'
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/6302294274/circlofmiamithem' target='_new'>John Cleese

[Anonymous]

Unfortunately reporting abuse at Thayer to Missouri's CPS is completely ineffectual.  These reports are referred to the local police for investigation.  When I contacted the local police I received a sales pitch for Thayer and was assured the children were "happy and well cared for" and, of course, "the children's safety and well-being are my first priority".  The Office of Child Welfare, which was established by Missouri's newly replaced governor is staffed by people who are genuinely concerned and aware of the abuses that take place at Thayer and a number of other facilities in Missouri.  Unfortunately, their hands are tied by the law or the lack of law, as it were, in Missouri.  In fact it was this office that told me the very agency that is tasked with investigating child abuse is reluctant, even afraid, to go into these facilities because they have been on the losing end of retaliatory lawsuits.  
You may think I'm saying it's hopeless, give up, do nothing.  You'd be wrong.  What I am getting to is there is no safety net for the child victims of an insidious industry in Missouri EXCEPT you and I.  Make your reports, note dates, time and names.  Follow up.  Contact any and all news agencies you can.  I have a Google news alert set up for anything on Thayer.  Sadly, the last bit of media the place got was a report from the local TV station saying the conclusion of the state investigation of the Reyes boy's death had been postponed by weather.  It sounds like stonewalling to me.

[Anonymous]

Would you be willing to explain how to set up a Google 'news alert'? Thanks

[Anonymous]

On 2005-02-22 04:48:00, Anonymous wrote:

"

Would you be willing to explain how to set up a Google 'news alert'? Thanks"

Go here: http://www.google.com/alerts

[tlcrescue]

Yes, the local authorities are not the people to talk to.  The "out of home investigations unit" of the Department of Social Services are the ones, but, as stated above, what they can do is limited since the institution is private.  This is based off the wonderful laws of Missouri. I am sure the Bundys were well aware of this fact before they chose their location.

[Anonymous]

Please do report any abuse you know of but not to Caldwell County Protective Services. Report it to the state agency who are not affraid of the Bundys. The number is, 573-751-3448.

[tlcrescue]

Just for the record, I have seen a copy of the Reyes lawsuit, and it doesn't say they are asking for "$25,000" it says that the damages EXCEEDS $25,000, which is the jurisdictional limits of the court.  this is standard, required language in a lawsuit, you have to state whether the damages sought are above or below the jurisdictional limits.

This just goes to show you that you cant believe EVERYTHING you read because I know several articles recited that the Reyes' family was only seeking $25k in damages, which is not the case.

[Anonymous]

have you spoken to a Rick Hill he is in charge of the out of homes invesitgation unit. If you know the high ups you dont need to mess with all the buacracy and the red tape. E-mail me privatly and lets talk i will help if i can. It took me several years of fighing the child abuse industry in MO. Thanks to that work i have built up several contacts that could help.

[tlcrescue]

Yep, spoke to him before.  That is what gave me the final decision to pull my son out.  He is a supervisor with the out of home investigations department of the DSS.

[cherish wisdom]

I'd suggest you write a letter and send it out to CPS or e-mail the supervisor of CPS in that area and send her a note. Also notify Isac.corp. I know they were able to help me and as soon as they went to bat the authorities took notice. You see - the state and the departments can also be sued if they do nothing.  They have an obligation.  Once they know that you have told others they usually will do something. With PCS several agencies conducted investigations - and there were a few violations that they found.  CPS did send in an investigator.  I wrote a letter detailing the abuse my child both experienced and witnessed.  This was sent to all of the licensing boards, CPS and the Deparment of Health and Human Services also the Attorney General.  They didn't do much but they did rattle their cage a little.  The more people who report this the better it will be for everyone.  They may be able to ignor one person - but it's more difficult to ignor two, three, four, five.  I'd also suggest that you file a civil suit for untherapeutic treatment - particularly if your child had a diagnosed mental illness.  There are Federal Rules and Regulation under US Code Title 42 - I beleive it is either section 112 or section 114.  Make waves and don't let them push you away.  Keep pushing back until something is done.  

I cannot see how a man of any large degree of humorous perception can ever be religious -- unless he purposely shut the eyes of his mind and keep them shut by force.
--Samuel Clemens "Mark Twain", American author and humorist

[Anonymous]

http://www.isaccorp.org/thayer.html

Isac has posted a copy of the entire wrongful death suit againt TLC by Roberto Reyes' family, on their web site.

Yet the Bundy's in their arrogance, continue to abuse children in their care. At this point, they must believe they are invincible.  :flame:

[Zero Tolerance]

Anyone wanting to get their child out please contact us.  My husband is a former employee and saw the abuse first hand.
Email ASAP

[Anonymous]

it would make it much easier if you provided an email addy in your profile or here for those individuals to contact you.