Fornits
Treatment Abuse, Behavior Modification, Thought Reform => The Troubled Teen Industry => Topic started by: iluvmike on August 21, 2005, 12:01:00 AM
-
My boyfriend got sent to Spring Creek Lodge July 17, 2004.We are from San Francisco, CA.. He's 15 years old, turning 16 September 29.This was unexpected. He was tookin by ascorts in the early morning. His parents didn't tell me where he was, I found out from reaching such programs. When I did find the location I confronted his mother and she confirmed it and gave me the Spring Creek Lodge Academy Parent Manual. I've been researching SCLA and WWASP for weeks now and the more information I find the more worried I get. I have read the good and bad and I must say theres far more bad. I would like to find a way to get him out of there. I will do anything I have to to get him out of there. Sence hes a minor and will be for then next two years there not much he can do and sence im still a minor too there's not much I can do. But I do have the support from many adults including my mother, and they are all willing to help in any way they can. Even though he is a minor if you know of any right's he does have or anything else we can do. Any advice or/and knowledge will help. Thank You
-
Because he and you are both minors you are going to have a rough time. But if you have adults willing to help that's a good start.
The first thing that I believe you should do is to collect as much information as you can about SCL and WWASP. I will attach a few articles at the end of this response.
I would put all the data together into a notebook or binder and meet with all of the adults willing to help.
I would share with them all that you have learned. Then, I would ask them if they would be willing to go with you to approach the parents.
Because, honestly, it is only the parents who have the right to remove the child. So approaching them in a positive way with valid information would be best.
One thing you need to remember. Parents are often brainwashed through seminars they are forced to attend so they will often times support the program to the end. I think the main thing is to not seem combative when you approach them but to approach them out of love and concern for your boyfriend and for their son.
If they hear that their son could be in danger perhaps they will listen and act.
Another thing I would recommend would be to ask them to, at the very least, go visit their son. An unannounced visit is best. Then I would recommend urging them to take him away from the facility for lunch, or whatever, so he can be free to talk to them. From what I have heard he will not be able to talk while he is at the facility because most kids don't feel safe talking there.
I wish you all the best of luck. Here are some articles that I hope will help you.
First, I would recommend reading and printing out the 96 page complaint. You can find it by clicking on this link:
http://www.unmarriedamerica.org/emancip ... ts-new.htm (http://www.unmarriedamerica.org/emancipation/whats-new.htm)
Here's what the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law had to say:
Fact Sheet: Children in Residential Treatment Centers
I. Tens of thousands of children with mental health needs are being placed in expensive, inappropriate and often dangerous institutions.
The number of children placed in residential treatment centers (or RTCs)[1] is growing exponentially.[2] These modern-day orphanages now house more than 50,000 children nationwide.[3] Children are packed off to RTCs, often sent by officials they have never met, who have probably never spoken to their parents, teachers or social workers.[4] Once placed, these kids may have no meaningful contact with their families or friends for up to two years.[5] And, despite many documented cases of neglect and physical and sexual abuse, monitoring is inadequate to ensure that children are safe, healthy and receiving proper services in RTCs.[6] By funneling children with mental illnesses into the RTC system, states fail?at enormous cost?to provide more effective community-based mental health services.[7]
A. RTC placements are often inappropriate.
RTCs are among the most restrictive mental health services and, as such, should be reserved for children with the most extreme mental health needs.[8] Too often, however, child-serving bureaucracies hastily place children in RTCs because they have not made more appropriate community-based services available.[9] Parents who are desperate to meet their kids? needs often turn to RTCs because they lack viable alternatives.[10]
To make placement decisions, families in crisis and overburdened social workers rely on the institutions? glossy flyers and professional websites with testimonials of saved children.[11] But all RTCs are not alike.[12] Local, state and national exposés and litigation ?regarding the quality of care in residential treatment centers have shown that some programs promise high-quality treatment but deliver low-quality custodial care.?[13] As a result, parents and state officials play a dangerous game of Russian roulette as they decide where to place children, because little public information is available about the RTCs, which are under-regulated and under-supervised.
To make it worse, far too many children are placed at great distance from their homes. For example, most District of Columbia children in RTCs are placed outside the District?many as far away as Utah and Minnesota.[14] Many families, especially those with limited means, find it impossible to have any meaningful visitation with their children.
B. Evidence is limited on the effectiveness of RTCs.
Children frequently arrive at RTCs traumatized by the process that delivered them there. They are often forcibly removed from their homes in the middle of the night by ?escort companies.?[15] Other times, children are placed in RTCs not by their parents or doctors, but by overburdened child-serving state agencies, who know little about the children?s individual needs.[16]
Even more appalling, many children?s conditions do not improve at all while at the RTC.[17] In fact, there is little evidence that placing children in RTCs has any positive impact at all on their mental health state[18] and any gains made during a stay in an RTC quickly disappear upon discharge, creating a cycle where children return again and again to RTCs.[19]
There are many reasons why RTCs fail to deliver the results they promise, but most center on the type of services provided, the environment they are provided in and the lack of family involvement.
First, the reality of what occurs within an RTC is often quite different from the highly individualized, highly structured programs that are advertised. The RTCs often provide less intense services and the staff are often under-trained.[20] Children spend much of their day with staff who are not much more qualified than the average parent and they spend less time face-to-face with psychiatrists than they would if they were being served in appropriate community settings.[21]
The environment is also problematic because children in RTCs enter a situation where their only peers are other troubled children?a major risk factor for later behavioral problems.[22] Research has demonstrated that some children learn antisocial or bizarre behavior from intensive exposure to other disturbed children.[23]
Children are usually far from home in RTCs, often out-of-state.[24] Removed from their families and natural support systems, they are unable to draw upon the strengths of their communities and their communities are unable to contribute to their treatment. Few children thrive when they are hundreds or thousands of miles from their parents, friends, grandparents and teachers. Few can flourish without the guidance of consistent parenting. Yet, we expect that our most vulnerable and troubled youth will miraculously turn around in just such a situation. Instead, this isolation further reduces the efficacy of treatment and increases its cost.[25]
The fact that children and their families are far from one another creates a host of problems. For one, it makes family therapy difficult or impossible. As a result, when children leave the RTC, they return to an environment that has not changed. Also, because the RTC environment is inherently artificial?children are not asked to negotiate the obstacles that occur within their family setting or deal with the difficulties that trigger their behaviors in their neighborhoods or schools?the child does not gain new skills to better negotiate life outside of an institution. As a result, neither the children nor their parents learn better ways to overcome the obstacles that led to the RTC placement. Without family involvement, successes are limited.[26]
Among the rare children who are able to overcome these obstacles, few can sustain the gains they have made. In one study, nearly 50% of children were readmitted to an RTC, and 75% were either renstitutionalized or arrested.[27]
C. Children suffer because there is no watchdog.
The RTC industry is largely unregulated.[28] RTCs need only report major unusual incidents (or MUIs), but the interpretation of what constitutes an MUI and the reporting requirements vary widely.[29] Some RTCs fail to report MUIs at all?with little consequence.[30] Vulnerable kids are placed far from home where parents, social workers, or the state can offer little oversight or protection. Worse, many of the facilities limit children?s ability to have contact with their parents for extended periods, further restricting the parents? ability to monitor the facilities.[31]
D. Children are abused in RTCs.
Children placed in RTCs have been sexually and physically abused, restrained for hours, over-medicated and subject to militaristic punishments; some have died.[32] The following are just a few documented examples of tragic occurrences at RTCs:
Medication is often used (and overused) to control behavior.[33] Children have been permanently disfigured because of over-medication.[34]
In some programs, the children?s shoes are confiscated to keep them from running away.[35]
There have been reports of behavioral ?therapies? being misused. As one author noted, ?Such therapies do little more than systematically punish children, all under the guise of treatment . . . .?[36]
Sexual abuse by staff members and other residents is all too frequent.[37] In one case, a 13-year old girl performed sexual favors for staff members in return for snacks and carryout food.[38] At one RTC, four boys were accused of trying to sodomize another with a cucumber.[39] At another, a 19-year-old woman was charged with sodomizing a 14-year-old girl.[40]
Physical abuse is also too frequent an occurrence. For example, a 13-year-old boy was forced against a wall and slammed to the floor by employees of an RTC.[41]
Children are often restrained?sometimes for hours on end. The overuse of restraint has resulted in child deaths.[42]
E. Tragic outcomes at great public expense.
RTCs have grown to a billion-dollar, largely private industry.[43] Residential treatment care is exorbitantly expensive?costing up to $700 per child per day.[44] Annual costs can exceed $120,000.[45] Most of the time, the public foots the bill for these services.[46] In fact, nearly one fourth of the national outlay on child mental health is spent on care in these settings.[47]
II. Other Interventions Work Better for Less
Home- and community-based services are much more therapeutically effective than institutional services, and are also markedly more cost-efficient. As the Surgeon General reported, ?the most convincing evidence of effectiveness is for home-based services and therapeutic foster care? and not for RTCs.[48] A comprehensive system of care would dramatically reduce the number of children in RTCs.[49]
Community-based alternatives produce better short- and long-term results and are less disruptive to children and families. These alternatives provide intensive mental health treatment, mobilize community resources and help children and their families develop effective coping mechanisms. Some models endeavor to ?wrap services around? the child, while others emphasize multi-systemic therapy and crisis intervention. Randomized clinical trials found greater declines in delinquency and behavioral problems, greater increases in functioning, greater stability in housing placements and greater likelihood of permanent placement.[50] In Milwaukee, a wraparound project that has served over 700 youth involved in juvenile justice has shown similar promise; use of residential treatment has declined 60%, use of psychiatric hospitalization has declined 80%, and average overall care costs for target youth have dropped by one third.[51]
Notes
[1] According to the Surgeon General, a RTC is a ?licensed 24-hour facility (although not licensed as a hospital), which offers mental health treatment.? U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. 1999. Mental Health: A Report of the Surgeon General. Washington, DC: Author.
Available at: http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/library/m ... #treatment (http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/library/mentalhealth/chapter3/sec7.html#treatment).
[2] In 1982, when Jane Knitzer wrote the seminal book, Unclaimed Children, the growth in the RTC industry was only beginning. Ms. Knitzer wrote that: ?In contrast to the minimal efforts to create nonresidential services, 18 of the 44 states responding to our survey were working to increase residential care.? Knitzer, J., Unclaimed Children: The Failure of Public Responsibility to Children and Adolescents in Need of Mental Health Care, Children?s Defense Fund, 1982, at 45. By 1986, the number of children in RTCs had grown to 25,334, an increase of more than 30% over a three-year period. Rivera, V.R. & Kutash, K. (1994), Components of a System of Care. What Does the Research Say?, Residential Services: Psychiatric Hospitals and Residential Treatment Centers, at 8, Tampa , FL: University of South Florida, Florida Mental Health Institute: The Research and Training Center for Children?s Mental Health. This growth in continuing. See infra, at note 3.
[3] Latest Findings in Children?s Mental Health, Nearly 66,000 Youth Live in U.S, Mental Health Programs, Vo1. 2, No. 1 (Summer 2003). In 1997, the year in which the most recent data was available, more than 42,000 children were living in RTCs. Given the expansion of children living in RTCs, see supra note 2, this figure is likely well over 50,000 now.
[4] Reports to staff attorneys at the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law. For example, in Washington, D.C., children are certified to go to RTCs by a ?Multi-Agency Planning Team? process (or MAPT process). The MAPT meetings often do not include the voices of the people who know the child and family best.
[5] Ohio Rights Service Review of Fifteen Children?s Mental Health Facilities (October 2004) (on file with the Bazelon Center)
[6] See infra at sections I(C) and I(D).
[7] This development of long-term residential care occurred at the expense of community-based alternatives. Jane Knitzer, as far back as 1982, noted that: ?In general, funds were used to develop long-term residential care, with few efforts to support or create emergency shelters, respite care programs, or specialized foster care for disturbed children and adolescents.? Unclaimed Children, supra note 2, at 46. Further, the Surgeon General noted that one of the primary reasons that RTCs are considered to be justified is because community-based alternatives are lacking. See Mental Health: A Report of the Surgeon General, supra note 1.
[8] Duchnowski, A.J., Hall, K. S., Kutash, K, and Friedman, R. (1998) The Alternatives to Residential Treatment Study, in Outcomes for Child and Youth with Behavioral and Emotional Disorders and Their Families. See also Mental Health: A Report of the Surgeon General, supra note 1.
[9] Mental Health: A Report of the Surgeon General, supra note 1, (?Concerns about residential care primarily relate to criteria for admission . . . .?).
[10] Lou Kilzer, Desperate Measures, Rocky Mountain News, July 2, 1999, available at: http://www.denver-rmn.com/desperate/sit ... ont-pg.htm (http://www.denver-rmn.com/desperate/site-desperate/front-pg.htm).
[11] Id.
[12] Mental Health: A Report of the Surgeon General, supra note 1, (?Settings range from structured ones, resembling psychiatric hospitals, to those that are more like group homes or halfway houses.?); Rivera, V.R. & Kutash, K. (1994), Components of a System of Care. What Does the Research Say?, Tampa , FL: University of South Florida, Florida Mental Health Institute: The Research and Training Center for Children?s Mental Health.
[13] Jane Knitzer noted this fact in 1982 in Unclaimed Children, supra note 2, at 46. The calls for reform have only increased as the population of children served in RTCs has grown. See infra at note 29 and accompanying text.
[14] Scott Higham and Sewell Chan, District Reexamines Out of Town Centers, The Washington Post, July 16, 2003, available at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dy ... Found=true (http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&contentId=A61386-2003Jul15¬Found=true). See also, D.C. Department of Mental Health Data from 2003 Children in Residential Treatment Centers (on file at the Bazelon Center).
[15] Kilzer, supra note 10.
[16] Supra, note 4.
[17] Mental Health: A Report of the Surgeon General, supra note 1.
[18] Burns, B.J., Hoagwood, K. & Maultsby, L.T., Improving Outcomes for Children and Adolescents with Serious Emotional and Behavioral Disorders: Current and Future Directions. (?A dominant observation is that the least evidence of effectiveness exists for residential services, where the vast majority of dollars are spent.?); Chamberlain, P. , Treatment Foster Care, US Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Juvenile Justice Bulletin, December, 1998.
[19] Brown, E.C. & Greenbaum, P.E., Reinstitutionalization After Discharge from Residential Mental Health Facilities: Competing Risks Survival Analysis.
[20] Kilzer, supra note 10.
[21] Client reports to Bazelon Center staff attorneys.
[22] Mental Health: A Report of the Surgeon General, supra note 1.
[23] Mental Health: A Report of the Surgeon General, supra note 1.
[24] See, e.g., supra note 14 and accompanying text.
[25] National Council on Crime and Delinquency, Focus Newsletter, July 16, 2002 (?[Residential treatment centers] are usually some distance from the youth?s community, alienating the youth from his or her known environment and adding communication and travel costs to the families and communities.?)
[26] Myrth Ogilvie, Transitioning From Residential Treatment: Family Involvement & Helpful Supports, in Focal Point (2001), available at:
http://www.rtc.pdx.edu/FPinHTML/FocalPo ... ning.shtml (http://www.rtc.pdx.edu/FPinHTML/FocalPointSP01/pgFPsp01Transitioning.shtml).
[27] Supra note 25.
[28] Since their inception, RTCs have been under-monitored. As Jane Knitzer noted in Unclaimed Children, supra note 2 at 46: ?States have not emphasized continued monitoring of children?s care once they are in residential treatment.? Many RTCs are not accredited at all. Further, the RTCs that are certified are accredited by the Joint Organization on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO), an independent, nonprofit organization. But as many have pointed out ?JCAHO?s standards are geared mainly toward monitoring surgical and pharmacological procedures. And so RTCs, which are more like boarding schools than traditional hospitals, can become accredited under standards that have little to do with the daily programs and activities practiced in them.? Meza-Wilson, A. & Harrison, C., Safe Choices for Troubled Teens: Residential treatment centers for troubled teens are plagued by allegations of abuse and ineffectiveness. But do anguished parents have an alternative?, August 12, 2004, available at:
http://www.askquestions.org/articles/teens/ (http://www.askquestions.org/articles/teens/).
[29] Ohio Rights Service Review, supra note 5.
[30] Id. Further, the Bazelon Center has been contacted by federally funded Protection and Advocacy organizations who never or rarely received MUIs from the RTCs serving children within their jurisdiction.
[31] Friesen, B.J., Kruzich, J.M., Robinson, A., Jivanjee, P., Pullmann, M. & Bowles, C., Straining the Ties that Bind: Limits on Parent-Child Contact in Out-Of-Home Care, in Focal Point (2001), available at:
http://www.rtc.pdx.edu/FPinHTML/FocalPo ... ning.shtml (http://www.rtc.pdx.edu/FPinHTML/FocalPointSP01/pgFPsp01Straining.shtml).
[32] See e.g., Scott Higham and Sewell Chan, Poor Care, Abuses Alleged at Riverside, The Washington Post, July 15, 2003, available at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dy ... ound=true; (http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&contentId=A56180-2003Jul14¬Found=true;) Kilzer, supra note 10; Associated Press, Death At Residential Treatment Center Ruled a Homicide, May 16, 2002, available at:
http://www.geocities.com/ahobbit.geo/re ... ment.html; (http://www.geocities.com/ahobbit.geo/residential_treatment.html;) Tim Weiner, Parents Divided Over Jamaica Disciplinary Academy, The New York Times, June 17, 2003; Ohio Rights Service Review, supra note 5; Tanya Eiserer, Death of teen at therapy facility investigated: Richardson 17-year-old died being restrained by staff in Hill Country, Dallas Morning News, October 17, 2002; Jorge Fitz-Gibbon, Leah Rae and Shawn Cohen, Treatment Often Hampered By Bureaucracy, The Journal News, June 23, 2002, available at:
http://www.nyjournalnews.com/rtc/rtc062302_01.html (http://www.nyjournalnews.com/rtc/rtc062302_01.html).
[33] Higham and Chan, supra note 32.
[34] Reports to staff attorneys at the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law.
[35] Kilzer, supra note 10.
[36] Unclaimed Children, supra note 2, at 46.
[37] Kilzer, supra note 10.
[38] Higham and Chan, supra note 32.
[39] Fitz-Gibbon, Rae and Cohen, supra note 32.
[40] Id.
[41] Higham and Chan, supra note 32.
[42] Associated Press, supra note 32.
[43] Fitz-Gibbon, Rae and Cohen, supra note 32.
[44] Kilzer, supra note 10.
[44] Higham and Chan, supra note 32.
[45] Fitz-Gibbon, Rae and Cohen, supra note 32.
[46] Id.
[47] Mental Health: Report of the Surgeon General, supra note 1.
[48] Id.
[49] Id. The Surgeon General suggests that RTCs are often utilized because of the under-availability of community-based alternatives.
[50] Bruns, E.J., Serving Youths with Emotional and Behavioral Problems in Maryland: Opportunities for the Use of the Wraparound Approach, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, September 17, 2003 (on file at the Bazelon Center).
[51] Id. at 2.
See the next post for some articles that might be useful.
-
Also, I would recommend not sharing his name on this forum as WWASP routinely visits here.
Here are some articles you might find useful:
Spring Creek's Short Leash:
http://www.missoulanews.com/News/News.asp?no=4970 (http://www.missoulanews.com/News/News.asp?no=4970)
or:
http://fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.php?to ... 14&forum=9 (http://fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.php?topic=11214&forum=9)
________________________________________________
Corporate Child Abuse Persists
By Gregory Chant
April 25, 2005
Private teen prisons are popping up all across the country. These unregulated 'Behavior Modification Schools' are making hundreds of millions of dollars for the owners, at the expense of desperate parents at wits end with their unruly teen. Hundreds of allegations of abuse, dozens of lawsuits and several deaths are left in the wake of these private American gulags.
Imagine being fourteen again. Suddenly, you are awakened abruptly in the middle of the night as the lights are turned on. You peer at the clock, it?s 2 am. Startled, you notice two large men you?ve never seen before standing inside your bedroom door. You scream for your parents. No response. The men then tell you, ?your parents are not coming. We are here to take you to a private school.? One of the men throws a pair of sweat pants and a t-shirt on you, and says get dressed. As they watch, you nervously get dressed wondering what is happening. As you walk out your door, you are grabbed on the arm and escorted to a waiting car. All along, your parents stand at a distance, watching, doing nothing. You cry out for help, they ignore you. You are put in a car, put on a plane and sent thousands of miles away with no explanation.
Tonight, all across America, kids are being kidnapped, handcuffed and shuttled to private prisons located in remote parts of the United States and various third world countries. The parents of these teens are not horrified as their teen is taken by force; they have already packed a suitcase for their departure. These parents have decided to send their teen to a so-called ?Behavior Modification School? under the cover of darkness. They hire private ?transportation specialists? to forcibly remove the teen from their home, and take them to their new reality, one of America?s many private children prisons.
One of the most prevalent organizations in the industry is WWASP, World Wide Association of Specialty Programs. There have been numerous allegations of abuse, dozens of lawsuits and several deaths. WWASP continues to keep some 2,400 children in its programs. Ken Kay and Robert Lichfield, president and founder of WWASP, say their numbers are growing with today's social problems. They deny all allegations of fraud, child abuse and neglect. The company has annual revenue in excess of $90,000,000.00.
On Friday, August 6, 2004, the BBC and other journalists were present in Salt Lake City when a 12-person jury found unanimously against WWASP and in favor of a Florida mother. WWASP brought three civil counts against the mother to silence her reports of fraud, child abuse and neglect at WWASP-run children?s programs. The counts by WWASP included charges of defamation, civil conspiracy, and false advertising. Attorney Richard Henriksen, of Salt Lake City, Utah represented the mother.
Some of the jurors cried as they watched video clips of the ?Box,? where American children were reportedly hog-tied, hand-cuffed, duct-taped, starved, and slugged by staff. The program was closed after the government found ?credible allegations of abuse.? Videos showed children covered with skin infections and flies in the food at WWASP?s Paradise Cove; other clips showed photos of children in dog cages at WWASP?s High Impact in Mexico, and other alleged abuses by WWASP.
Although the St. George businessmen, Robert Lichfield, Karr Farnsworth, and Ken Kay, claim High Impact was not affiliated with WWASP, former employees and parents testified otherwise. Employees said they were told not to reveal the program?s affiliation with WWASP. One former employee testified she had personally traveled to High Impact with current WWASP President, Ken Kay.
One of the victims of WWASP sat in the court, a boy of 19, and sobbed as defense lawyers showed video clips of the children in dog cages. The boy said his ordeal began at age 12, as WWASP trafficked him through five of their children?s programs over 4 ½ years. The child was the subject of the alleged murder plot at WWASP's Paradise Cove, having his head banged against a coral reef and knocked unconscious as the older boys attempt to drown him in an effort to close the program. The boy weighed only 80 pounds during his confinement at Paradise Cove, and he was hidden from television reporters covering the program. His confinement within the WWASP Empire of children?s programs ended 4 ½ years later with his removal from the cages at High Impact.
Robert Lichfield told Dateline that he would not at all be surprised by an alleged plot by adolescents to murder another child at Paradise Cove. Lichfield said, the children ?brought that with them.?
Robert Lichfield was observed smiling in the corner of the Salt Lake federal courtroom, while WWASP lawyers were observed laughing in the presence of the federal jury.
Two emotional fathers testified about their children's ordeals. One child was reported to have been trafficked through Cross Creek in LaVerkin, Casa by the Sea in Mexico, and High Impact, where American children were forced to lie, face down, in on-the-cross positions, and sometimes hog-tied. According to the father, his child?s thumb was broken while in WWASP?s custody, the boy had been beaten by staff and other children, and his child was forced to lie in a pool of blood that formed around the boy?s chin.
The father described witnessing duct-tape over the mouth of a female child at Cross Creek in LaVerkin, Utah on the day the father removed his son. The father, Chris Goodwin, testified that the reality of being fraudulently ?taken? by WWASP came crashing down on him the day he visited Cross Creek, another WWASP program run by Karr Farnsworth.
Jay Kay, a Utah resident, and director of Tranquility Bay Academy in Jamaica, displayed no emotion in the court while a video clip on PrimeTime was shown with Jay Kay admitting: "Do I have pepper-spray? You bet I do. And, I haven't had to use it in five and a half or six months." Earlier, however, a 15-year-old-boy, now in his 20s, said he was sprayed with pepper-spray, almost daily for eight or more months, by Jay Kay and one his former employees. At times, he said his clothing was soaked from the torment. John France testified that his child was kept in a small, cold structure without adequate heat or food at WWASP?s Spring Creek Lodge. The temperature was so cold that the orange his son has stowed away was frozen by morning. His child had to urinate in his drinking cup in the night. Mr. France?s child was forced into the ?Hobbit? at WWASP?s Spring Creek Lodge for almost nine months. His son had scratched the words, ?Let Freedom Ring? on one of the shelves where he slept during his ordeal.
Amberly Knight, the former director of Dundee Ranch Academy, described a former student who was raped and had her skull cracked. She described children being forced into a tiny isolation room and forced to kneel or lie on lumpy concrete up to 14 hours a day. The children were further punished with food deprivation. Ms. Knight reported WWASP?s alleged child abuse to Costa Rican protective services, resulting in the arrest of Narvin Lichfield and closing of Dundee Ranch Academy in May 2003.
Ironically, some of the foreign based programs came under scrutiny from their local governments and have been shut down, at least temporarily. America?s programs are all up and running. Lichfield vows to have these facilities reopened as soon as possible.
Recently, in Boonville, Missouri, the City Council voted to keep Lichfield out of their city, and reject his purchase of land where he was intent on starting another WWASP facility.
The Booneville City Council, with little discussion, voted 7-0 against selling the property to a group led by Utah businessman Robert Lichfield, founder of World Wide Association of Specialty Programs and Schools.
The city also will return a $100,000 earnest-money deposit, ending a courtship that began last summer.
"From the outcry the public had given me about this, my mind was made up," said Morris Carter, the city councilman who made the motion to reject the offer. "If the rest of the council had gotten the same information I had, there was no point in discussing it.
This horrific business is running strong here in San Diego, in fact every few months they rent out local convention space for their ?seminars.? These seminars have been described by some parents as ?cult-like? and "a psycho cry fest," and many have accused Resource Realizations' seminars, like the better-known est and Lifespring trainings of the 1970s, of "brainwashing" participants.
These programs are marketed through parental referral, and clever internet marketing. Simply search the web for teen help, and chances are at least 50 websites referring you to a WWASP school will come up. Program costs are upward of $3,500 a month, and to help parents keep their child at the facility longer, they are instructed to start referring other parents to send their kid. In reward, they receive a free month stay for their own child for every referral. If their child is out of the program they receive one thousand dollars for the referral.
They admit to having no licensed professionals at their facilities, and most people involved, including the founder, have never been to college. The founders are devout Mormons who believe they can forcibly change people?s behavior through mind techniques used effectively for decades in cults and oppressive countries such as North Korea.
This cult is gathering in San Diego soon. They are holding a seminar for parents who currently have their teen in one of their facilities, in late May. It?s time to let them know, we don?t fair well to having corporate child abusers in our city, their supporters, or their apologists. Let the Town & Country Resort in Mission Valley know (619-291-7131), they are supporting an organization that believes teens have no human rights; supporting an organization who systematically abuses teens in the name of treatment, raking in millions at the cost of our counties most innocent souls.
Picture caption: The temperature was so cold that the orange his son has stowed away was frozen by morning. His child had to urinate in his drinking cup in the night. Mr. France?s child was forced into the ?Hobbit? at WWASP?s Spring Creek Lodge for almost nine months. His son had scratched the words, ?Let Freedom Ring? on one of the shelves where he slept during his ordeal.
________________________________________________
Student Commits Suicide at Montana School
Press Release Source: Spring Creek Lodge Academy
Friday October 8, 2004
THOMPSON FALLS, Montana
-- Spring Creek Lodge Academy (SCLA) a specialty boarding school in north-west Montana announced Friday that a student had committed suicide by hanging.
In spite of the efforts of SCLA staff, medical personnel, and emergency crews who worked to revive her, the girl was pronounced dead at a Missoula, MT hospital the Thursday evening, October 7.
In honor of the family's wishes, the student's name will not be released.
"We're all in a state of shock," said Chaffin Pullan, assistant director of operations at the school. "We're devastated. most of all, we're deeply saddened for the family."
SCLA was acutely aware of the girl's fragility and had placed her on "high risk" observation. After showing signs of improvement, the 16-year-old student was recently removed from high risk after consultation with the student's counselor, the assistant clinical director and four staff members who had worked closely with her.
In describing the school's response, Pullan said SCLA will conduct a detailed investigation into the girl's death, and will review its policies and procedures in order to prevent such a tragedy happening at the school again.
In addition, SCLA therapists, counselors, and staff will work closely with students in the coming days to facilitate the grieving process.
Pullan acknowledged the professional and compassionate work of those who responded to SCLA's call for assistance.
"Law enforcement, first responders, the ambulance crew, the Life Flight crew, the doctors -- for me, it was just another way that the people here show their support for what we do, and their concern for kids. We can't even describe how much we appreciate that," said Pullan.
For further information, please contact: In Montana, Jacqueline Rutze, +1-406-827-4344, or Outside Montana, James Wall of Freeman Wall Aiello Public Relations, +1-303-232-3870, for Spring Creek Lodge Academy.
Source: Spring Creek Lodge Academy
________________________________________________
Press Release
WWASP v. SCHEFF lawsuit
August 8, 2004
WWASPS Lawsuit Fails to Silence Critical Parent
The tables were turned on WWASP, a corporate giant that tried to silence a mother who spoke out against the company?s alleged abuses against children. On Friday, August 6, 2004, U.S., BBC, and other European journalists were present in Salt Lake City when a 12-person jury found unanimously against World Wide Association of Specialty Programs (WWASP), and in favor of Florida mother Sue Scheff and P.U.R.E., the organization she founded. WWASP brought three civil counts against the mother to silence her reports of fraud, child abuse and neglect at WWASP-run children?s programs. The counts by WWASP included charges of defamation, civil conspiracy, and false advertising. Attorney Richard Henriksen in Salt Lake City, Utah represented the mother.
Some of the jurors cried as they watched video clips of the ?Box,? where American children were reportedly hog-tied, hand-cuffed, duct-taped, starved, and slugged by staff. The program was closed after the government found ?credible allegations of abuse.? Videos showed children covered with skin infections, and flies in their sparse food, at WWASP?s Paradise Cove; other clips showed photos of children in dog cages at WWASP?s High Impact in Mexico, and other alleged abuses by WWASP.
Although the St. George, Utah businessmen, Robert Lichfield, Karr Farnsworth, and Ken Kay, claim High Impact was not affiliated with WWASP, former employees and parents testified otherwise. Employees said they were told not to reveal the program?s affiliation with WWASP. One former employee testified she had personally traveled to High Impact with current WWASP President, Ken Kay, who solicited her silence.
One of the victims of WWASP, a boy of 19, sat in the court and sobbed as defense lawyers showed video clips of the children in dog cages. The boy said his ordeal began at age 12, as WWASP trafficked him through five of their children?s programs over 4 ½ years. The child was the subject of an alleged murder plot at Paradise Cove, having his head banged against a coral reef and knocked unconscious as the older boys attempted to drown him in a desperate effort to close the program. The boy weighed only 80 pounds during his confinement at Paradise Cove, and he said he was hidden from television reporters covering the program. His confinement within the WWASP Empire of children?s programs ended 4 ½ years later with his removal from the cages at High Impact.
Robert Lichfield told Dateline that he would not at all be surprised by an alleged plot by adolescents to murder another child at Paradise Cove. Lichfield said, the children ?brought that with them.?
Robert Lichfield was observed smiling in the corner of the Salt Lake federal courtroom, while WWASP lawyers were observed laughing in the presence of the federal jury.
Two emotional fathers testified about their children's ordeals. One child was reported to having been trafficked through Cross Creek in LaVerkin, Utah, Casa by the Sea in Mexico, and High Impact, where American children were forced to lie, face down in dirt, in on-the-cross positions, and sometimes hog-tied. According to the father, his child?s thumb was broken while in WWASP?s custody, the boy had been beaten by staff and other children, he was forced to lie in a pool of blood that formed around the boy?s chin from injuries, and he was forced to lie in his own urine.
The father described witnessing duct-tape over the mouth of a female child at Cross Creek in LaVerkin, Utah on the day the father removed his son. The father, Chris Goodwin, testified that the reality of being fraudulently ?taken? by WWASP came crashing down on him the day he visited Cross Creek, another WWASP program run by Karr Farnsworth.
Jay Kay, a Utah resident, and director of Tranquility Bay Academy in Jamaica, displayed no emotion in the court while a video clip on PrimeTime was shown with Jay Kay admitting: "Do I have pepper-spray? You bet I do. And, I haven't had to use it in five and a half or six months." Earlier, however, a 15-year-old-boy, now in his 20s, said he was sprayed with pepper-spray, almost daily for eight or more months, by Jay Kay and one his former employees. At times, he said his clothing was soaked from the torment.
John France, a psychologist, testified that his child was kept in a small, cold structure without adequate heat or food at WWASP?s Spring Creek Lodge. The temperature was so cold that the orange his son had stowed away was frozen by morning. His child had to urinate in his drinking cup in the night. Mr. France?s child was forced into the ?Hobbit,? a small structure at WWASP?s Spring Creek Lodge, for almost nine months. His son had scratched the words, ?Let Freedom Ring? on one of the shelves where he slept during his ordeal.
Amberly Knight, the former director of Dundee Ranch Academy, described a former student who was raped and had her skull cracked. She described children being forced into a tiny isolation room and forced to kneel or lie on lumpy concrete up to 14 hours a day. The children were further punished with food deprivation. Ms. Knight reported WWASP?s alleged child abuse to Costa Rican protective services, resulting in the arrest of Narvin Lichfield and closing of Dundee Ranch Academy in May 2003.
WWASP lawyers asked the Utah jury to send a strong ?message? to the Florida mom and to warn other advocates. The jury, however, sent the message to WWASP, finding against them on all counts. Two other cases filed by WWASP to chill First Amendment rights were dismissed earlier this year by federal judges. A number of advocates say they have been sued by the corporate giant in an effort to silence their attempts to expose the fraud and child abuse by WWASP.
WWASP continues to keep some 2,400 children from all over the United States in its programs. Ken Kay and Robert Lichfield say their numbers are growing with today's social problems. They deny all allegations of fraud, child abuse and neglect. The company admitted to annual revenue in excess of $90,000,000 from all its corporate shells.
In the meantime, Congressman George Miller continues to demand a criminal investigation into WWASP activities. Attorney General John Ashcroft has refused, claiming that private children?s programs, regardless of how abusive, cannot be investigated. Congressman Miller disagrees, citing the ongoing criminal investigation by the New York Attorney General in relation to the WWASP program, Ivy Ridge Academy, where a child was reportedly beaten by Utah escorts and a female child was asked to perform oral sex on a male staff member in exchange for cigarettes.
P.U.R.E. (954) 349-7260
Henriksen & Henriksen (801) 521-4145
_________________________________________________
More to follow
-
Something else you might want to share with the parents. He is at risk of being sent to Tranquility Bay, a facility in Jamaica. Survivors have repeatedly stated that kids are sent there for numerous reasons. It is known as the worse. See http://www.tbfight.com (http://www.tbfight.com).
More articles:
From New York Times
Program to Help Youths Has Troubles of Its Own
September 6, 2003
By: Tim Weiner
Thompson Falls, Mont. -- Spring Creek Lodge Academy, home to thousands of wayward children since 1996, calls itself "a safe haven for change." Many parents swear with near-religious devotion that the program, one of the nation's largest, has saved their sons and daughters. Others have come to curse it.
The program is affiliated with the World Wide Association of Specialty Programs and Schools, or Wwasps, a multimillion-dollar business in the industry of "tough love" programs and "specialty boarding schools" that have flourished, often unregulated, for two decades.
Dormitory units at the Spring Creek Lodge Academy in Montana.
The academy is one of several affiliates of a program for troubled youths.
WWASPS affiliates in Mexico, Costa Rica, Western Samoa and the Czech Republic have closed under accusations of cruelty since 1996. The affiliate in Costa Rica, in fact, collapsed in May when students revolted.
A review of seven of the company's largest affiliates in the United States, where it remains the fastest-growing program of its kind, found accusations of misconduct or wrongdoing at four of them.
In Utah and South Carolina, state officials have cited the programs and their staff members for violations including child abuse and overcrowding, and have challenged their right to operate.
Here at the company's largest affiliate, Spring Creek Lodge, the program and its staff have been accused of sexual abuse, physical violence and psychological duress.
Wwasps, whose programs house about 2,400 youths in all, some as young as 10, has fought and denied all charges.
The founder, Robert B. Lichfield, 49, called the accusations part of a difficult business. "When you have troubled kids and troubled parents - any school or program that works with troubled kids has complaints," Mr. Lichfield said in a telephone interview. "We're no different."
He attributed the growth of Wwasps to "the breakdown of the family," saying, "When the family is not functioning, society suffers."
Wwasps has flourished and profited by tapping a deep well of woe in American families, interviews and correspondence with more than 200 parents, children, staff members and program officials made clear.
Parents say they turned to the programs in exasperation, or exhaustion, seeking salvation, or in some cases exile, for their sons and daughters. Many say Wwasps was their only alternative after schools, public health systems, counseling and the courts failed them.
Spring Creek Lodge's associate director, Chaffin Pullan, 32, said, "We're crazy enough to say, 'Hey, we'll take your child, and we'll work on their values.' "
But at Spring Creek Lodge, as at several other affiliates, some of that work takes place under conditions and circumstances that some children and parents call physically and psychologically brutal.
Where state regulators have challenged affiliates, government officials often spend years trying to control or sanction the programs' defiance of licensing rules.
South Carolina officials, for example, after four years of fighting, have barred Narvin Lichfield, the brother of the Wwasps' founder, from Carolina Springs Academy, the program that Narvin Lichfield owns in the tiny town of Due West.
In Utah, officials are wrestling with Majestic Ranch, which takes children as young as 10, and where a program director was recently charged with child abuse, as well as with a new program at the flagship affiliate, Cross Creek, for clients over age 18. Neither program has obtained the required operating license, state officials said.
Robert Lichfield, who once said he believed only Satan stood in the way of the programs' goals, said state authorities were merely reacting to pressure from parents or reporters, adding, "If I was in their position, I would be doing the same thing."
Federal authorities are also taking a look at Wwasps. On July 10, Representative George Miller of California, the ranking Democrat on the House Education Committee, asked the Treasury Department to see whether Wwasps received unusual "tax deductions, tax credits or any special tax treatment."
Affiliates gross perhaps $70 million a year, an estimate based on their enrollment, tuition and fees. A company spokesman, James Wall, said it had always filed its federal income taxes properly. But Mr. Wall said Wwasps, which calls itself a nonprofit corporation in Utah, had never applied for nonprofit, tax-exempt status with the Internal Revenue Service.
The company says it does not directly own or control any of its affiliates, and claims no responsibility for their programs. But Spring Creek Lodge employees, for instance, say the program sends about 40 percent of its revenues to Wwasps.
Amberly Knight, a former director of Dundee Ranch, the affiliate in Costa Rica that collapsed last spring, said in a sworn statement that the company took 75 percent of Dundee Ranch's income, leaving little money to care for its 200 children. The statement also said company officials maintained "offshore bank accounts," in part to "evade U.S. income taxes."
Here in Montana, where 50 other programs for troubled teenagers have opened in addition to Spring Creek Lodge, the state does not regulate private schools, state officials say.
"We have a tremendous number - an inordinate amount - of these programs in western Montana," said Paul Clark, a Montana state legislator who represents the Thompson Falls area and also runs a program for about a dozen wayward teenagers. But the state lacks the capacity or the expertise to regulate them, Mr. Clark said, adding, "We'll get action after there's a crisis."
Many children from the affiliate that collapsed in Costa Rica wound up at Spring Creek Lodge, where the enrollment has doubled to about 500 in two years, and whose parents pay roughly $40,000 a year and up.
That growth has created an unfilled demand for trained teachers and counselors, staff members say. The program is the largest employer in this corner of Montana, where jobs are scarce and wages low.
As the school has grown, so have accusations of abuse.
A log cabin with tiny isolation rooms, called the Hobbit, sits on the edge of Spring Creek Lodge's compound in the woods. Some teenagers, like Alex Ziperovich, 16, say they have spent months in the Hobbit, eating meals of beans and bananas.
"He came out 35 pounds lighter, acting like a zombie," said his mother, Michele Ziperovich, a Seattle lawyer. "When he came back, he was worse, far worse."
In March, the county prosecutor charged a 20-year-old staff member with sexually assaulting two boys in the Hobbit, one 14 and the other 17. He denies the charges.
In June, a girl was beaten by students with a shower-curtain rod; in September 2002 a student bent on escape beat a guard with a vacuum-cleaner pipe and shattered his cheekbone, said Mr. Pullan, Spring Creek Lodge's the associate director, and several staff members.
The September assault followed a similar attack three weeks earlier; Thompson Falls residents say escape attempts are rising.
Mr. Pullan said the academy was curtailing use of the isolation rooms. He called the recent violence against staff members unusual and "horrific." But he is said he was convinced that the academy was helping the vast majority of its children.
He acknowledged that it had been hard to hire and retain skilled local staff members.
One former staff member, Mark Runkle, who worked for two and a half years at the academy, said he became skeptical of some practices, like taking children into the woods at night for psychological tests of will.
"They take kids down to the Vermillion Bridge at night, blindfold them, and push them off into the river; they take them off into the woods, and they come back hurt," Mr. Runkle said. "They claim it's a mind-increaser. I think it breaks the kids down - breaks their will down. Mentally, they do damage. Emotionally, too."
Despite such accounts, parents continue to turn to such programs. The reasons that the parents, children, staff members and program officials cite are the crises common to American family life: fractured marriages, failing schools, frantic two-job couples with no time to devote to children.
The accelerating pace of adolescence and a "zero-tolerance" culture leave teenagers no margin for mistakes, experts say.
Managed care has cut insurance coverage for residential treatment. Reduced federal and state support have hobbled community-based counseling. A new White House study calls state and federal mental health programs a shambles.
Some parents of children damaged by drugs, drinking, depression or divorce say Wwasps programs were their sole alternative.
"We refer to it, my husband and I, as the program of last resort," Debbie Wood said. She and her husband moved from Seattle to Thompson Falls in March to be near their son, Sam, now 17, at Spring Creek Lodge. "I don't know of another program that would fill our needs the way Wwasps has," Mrs. Wood said.
Other parents, too, are satisfied. Deb Granneman, of Saline, Mich., said: "With my son it worked; it's not going to work for every kid. When you send your kid there, you're giving them the last chance to turn their lives around."
Mr. Pullan, along with 37 parents, children and staff members interviewed personally, by phone, or through e-mail, say few Spring Creek Lodge children are delinquents.
Perhaps one-quarter are drug users or drinkers, Mr. Pullan said, while "about 70 percent are not hard core - they cannot communicate at home." Many children say they were sent here after a parent died or departed, or a new stepmother or stepfather rejected them.
A crucial part of the company's effort to shape its success is a requisite series of emotional-growth seminars for parents. "The seminars are the most important thing we have experienced as a family," said Rosemary Hinch, a teacher in Phoenix.
"It was painful; it was hard," Ms. Hinch said. "They teach you to take a really good look at yourself."
But the seminars persuaded Michele Ziperovich to pull her son Alex out. "It was 300 adults screaming and beating on chairs, three days of no sleep, and after that, you'll buy into whatever they say," Ms. Ziperovich said. "They berate you, they scream at you, exhaust you. It's basically mind control."
The question of control also arises among staff members and children who say many teenagers at Spring Creek Lodge are sedated, night and day. "There are girls on so many antidepressants given out by the program that they can't move," said Lauren Meksraitis, 18, of Tampa, Fla., a former Spring Creek client. "They can't get out of bed. They are like dead animals."
A company spokesman said a visiting psychiatrist prescribed the drugs, which are dispensed by a nurse or "other staff members."
But Ms. Meksraitis said: "The Spring Creek staff members responsible for family contacts don't tell your parents the truth. They lie to parents and tell them their kids are going to get fixed."
Her father, Michael Meksraitis, a lawyer, agreed, saying: "They misrepresent the program. They take advantage of parents in a very vulnerable position, who don't know what to do with their kids, who are at the end of their rope."
Robert Lichfield, who dropped out of college and became director of residential programs at a Utah institution for teenagers that was subsequently closed by the state for cruelty to children, says he has learned some lessons from a quarter-century of experience in the business.
"Kids think they ought to be able to do whatever they want," he said. "And if they can't, that's abuse."
_________________________________________________
Very good article:
Desperate Measures
http://www.denver-rmn.com/desperate/sit ... ont-pg.htm (http://www.denver-rmn.com/desperate/site-desperate/front-pg.htm)
_________________________________________________
-
From the Independent:
December 7, 2004
Paradise Lost
by Oliver Duff
Pupils complain of life in Jamaican boot camp: "Kids scream all night. I've been told if I don't listen I'll be kicked in the head."
Its website shows palm-lined tennis courts, a swimming pool and rooftop views of the ocean, and promises parents of problem teenagers the solution to their problems: sending their children to a camp in Jamaica to learn to behave.
But the American-run Tranquility Bay camp on a remote corner of the Caribbean island faces growing allegations of mistreatment from former pupils and their families. In the latest case, a London boy, 12, was withdrawn by his parents after just five weeks when he complained about staff violence. His mother accuses the camp of "abusing children".
Tranquility Bay is said to have the harshest regime of seven similar camps linked to an organisation called the World Wide Association of Speciality Programs, based in St George, in Utah. It sells itself to American, and some British, parents as a last resort for their troubled offspring, sent there for anything from sexual assault, gun crime and drug abuse to having a bad attitude.
For £19,000 a year, it claims to provide a progressive, tailored education that will transform troubled teenagers into social and academic successes.
In the past few years, WWASP-linked camps in Costa Rica, Mexico and the Czech Republic have closed or been shut down by local authorities after investigations into claims of physical and emotional mistreatment. In the US, there have been calls from politicians for tighter federal controls.
According to reports of the Jamaica camp regime, up to 250 adolescents are forced to conform to a rigid system of mental and physical discipline in a harsh regime of punishment and reward. New arrivals cannot speak without permission and are stripped of personal possessions. Some say they were unable to talk to their family for months, even a year; parents are not allowed to visit and have little or no idea of camp life. Children self-taught from text books, with little direct tuition.
Children are sometimes forced, occasionally through adults kneeling on top of them, to lay on the floor for days. This is "observational placement", where children are forbidden to move by guards except for 10 minutes every hour, has been condemned by the United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef).
The British boy's parents became desperate for help with their son's behaviour, which included drug abuse, carrying a knife, theft, muggings and violent threats to his family. The boy also suffers from Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, but his medication was not working, said his mother. They saw a television programme about American camps for troubled teenagers and found WWASP on the internet. "They seemed to be credible, meticulous and understand the problems," she said. Three weeks later the couple enrolled their son while on a "holiday" to Jamaica in August, but, on return to Britain, became concerned.
After four weeks her son sent a letter. "It said: 'I hate you. I've been in OP for 3 days, someone has been sitting on my back. You said adults weren't supposed to abuse children but they are ... Kids scream all night. I've been told if I don't listen I'll be kicked in the head.'
"The way they had sold OP to us was a room for kids to chill out and reflect. They didn't explain it was laying on the floor for days." The parents withdrew their son two days later.
The claims are supported by accounts given in a BBC2 documentary, Locked in Paradise, which is being screened tonight.
Ken Kay, the president of WWASP, told the Independent that the camps were all independently run but used its systems and practices. He said: "Our regimes are not harsh, they are structured and designed to cope with teenagers who are threatening their own lives ... If there was any abuse, people would know about it."
Tranquility Bay is run by his son, Jay Kay. He was not available for comment yesterday.
_________________________________________________
December 7, 2004
Tranquility Bay: The Last Resort
Reporter Raphael Rowe
BBC -- UK edition
Some parents of rebellious teenagers in the US are turning to privately-owned correctional institutions to steer their wayward children back on the right path. But is this tough love tactic a step too far?
At Tranquility Bay, children have to earn the right to look at the ocean
Perched on the edge of a cliff in Treasure Beach - a remote fishing village in southern Jamaica - there is a hand-painted sign on the wall: "Welcome to Tranquility Bay."
This isolated boarding school is surrounded by security cameras, iron gates, barred windows and high concrete walls.
It looks like a top security prison; but it is neither a prison, nor a juvenile detention centre.
At a cost of between $25,000 (£13,000) and $40,000 (£20,800) a year, parents of unruly teenagers send their children here to learn how to behave.
Hard line
Tranquility Bay is one of several facilities run by an American business organisation called WWASPS, the World Wide Association of Speciality Programs and Schools.
According to their website, Tranquility Bay exists "to challenge and motivate the student in a structured, individualised learning environment... so they become mature, responsible and contributing members of society."
The teenagers inside are typically enrolled on the programme for three years, but this varies and largely depends on when the institution, and their parents, think they are fit to graduate.
As I glanced around the institution, some pupils - mostly white Americans dressed in khaki shorts and shirts, and flip flops - walked past me in line, military-style, with vacant expressions.
Not one of them looked at me, not even a peep from the corner of an eye.
Rules of admission
Shannon Levy lived in Tranquility Bay from 2000 to 2002
Fifteen-year-old Shannon Levy's parents arranged for their daughter to be forcibly taken from their home and escorted to Tranquility Bay.
"Three strangers - a lady and two big men - came into my house and sat me down on the sofa," Shannon told me.
"They said I was going to Jamaica and they handcuffed me and said I could co-operate or they were going to throw me over their shoulder. I was screaming for my mom because I had no clue what was going on. I was very scared," she said.
When I asked Shannon's mother Jayne why she felt the need to send her daughter to a school reputed for its harsh treatment of pupils, she simply said: "Desperate parents do desperate things."
Shannon had disrespected her mother, was sleeping around, drinking alcohol, smoking pot and not doing well at school.
Arguably, most of the children sent to the school flaunt typical teenage behaviour.
Ultimate endurance
In order to recondition these children, once inside, they are completely cut off from their home life.
They are not permitted to talk to their families until they conform to the programme - which is a reward and punishment system.
If you do what you are told, when you are told to do it - and do it the way the programme says you should - you earn points.
Children must lie in silence in OP
These points move you up to the next level in a "six-point plan", a method of acquiring "privileges".
If you do not obey the rules, or as one former student told me, you cannot do what is required of you, you have to face the consequences.
One consequence is being sent to Observational Placement, or what is known to the kids as OP.
On my way to the OP room I caught a glimpse of the sleeping dorms.
They were furnished sparingly with thin, lumpy mattresses on wooden bed frames that fold up against the wall, and wooden shelves on which children have attempted to neatly fold the few items of clothing they are issued.
In OP the children are made to lie on thin plastic mats on the floor, all day, sometimes day after day. They eat, sleep and stay in the room until the staff members guarding them decide they can leave.
Shannon Levy told me she spent eight weeks in OP.
Parrot fashion
To continue their education, the children work from text books and are partly self-taught.
Kids are guarded during self-study
If they fail a test exam they do it again and again until they pass.
Staff members are not trained teachers in all the subjects they supervise and are often recruited from the local community.
During meals, students are bombarded with self-improvement messages over the tannoy. They are played over and over again.
The children must then write essays about what they have learnt straight afterwards.
Controversy
Despite its hard and strict methods, many parents like Megan Quinn - who placed her son in the school - are pleased with the results.
Megan told me: "If it wasn't for the God-sent gift of this programme you'd be going to the lakeshore of Chicago where my father's buried, where my sister's buried, and putting flowers on his grave. So yes it hurts right now not to see him for 12 months but it would hurt a heck of a lot more not to see him for the rest of his life."
Other parents are not so convinced and taking legal action against WWASPs. "It was an act of desperation... and we were conned," said Julie Wilkinson, mother of ex-student Winston.
Concerns about the school's methods have also been raised by Bertrand Bainvel, head of the United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef), based in Jamaica. He wants OP scrapped, because he says: "There is a high possibility it falls under the definition of child abuse."
In response to the criticism, WWASPs say: "The schools have a tremendous record of success and growth. They have helped thousands of teens and their families and have a 97% parent satisfaction rate."
I began to consider a conversation I had earlier with the uncle of one young female student, as he tried to make his way past security to visit her.
"They're criminalising adolescence," he said, and as I walked out of the gate beyond the high walls into the full tropical sunlight, I wondered if he was right.
Locked in Paradise will be broadcast on Tuesday, 7 December, 2004, at 1930 GMT on BBC Two.
_______________________________________________
That should get you started. Again, good luck. I'm sure others will give you some good advice as well. You might want to consider posting this request at http://www.tbfight.com (http://www.tbfight.com) and http://www.youthrights.org (http://www.youthrights.org).
-
Well, sorry to break it to you, but WWASPS runs gulags. The entire point of them is to break the children so theyre subservient to authority and full of filial affection.
The actual breaking and brainwashing (yes, it is) is done via the seminars done through the company "Resource Realizations" (www.resourcerealizations.com (http://www.resourcerealizations.com)) owned and operated by David Gilcrease. He was a trainer for the Lifespring cult back in the day.
http://www.isaccorp.com/wwasp/documents/parentplea.pdf (http://www.isaccorp.com/wwasp/documents/parentplea.pdf)
http://springcreeklodgeexperience.blogspot.com/ (http://springcreeklodgeexperience.blogspot.com/)
http://www.pianofinders.com/es/breakingthesecrecy.htm (http://www.pianofinders.com/es/breakingthesecrecy.htm)
http://perso.wanadoo.fr/eldon.braun/awa ... hology.htm (http://perso.wanadoo.fr/eldon.braun/awareness/pathology.htm)
Its basically beating them up emotionally and psychologically until they break, called a psychological regression, which basically is when you 'break down' and cry. Then you just fill their head up with bullshit and make everyone give affection to eachother to seal it in. They call it euphamistically "Personal Groth"
The abuse in the program outside of the seminar can range from the passive abuse of having no privacy and constantly being afraid and being malnourised with shitty food (even though his parents pay several thousand a month to keep him there) to active mental, or physical abuse.
This is probably scaring you to death, but Im sorry, this is the facts as they exist now. You should also, obviously, tell your parents whats up and warn them so you or your own siblings don't get sucked in. Part of the program for the parents is to get them to recommend it to their friends, whether the child needs it or not.
Oh, and another thing his parents would be interested in is a WWASPS program recently got investigated by the state of NY after a riot in the facility - and they had to pay back a million in tuition, and paid 250K in fines to the state of NY. And the WWASPS programs in mexico, costa rica, and samoa were all closed down by their respective local authorities for various reasons. Naturally, WWASPS won't tell them that.
Nor will they tell them about, say, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWASPS (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWASPS), and the stories linked to within it.
All I have to say is get through to his parents that there is no help there, just lies, and that the program will say that he will lie to get out, and fill them full of bullshit and try to brainwash them too. MAKE THEM READ THE TESTIMONIES AND APPADAVITS!
You need to get through to them before the parents get fucked up by the seminars - and one of the easiest ways to do that is to warn them about how the "Discovery" seminar will go before they go in, so they realize its bullshit and get out and take out his son.
And, well, finally, read something I helped create so if his parents are MORONS and insist on putting him in some damn program, they could find the least abusive, at http://www.askquestions.org/articles/teens (http://www.askquestions.org/articles/teens)
I wish you luck, and you must be one hell of a loyal girlfriend to do this for him, but the bottom line is this is going to be a long, hard road for both of you, and if youre there when he gets out you can help to cut through the brainwashing and bullshit. He MIGHT reject you if they got through to him, but dont give up on him, because the real mike underneith all of that will need you.
For what its worth, my heart goes out to you. I have NO idea how I could deal with someone I love being in a program, Id probably flip out and do something stupid. DONT do that yourself, you'd screw yourself, him, and everyone else with a vested interest in bringing these places down. Just remember inside that freedom and liberty are the most sacred things on earth and youre fighting for whats right. And well, be prepared for his parents to do stupid things like being stubborn about admitting that they were wrong, or finding out after the fact taht losing communication with their child is foolish and going along because they already paid money - and yeah, the lame ass money excuse, as if the money they paid is worth more than their sons mind, heart and soul. If you can get through to his parents you will be his hero, and one of mine.
Ive helped to get a kid out of Carolina Springs and Darrington through fornits... Id love to know I helped someone get someone they deeply cared for out of a program. Just don't give up - even if it goes its course and he graduates he will still need you to be there for him. Whoever kindles the flames of intolerance in America is lighting a fire underneath his own home.
--Harold E. Stassen, 1947
-
I don't know if there is anything you yourself can do, but one thing you can tell your friend's parents is to plan unannounced visits to the place to see their kid, and to make sure to visit him often. If the place does not allow them to see their own child, that is a bad sign. (And they should pull their kid right then and there, and find another place for him.)
No humane treatment orginization should set the agenda as to when and where the parents can or cannot see their own children.
-
Suggesting unannounced visits is good. Pointing out program deficiencies is good. Neither will be enough. Few parents will make a decision to send their kid to a program easily. Usually it is a last resort. What you need to do is offer a better alternative, whether that is a safer program or whatever. Remember too, that keeping the kid home has not been viable for the parents, perhaps because they couldn't get the "right" help and support, so find that help before you tell them to bring their kid home.
-
Did his mother tell you why they selected this particular program? Why was he sent away? Drugs? Defiance? Did his parents thoroughly research programs? If there is a lot of bad press out there about this program, I wonder why his parents chose it? Would they consider a more reputable program?
-
Many parents whose children went to these types of programs, this one incluced, have said that this was not a last resort for them but rather something they found either on the internet or a referral source.
WWASP gives parents an incentive plan, one many parents feel is worth doing. For every child they can get into a program they get a months' free tuition, meaning $3,500 or more. That's quite substantial. One a month and they never have to pay tuition. Lots of parents take this seriously. I have known of a family whose office was filled with nothing but WWASP brochures and videos. They were truly selling the program and making a lot of money doing it. And when they no longer have a child in the program, they can continue to sell the program for $1,000 a pop, something like that. That's the last I heard.
I have heard of parents approaching other parents in PTA meetings, on the ball field, at Boy Scouts, anywhere parents gather. When they hear a parent complaining about their teenager they jump for the kill. And often they are successful. That's one of the reasons WWASP continues to grow at the rate it is. Many of these children have normal teenage problems. Once the parent gets on the phone with a marketing agent (and this is not only WWASP, I think others are doing the same thing), they do everything they can to convince parents that their child is in some kind of danger if they do not get them in the program. Often times it's "you need to nip it in the bud before things get worse and you lose all control" or "if you don't put your child in a program now your child will most likely die."
And when it comes to funding, well, they have the answer for that too. They help parents get loans, refinance their homes, dip into the child's college money or into their own retirement, they'll stop at nothing.
Anyway, I point this out because many kids who go were really not completely out of hand - they were normal, obnoxious teens. Weren't we all? I've read enough and heard enough from parents and kids alike that many did not need to go, they would have outgrown their normal teen behavior.
Reputable programs are hard to find. Even when a progam may seem reputable at first glance it may not be. There are many ed-cons out there that refer to unsafe programs so you have to beware of those.
I think before we jump to the conclusion that this was the last resort, and it might very well have been, as the child might have been impossible to control, it is prudent to find out exactly why he was sent to this program. Why did they choose this type of a program? Could he have been helped by family and individual therapy? Divorce? Drugs? Alcohol? Doing poorly in school?
-
Thanks everyone for the advice and information this really is helping....
-
Well Spring Creek Lodge saw this post that i made and cut off all ties with me and my boyfriend. His mom also refused to have any communication with me, and says that she has read all the negative things about this program and still feels its right for him to be there. A lot of you were asking why he was sent there. It wasnt drugs, he doesnt do drugs. He gets passing grades. Hes not in a gang. It because he got me pregnant. He wants to take care of the baby with me and take responsibility for what happend. When he found out that I was pregnant he immediatly started looking for a job. And were going to do our best to have a good future for us and our baby. Well when he finally told is mother she got really angry. Any mother would be. So she kicked him out of her house and made him live with his dad. He was there for a week and then he got tookin away. During this time she would say things like "i wish this baby would just despire" and numous other rude comment about me and the baby. His mom told me that she is more important then my baby. That Mike deserves better then me and the life im going to live. I truly want to be a good mother for my baby and I want it to have a father. I dont know what to do.
-
If you were thinking of dropping out of school, please don't. You do need some help with your spelling, which tells me you need school bad.
I'm not trying to be mean, just constructive.
Good luck with everything.
-
I'm sorry it turned out this way. Since his parents have chosen to side with WWASPS rather than protect their own son from the dangerous environment and abuse at SCL, there isn't much that you can do.
Hopefully, they won't manage turn him into a program zombie, and he'll be able to contact you when he gets out of there.
-
Man, iluvmike, that is soooo messed up! WTF are these people thinking, trying to cure this boy's intention to take responsibility for his child. Warped!
Have you talked to the rest of his family? Mutual friends? Other responsible adults in his life, like teachers, clergy, neighbors? I wouldn't venture a guess as to whether all of you together can get him released early or not. But it's certainly helpful to have as many ppl as possible on his side and understanding the situation afterward, however it all shakes out.
Were the power of Congress to be established in the latitude contended for, it would subvert the very foundation, and transmute the very nature of the limited Government established by the people of America.
James Madison
-
No I dont plan on dropping out of school.
-
If you are planning on not having an abortion have you considered putting the child up for adoption? I think you said you are only 14. You can barely take care of yourself.
-
On 2005-08-24 13:24:00, Anonymous wrote:
"If you are planning on not having an abortion have you considered putting the child up for adoption? I think you said you are only 14. You can barely take care of yourself."
Oh Jesus Christ on a broken crutch! Here come the altruistic tyrants to save you from yourself!
Anon, did anybody ask you for your opinion about this? Do you walk up to strangers on the street and give them unasked for advice about such personal matters? Wait! Don't answer! I don't want to know!
I can very well do without God both in my life and in my painting, but I cannot, suffering as I am, do without something which is greater than I am, which is my life, the power to create.
--Vincent Van Gogh, Dutch painter
-
No im not 14. Im 16 turning 17 in November. And i dont plan on having an abortion or putting the child up for adoption. Im going to take care of my child. I have been taking care of my health and going to the doctors. I have already made plans for when the baby comes. I already enrolled myself into independent studys so i can continue my education and graduate while taking care of my child. I also have a job and save all my money so that i can financially take care of my baby. I will still be living with my mom, until Iam financially stable enough to live on my own. and she is ok with this. I feel that im doing the best I can with this situation. An im sorry if some of you people dont approve and doubt my dedication.
-
I'm sure Iluvmike is a VERY reliable source of information regarding her boyfriend's issues. I suspect the parents have a clearer picture of what he may or may not have been doing. I doubt he was sent away just because he got this child pregnant.
-
On 2005-08-24 14:15:00, Anonymous wrote:
"I'm sure Iluvmike is a VERY reliable source of information regarding her boyfriend's issues. I suspect the parents have a clearer picture of what he may or may not have been doing. I doubt he was sent away just because he got this child pregnant."
And how would you know that, exactly?
Program parents are known for their hysteria and unreasonable decisions. It is not too far-fetched that that boy was sent away for getting his girlfriend pregnant. Many children have been sent away for far lesser "crimes".
-
Intresting, you really think a teen would tell his parents more things about what hes doing then his girlfriend? Well to clear that up for you,Mike was with me 24/7. There was never a day that we didnt hang out, or a day that we werent on the phone with each other for hours. So no thats the only reason. Mike and me promised each other that sence we were starting a family that we wouldnt do things like drugs, partying, ect. and both planned on finishing our education. His mom didnt like the fact that he dedicated his life to his pregnant girlfriend and thats why hes gone, because his mother didnt want to see her son grow up and be the responsible man he was becoming.
-
All I see is another drain on the system. Most children that wind up raising children live on welfare. Another couple mouths fed with food stamps and AFDC. Ill do the research and get back to you. I can see how responsible you are since you and your boyfriend used birth control? Why dont you talk to some of the teen mothers out there raising their babies, without the father that said they would help and always be there.
-
I know Mike and he was dedicated to me and our baby and still is. And I know many teen mothers. One of my close friends she had her baby when she was 14 and her second one when she was 17, she now is 19, shes lived on her own sence she was 16, no help at all from anyone, dads gone no family to help her. Shes NOT on welfare and she doesnt get foodstamps. She not only is a great mother to her children she graduated from high school is now intending college and works and supports her children. She just is one amazing women of many that i know that prove ignorant
people like you wrong and shes had to deal with people like you that label teen mothers and there situation negativly. The label you put on teen mothers is wrong, to think its ok to belittle someone for that situation is wrong. Do you know any teen mothers your self? I doubt it. And again Mike isnt one of those fathers that said they would help and always be there and then bailed, he wants nothing more then to take care of our baby and i know that for a fact but his mother feels that her son should bail on the baby and sence he doesnt want to she did it for him.
-
I guess the parents wanted more for their son than to have him trapped by a pregnant girlfriend. I suspect there was more going on.
-
What do you suspect was going on? And to say I trapped him is bullshit. All he ever wanted was to be with me and take care of our baby. Thats what made him happy, I NEVER forced him to be with me and he NEVER not wanted me to have this baby, but here dont take my word for it, heres something he wrote to me:
hey babi i luv u so much n i hate it that i cant talk to u like we normalli do but babi i promise u that i will call u as soon as i get a fone to use u r my number one priority babi i hope u kno jus how much u truly mean to me. u r my everything and without u i am nothing. i luv u so much u r the onli reason i am trying with my mom u r the reason im keeping good and not doing any bad. i want to marry you and i want us to have a babi that will be treated the way me n u werent i wanna be there for u and my little babi. babi u r my life n without u id be nothing. if i waz 18 i would git married to u right now bcuz u kno wut babi it haz onli been 2-3 monthz that weve been together but it haz been the best time of my life. i have never felt as complete as i feel right now babi. iono if this is all the same how u feel n iono maybe ull think itz too much but im sittin in class right now n all i can think about iz u babi. u r the onli good in my life babi thatz real talk n without u iono wut i wood do. please never leave me and dont move up north with ur mom cuz wen we wood b apart i would be going crazy. and i trust u babi so much which iz why i dont care if u go hang out with ne guyz or wutever but just dont let them do nething u kno wut i mean n if they do tell me i waz just kinda gittin buggd bcuz iono y ud wanna hang out with other guyz but itz ok i understand i trust u completely with them ok jus bring ur cell so i can call u :smile:. if u decide to go do something later itz ok i dont care jus tell me first like message me ight. ur life doesnt hafta revolve 100% around me ur right. newayz babi i jus wrote u this long ass repetitive letter to say 1 thing i luv u so much n no matter wut happenz u will alwayz be my one n onli. i luv u so much n im sry for wut ive been putting u thru i reeli dont think ive been being the man i cood b 2 u bcuz u deserve so much more then wut i do/give for u. i luv u so much u r my everything and without u i would die. no matter wut happenz i will ALWAYZ be there for u no matter wut
-
On 2005-08-24 15:36:00, iluvmike wrote:
"What do you suspect was going on? And to say I trapped him is bullshit. All he ever wanted was to be with me and take care of our baby. Thats what made him happy, I NEVER forced him to be with me and he NEVER not wanted me to have this baby, but here dont take my word for it, heres something he wrote to me:
hey babi i luv u so much n i hate it that i cant talk to u like we normalli do but babi i promise u that i will call u as soon as i get a fone to use u r my number one priority babi i hope u kno jus how much u truly mean to me. u r my everything and without u i am nothing. i luv u so much u r the onli reason i am trying with my mom u r the reason im keeping good and not doing any bad. i want to marry you and i want us to have a babi that will be treated the way me n u werent i wanna be there for u and my little babi. babi u r my life n without u id be nothing. if i waz 18 i would git married to u right now bcuz u kno wut babi it haz onli been 2-3 monthz that weve been together but it haz been the best time of my life. i have never felt as complete as i feel right now babi. iono if this is all the same how u feel n iono maybe ull think itz too much but im sittin in class right now n all i can think about iz u babi. u r the onli good in my life babi thatz real talk n without u iono wut i wood do. please never leave me and dont move up north with ur mom cuz wen we wood b apart i would be going crazy. and i trust u babi so much which iz why i dont care if u go hang out with ne guyz or wutever but just dont let them do nething u kno wut i mean n if they do tell me i waz just kinda gittin buggd bcuz iono y ud wanna hang out with other guyz but itz ok i understand i trust u completely with them ok jus bring ur cell so i can call u :smile:. if u decide to go do something later itz ok i dont care jus tell me first like message me ight. ur life doesnt hafta revolve 100% around me ur right. newayz babi i jus wrote u this long ass repetitive letter to say 1 thing i luv u so much n no matter wut happenz u will alwayz be my one n onli. i luv u so much n im sry for wut ive been putting u thru i reeli dont think ive been being the man i cood b 2 u bcuz u deserve so much more then wut i do/give for u. i luv u so much u r my everything and without u i would die. no matter wut happenz i will ALWAYZ be there for u no matter wut
"
An ebonics love letter, nice. Keep up hope, he'll be out some day.
-
haha ebonic love letter.... thanks overlord.
-
Babies having babies. Put it up for adoption. Sorry, but the cards are stacked against you. Why make things hard for yourself, your boyfriend and your families? And what happened to using birth control? Is it not available?
-
When are you going to be on Springer?
-
Im going to keep my baby so please stop wasting your time telling me to get rid of my baby cause it does not concern you and it wont happen.
-
On 2005-08-24 15:52:00, Anonymous wrote:
"Babies having babies. Put it up for adoption. Sorry, but the cards are stacked against you. Why make things hard for yourself, your boyfriend and your families? And what happened to using birth control? Is it not available? "
OMG! Anon, tell us the truth. Do you know anything at all about this young lady, her boyfriend, Mike, the family or even Spring Creek Lodge? Or are you just talking out your ass?
ilovemike, if I were you, I wouldn't even dignify these idiotic comments w/ a response other than to say "mind your own damned business."
My view is that if there is no evidence for it, then forget about it. An agnostic is somebody who doesn't believe in something until there is evidence for it, so I'm agnostic.
--Carl Sagan, American astronomer and author
-
Thanks Antigen....
-
I just wanted to take a moment to thank our anon program zealots for their participation. I know ya'll think you're winning this argument cause all your brainwashed buddies tell you so. But to a normal person reading this dialog? What it looks like is a bunch of really horrible old farts beating up on a young soon to be mother. It's shameful. But it is a fairly accurate representation of program mentality and the (evil) spirit that drives it. And it has been one of the primary objectives of these forums from the biginning to illustrate just that. So thanks, ya'll, for doing your part.
I sincerely hope that, one day, ya'll find enough peace in your own lives that you won't feel compelled to go around abusing young people like this. But I don't hold out much hope. So, failing that, I just hope your victims are able to put some distance between themselves and you, to find surrogates to give them the kind of familial support we all crave and need and to live long, happy prosperous lives in spite of you.There's so much comedy on television. Does that cause comedy in the streets?
-- Dick Cavett
-
Shes 16, been with this guy 3 months. His parents sent him off. Im a taxpayer and this is the kind of crap that pisses me off. Two kids that probably had it shitty at home. I think I'll have a baby that loves me because my parents dont etc. Taxpayers are going to be picking up the tab for these dumbasses for a long time. Ill bet iluvmikes mom was 16 when she had her. History repeats itself.
-
//Shes 16, been with this guy 3 months. His parents sent him off. Im a taxpayer and this is the kind of crap that pisses me off. Two kids that probably had it shitty at home. I think I'll have a baby that loves me because my parents dont etc. Taxpayers are going to be picking up the tab for these dumbasses for a long time. Ill bet iluvmikes mom was 16 when she had her. History repeats itself.//
You arrogant piece of shit.
You can't predict this child's life and you have no business judging this young mom.
If you so deeply resent the financial assistance that the government doles out to help young families get on their feet and not starve, maybe you ought to be living in China.
You are Way out of line making direr predictions of doom for this girl's baby!
This baby has every chance of living a happy healthy and productive life, thanks to the fact that in this country, there is help for young mothers.
The taxes this baby pays, may well be what supports the likes of you, when your old and broken down and in need of help from uncle Sam to avoid living off pass dated cat food.
I personally know of a young lady - born to my child hood friend when she was 16 years old. This mom was a real doozy, and this child had no idea who her father was until recently. The mom (my friend) has always had a drug and alcohol problem. She has always been attracted to wild and crazy guys - and she herself has lived a wild and crazy sort of life.
Odds were against her daughter.
This young woman (the daughter, the "doomed" baby) is now about to graduate from grad school with a doctorate in child psychology. She has more or less Mothered her mom since she was a little girl. She is beautiful and intelligent and down right amazing. No one would have predicted it.
Her mom was given all the same advice you so freely dole out - get rid of it! I tell you - her life would have been a very sad and sorry affair with out her daughter. Thank God in Heaven she ignored the harping advice she got from ass holes like you.
*
[ This Message was edited by: BuzzKill on 2005-08-24 17:43 ]
-
Wow! Anon, do you have any idea in the world what it takes to get that kind of language out of BuzzKill? That is quite the accomplishment! :nworthy:
Puritanism: The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy.
--H. L. Mencken, American publisher
-
Yes... get rid of 'IT'.
That's what it's all about.
Abortion.
Adoption.
BM Warehouses.
Psych drugs.
Just make the problem go away.
Realtiy is just too hard to look at.
And they say the kids are in denial.
Anon, I suggest you visualize YOUR tax dollars, school taxes, not to mention increased insurance premiums, going to fund the teen warehouse industry. Might this be seen as 'welfare' going to parents who actually have the means to pay others to 'care' for their children?
Personally, I'd rather mine go to a parent who loves their child and wants to parent.
-
Good job for not allowing these people to get you down. Don't listen to a word they say because they are evil. They are even likely people posting from the program, maybe WWASPies.
If you believe you can make things work for yourself and your baby then by all means do your very best. This is YOUR baby, don't let anyone try to convince you to do anything you don't want to do. Just because you are 16 does not mean you cannot be a good mother. You can.
There are programs to help young mothers and their babies, take advantage of them. In our community they have "The Pregnancy Resource Center," a place pregnant moms can go get free ulta sounds, clothing for the baby, and so on. Have you checked around in your area for a support network? It's important.
Hopefully Mike will not be brainwashed while he's in SCL and hopefully he will be able to contact you when he gets out. Just do your best with what you have and things have a way of working out.
I agree with whoever said that you should try to talk to other adults in Mike's life - relatives, counselors, whoever will listen. Pass on information that we have shared here with them and see if they would be willing to help you. If you cannot get Mike out, at least he will have a support network when he gets out.
Good luck to you, to Mike, and to your little baby. Please come back and let us know how things are going once the baby is born.
And remember - don't listen to these assholes. Don't even bother to give them the pleasure of a response to their comments - except to say - it's none of your business! As Ginger said.