Treatment Abuse, Behavior Modification, Thought Reform > Brat Camp
Redcliffer
Notafriendofredcliff:
--- Quote ---On 2005-12-23 15:07:00, Anonymous wrote:
"There is no doubt that there are awful programs out there but I don't think Redcliff is one of them -- the industry is ripe for abuse and not well legislated or controlled and parents send kids who don't need to be there...
"
--- End quote ---
There is only ONE reason parents are ABLE to send kids who don't need to be there. Redcliff knowingly ACCEPTS those kids, with no due process, and in our case against the recommendation of a qualified professional. It is a highly profitable business that preys on desperate parents. At some point they have to be accountable, and begin to make some cursory validation of the child's history. Presently, the only true requirement is the ability to pay. Once that is established, they will promptly incarcerate your child for you. Anyone looking at an enrollment application for wilderness therapy would expect to see a history of drug abuse, theft, truancy and/or violence. And one would expect to see a long list of traditional therapy treatments that were explored prior to taking such a radical step. My step-son's application had none of that. No reasonable person would have believed he could be enrolled based on the information they were given. That should have been a red flag. It wasn't. A valid credit card authorization was included with the application; that was all that mattered.
Anonymous:
--- Quote ---On 2006-01-03 22:08:00, Notafriendofredcliff wrote:
"
--- Quote ---
On 2005-12-23 15:07:00, Anonymous wrote:
"There is no doubt that there are awful programs out there but I don't think Redcliff is one of them -- the industry is ripe for abuse and not well legislated or controlled and parents send kids who don't need to be there...
"
--- End quote ---
There is only ONE reason parents are ABLE to send kids who don't need to be there. Redcliff knowingly ACCEPTS those kids, with no due process, and in our case against the recommendation of a qualified professional. It is a highly profitable business that preys on desperate parents. At some point they have to be accountable, and begin to make some cursory validation of the child's history. Presently, the only true requirement is the ability to pay. Once that is established, they will promptly incarcerate your child for you. Anyone looking at an enrollment application for wilderness therapy would expect to see a history of drug abuse, theft, truancy and/or violence. And one would expect to see a long list of traditional therapy treatments that were explored prior to taking such a radical step. My step-son's application had none of that. No reasonable person would have believed he could be enrolled based on the information they were given. That should have been a red flag. It wasn't. A valid credit card authorization was included with the application; that was all that mattered. "
--- End quote ---
Ya know -- I would have to agree with you -- my son had all of those things you mention - I can't remember if you said that your application had been falsified by the mother --
In any event this is a last resort for sure and I know for myself one that I didn't take lightly -- It seems like Redcliff should have some liability here like you say...
Would it be possible for your husband to sue them civil court at least??? It would seem that based on everything you say they should have liability regardless of what the mother signed...
I know I had to fill out tons of documents and assements. Medical history and treatment history. Did you ever get to see those? Maybe the Mom made you guys out to be wack jobs and she lied on the forms
Again it is just such a different picture than the one we have of this organization that it puzzles me that you con't get anywhere legally.
How is your son doing now? Mine is doing exceptional. He calls me several times a week and loves his new school (of course it is not a behaviorial mod/level system or WWASP run place) It is a safe place where he can learn in a drug free environment.
We sold our home and are moving out of state just so that he can have a freash start when he gets home in a few months.
I wish you the best and would tell you to keep pursuing them -- they should be held as accountable for making the mistakes with your son as I hold them accountable for giving my son a new lease on life...
Good Luck.
Notafriendofredcliff:
If you filled out all the paperwork, you were just wasting your time. It wasn't necessary. We weren't supposed to see the application, but we received (in error) a full copy of it after he was admitted. If memory serves me (I could check in the files) it was at least 30 pages long. We watched in amazement as it all came in over the fax. It was current with handwritten intake notations on it. The employee who provided it to us was transferred shortly afterward. Yes, it asked for a tremendous amount of detailed information. Most of it was left blank. They accepted it anyway. The information that WAS provided was not sufficient to warrant any action, much less admission to wilderness therapy.
Redcliff wouldn't give us the name of the company who abducted and delivered the boy to them, so we pressed for ALL the documents they had on him. We were jerked around repeatedly. We made many phone calls to Steve Naudauld (Admissions Director) until he quit accepting/returning phone calls. He had told us (and had his attorney assure us) that my husband's Joint Legal Custody was meaningless to them, and they had no intention of sharing any of the paperwork. Among the paperwork we received in error was a form that listed my husband (amongst others) as someone authorized to receive ALL information about his son. Steve Naudauld refused to acknowledge the existence of this release, which he had in the file, and we even faxed him a copy of. Certified mail went unanswered. We provided them with a court order allowing my husband access to the records. They refused to acknowledge it.
These are the people you entrusted with your son's welfare. Read their hiring policies. You'll be amazed how little is required to be a field staff member. I'd require more of a babysitter. Yes, they are regulated, but only to the extent it is possible, when you consider how far out in the desert they are. If abuse took place, how would a child report it? Tell an employee? They've just been abandoned to the "care" of these people, they cannot use a phone, and they certainly cannot get a letter to you that hasn't been in the hands of an employee before it is mailed. I doubt they check the first batch of letters that go out. They all start out the same with "Your children are a reflection of YOU". Standard, and obviously dictated.
Their website shows "independent" studies that prove the effectiveness of their program. Look up the CVs of their contributors. One is on their board of directors, the other received over $200,000 for his research, from the OBHIC (then look at the people who run the OBHIC....plenty of Redcliff owners, etc).
The three peak climb is nothing more than an excuse to keep the child longer. They tell you how much the child is looking forward to this great challenge/experience (and how could you deprive him of such a thing after what he's been through). In our case it was canceled for some unknown reason. As for spending the night in the outdoors with your son, you had the luxury of a bathroom and shower, which he never had there. And you had food, not dried oats and rice. And you were there of your own free will. Makes it easier to enjoy the stars and the scenery.
Are you aware that the Redcliff land is a public hunting area? They don't own that land. There are people walking around out there with guns.
Their contract has a full section on their policies regarding a child being withdrawn by another parent, regardless of custodial status. It states clearly that ANY parent may withdraw the child with 24 hour's notice. For reasons we'll never understand, they had different requirements for my husband. They would not even accept a court order from our home state (which has jurisdiction over the custody), but required that we come to Utah and attempt to get a court order there. WT is big business in Utah, with a powerful lobby. We wouldn't have stood a chance. Of course, they didn't tell us it had to be a UTAH court order until we had blown a ton of time and money in the courts here. They were buying time.
I don't want to burst your bubble, and I truly hope your son is doing well. But please understand it's quite common for a kid to experience the euphoric phase after being released from WT, and he still has not been acclimated back into the real world. It's going to be a long time before you really know how he is doing.
We're not litigious people, and I doubt anything could be accomplished through the courts anyway. But there needs to be a complete overhaul of this barbaric system, and some due process afforded the children whose families put them into it. Redcliff accepts quite a few kids who are adjudicated to be there, but many others are placed merely at the whims of their parents. Redcliff SHOULD HAVE an affirmative moral obligation to confirm the status of applicants, to be sure they are not accepting children who are sent there through no fault of their own. They accepted an innocent child, nearly destroyed our lives, and kept my husband from his son for 80 days. If you'll read their contract, it basically says they have the right to accept anything you tell them as the truth. They don't have to verify anything.
Things are improving at home. I'm almost afraid to say that, as every time I do it all goes to hell. We are doing the best we can to assure him we are in this for the long run, and we're not going to give up on him. I think he's starting to trust us, and believes we are really here for him. He has a lot of catching up to do since he missed so much school. He is definitely benefiting from being in a stable loving household. When I think of what he's been through, I am angry beyond description. Nobody has the right to strip a child of all his human rights, isolate him from his family, and incarcerate him without justification. But that's exactly what Redcliff did.
Anonymous:
It's a damn shame that we joint custody parents can be treated this way.
The legal process for getting them out shouldn't take so long, particularly given that the placement was in violation of our court ordered rights and our spouses are in contempt of court by making the placement without knowledge or consent.
I think programs like the kind of parent who would run ruff shod over the other parent's rights. They feel a kinship of sorts.
If I had it to do again, I would hire an attorney immediately to file for a court hearing, then retrieve my kid and sue for primary custody. Giving the other parent visitation rights only if s/he passed a psych eval.
In hindsight, I think it makes more sense to be proactive rather than wait for the matter to be settled in court. That gives the program and the temporarily insane parent time to conspire on how to present to the court that the kid is on a 'slippery slope' and in need of treatment, which the opposing parent is attempting to 'interfere' with. Perjury if necessary.
Glad your boy is home and has your full support. That is so important after time in any program.
AtomicAnt:
Thank you Notafriendofredcliff for posting. You did not have to come here and share your private issues with us. Your posts here can be found by parents shopping for help for their children. They will gain valuable insight from them.
As a non-custodial parent, I find it frightening that there are places that will violate court ordered visitation agreements and deny access to a legally entitled parent.
Also, thanks for posting all the way through your experience. Too often, the beginning of the story is told, but then stops and we are all left hanging, wondering, 'whaterver happened to..?'
I wish you and your family the best.
This also goes to the anonymous poster who feels her son is doing much better because of the program. It is taking quite a risk to post level-headed positive stories on a board that seems intent on bashing the entire industry. If parents (and observers like me), are to gain an understanding of these issues, we need to hear from all sides. I wish you and your son the best as well.
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