Anchor Academy for Boys in Havre, Montana.

[Pastor]

DD...I would encourge you to keep considering Anchor Academy.  Go there and visit.  I will meet you there if that would help.  Stick around for awhile and see what you see.  Unlike many of the posters here, I think there are good programs out there and that Anchor happens to be one.  I further don't think we are dummies that can't view and see and learn what is happening at any program.

[Nihilanthic]

Does the term dog and pony show mean anything?

Theyre going to have the higher-level students around you, and youre going to be guided around on the tour and be given the whole song and dance. How it really is when a visitor isnt around vs how it is when theyre selling it to you are two totally different things.

I mean come on, any program is going to do a good job to sell it to you and show you what you want and have the good kids around to sell it. You wont be allowed to talk to the ones who dont like it and anyone with something bad to say wont be allowed to say it. If they let something bad slip while youre there then it would be an obvious no-sale... so keep your eyes peeled. This isnt about what YOU want to see, or YOU want to hear. Its not about your feelings and fears, its about your son.

But I degress. Any business will try its hardest to sell itself to you before you send your kid to their custody and give them money. Just keep your eyes open and be critical, and see how they respond to criticism.

The real test is what happens when the dad is gone, and the child is kept there and he cant leave, and cant tell anyone whats going on without going through monitored phone calls or mail  :roll:

If you really MUST send him to a program, then at LEAST read up in this:
http://www.askquestions.org/articles/teens/

Also, a few bullet points here for you. One of them is visit in person, which pastor has recommended you to do. The two most important ones are as follows:

    * Ask a lawyer to review enrollment contracts before signing them.
    * And finally, stay in contact with the child throughout their stay in a residential facility so that you can move them out quickly at the first sign of trouble.

Stay in contact, and do not allow censorship, do not let them say things such as "any bad things said are made up to manipulate their way out" bla bla bla. If there is criticism, it should be rebutted and faced, not dismissed or pre-emptively discredited. Any calls are between you and him, and dont let someone listen in or be there to hang up or interrupt if he has a criticism or a grievance. Oh, and no censored mail... that being censored on the way in or out.

I realize that not all places are bad, as its extremely unlikely - but letting them hide it if it IS is hardly the responsible thing to do.

It may be that our role on this planet is not to worship God, but to create him.
--Arthur C. Clarke, author

[Withdraw]

Just because your son is doing things that you can't deal with now, doesnt mean he deserves the chance you are taking with his life.

It could end with a branch or improper restraining or koolaide for that matter. YOU just don't know. And any program will cover up anything negitive when you call or visit. Your kid will be scared to death (literally to death) to tell you if anything is wrong, once you send him away. I think the risk you are taking with your kid's LIFE is greater than any risk he is taking himself.

[Nihilanthic]

Why the hell am I in the subtopic of all these posts?  ::

O senseless man, who cannot possibly make a worm and yet will make Gods by the dozen!
--Michel Eyqyem de Montaigne, French essayist

[Anonymous]

On 2005-10-13 21:03:00, Pastor wrote:

"

On 2005-10-13 15:53:00, Antigen wrote:


" But the people who run the place have a long and sordid history.


"

You don't know that to be true!"

Yes, we do. Go read some about the Roloff Ministries and the damage they cause to hundreds of kids.

[Anonymous]

EVEN IF the Roloff Ministries have a "long and sordid history" of poor treatment of youth -- and this doesn't deny (or affirm) that -- I've not seen any connection here, let alone a clear and continuing connection, between Anchor and the Roloffs.

[Helena Handbasket]

On 2005-10-14 05:51:00, Anonymous wrote:

"EVEN IF the Roloff Ministries have a "long and sordid history" of poor treatment of youth -- and this doesn't deny (or affirm) that -- I've not seen any connection here, let alone a clear and continuing connection, between Anchor and the Roloffs. "

Ok, ya know - you can get the facts just as well as the rest of us can.  Whether you get them and what you choose to do with them is purely up to you.  

Bottom line - if Anchor's Policies look like this list, there's a problem: http://www.isaccorp.org/warningsigns.html

If you want to minimize the risk, rationalize the red flags and stick your head in the sand while blowing sunshine up the ass of an abusive program, that's your decision.  Maybe your God will forgive you some day, as well as your kid.

[Pastor]

On 2005-10-14 01:04:00, Anonymous wrote:

"

On 2005-10-13 21:03:00, Pastor wrote:


"

On 2005-10-13 15:53:00, Antigen wrote:



" But the people who run the place have a long and sordid history.



"

You don't know that to be true!"

No you don't, you are judging a separate organization or group by the actions of another.  You are wrong, wrong.  You do not know that Anchor Academy has a long and sordid history.  How can you be so closed minded and judgemental.  

[Nihilanthic]

[/quote]  :roll:  :roll:  :roll:  :roll:  :roll:  :roll:  :roll:  :roll:  :roll:  :roll:  :roll:

WOULD YOU PLEASE USE IT? You keep screwing up the formatting for the whole page!

We get crushed in the first three, four years of school...We're trained to become parrots. We're trained to learn information and give it back at test time.  But we're not taught to think. We're not taught how to access genius.
--Victor Villasenor, author of Burro Genius (2004)

[ This Message was edited by: Nihilanthic on 2005-10-14 12:03 ]

[Antigen]

Cause I've seen this song and dance before. So have you, or at least heard or read about it. Remember manifest destiny? How fervently we of Western Christian heritage believed our murderous policies were the will of God, Almighty. How'd that work out for us, Pastor?

There's a special place in Hell for those who mislead the innocent.

...the coercive collectivist State is distinctly uninterested in the cultivation of intelligence and wisdom. This is understandable...for the State has no uses to which persons of intelligence and wisdom can be put.
--Albert Jay Nock.

[Antigen]

On 2005-10-14 05:51:00, Anonymous wrote:

"EVEN IF the Roloff Ministries have a "long and sordid history" of poor treatment of youth -- and this doesn't deny (or affirm) that -- I've not seen any connection here, let alone a clear and continuing connection, between Anchor and the Roloffs. "

Quick, Pastor, cover your eyes!!!

http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/onl ... froar.html

BTW, this is the VERY FIRST hit if you google roloff anchor.

Any priest or shaman must be presumed guilty until proven innocent.
--Robert A. Heinlen, American science-ficiton author

_________________
Ginger Warbis ~ Antigen
Drug war POW
Seed Chicklett `71 - `80
Straight, Sarasota
   10/80 - 10/82
Apostate 10/82 -
Anonymity Anonymous

[Antigen]

Oh, lookie here! Straight from the horse's ass

http://www.roloff.org/about/weare.htm

Have you asked the nice people at Anchor if/how they're affiliated w/ Roloff?

We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark.  The real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.  
--Plato

[Pastor]

My answer to you is:
We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark. The real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.
--Plato

[Pastor]

On 2005-10-14 12:35:00, Antigen wrote:

"

On 2005-10-14 05:51:00, Anonymous wrote:



"EVEN IF the Roloff Ministries have a "long and sordid history" of poor treatment of youth -- and this doesn't deny (or affirm) that -- I've not seen any connection here, let alone a clear and continuing connection, between Anchor and the Roloffs. "

Quick, Pastor, cover your eyes!!!



http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/onl ... froar.html



BTW, this is the VERY FIRST hit if you google roloff anchor.

Any priest or shaman must be presumed guilty until proven innocent.

--Robert A. Heinlen, American science-ficiton author

_________________

Ginger Warbis ~ Antigen

Drug war POW

Seed Chicklett `71 - `80

Straight, Sarasota

   10/80 - 10/82

Apostate 10/82 -

Anonymity Anonymous"

Ginger, I didn't write that, but it is okay, I know the connection.  So, Not everything that you think is bad, is!   What about going and investigating instead of running everything down.  Go and see.  I would hate to be your enemy.  Jesus was attacked because he was connected with sinners.  You don't give anyone a chance.  I have read all the posts...well at least a lot of them...and I find as many that were helped and speak up,as those that castigate the Roloff ministries.  Sure there are churches that are bad, I don't discount all churches, you might.  Sure there are programs that are bad, I don't discount all programs, you seem to want to do that.  And, I know people, parents, ladies named Ginger and Pastors who are bad, but I don't discount all that have those afiliations.  Come on, let's be fair.  No, that doesn't seem to be a word that is used![ This Message was edited by: Pastor on 2005-10-14 13:23 ]

[Anonymous]

Nice references to places that link Roloff and the "Anchor Home" --- BUT THAT IS NOT THE PLACE THAT STARTED THIS THREAD.  Anchor Home was in Texas, then moved to Missouri, all according to the two links provided.  That seems a far distance from where Anchor Academy is located.

It rather seems like (a) you didn't do your work carefully, (b) you don't really care about being right so long as you slam any kind of youth home/program, or (c) both a and b.

There is another (good) program in another state with a name that is similar to, but not the same as, an unrelated and different (as in totally different type) but not-recommendable program that has been hurt by the same lack of accuracy.  At least that is in the same state.  Here, we're talking a thousand miles or more.

So I repeat - no connection shown.