Northwood Children's Home and Miller Dwan

[nuiloa]

Hello everyone,

I have only recently realized that I am not alone in having experienced abuse in an institution.  I am starting to write a book about it, as well as documenting other instances of institutionalized child abuse.  However, I haven't seen Northwood or Miller Dwan in the lists I've looked at- and they need to be there, particularly Northwood.  While I lived there, we were tortured and a group of kids was left in -30 weather to freeze.  There was at least one restraint death there that I am aware of.  I wanted to find out if anyone else had experienced Northwood or Miller Dwan (in Duluth, MN).

-nuiloa

[Deborah]

Yes, Bobby Sue Thomas (17) died at Northwood on 16 Aug 1996, due to restraint.
If anyone has a link to an article I would like to have it.

[nuiloa]

Hi,

I haven't seen an article on it, but I watched it on the news after I was discharged from Northwoods.  I even spoke to a man, John Holly, who was working there at the time and point-blanked him about it.  He claims that 'she died of a heart attack during restraint because she was obese'.  I think she was 14 years old.  He also claims that everyone at Northwood felt 'terrible' about it.  Having lived there, I know what their 'restraint' was like!  It is my opinion that she died because of the way she was restrained.  When I was restrained, six adults sat on me, half-on, half-off the bed so that I couldn't breathe and was pressed hard into the wooden side of the bed for a good while before they finally hauled me onto the floor and sat on me there.  So I think the heart attack thing is absolute bull.  Maybe I'm wrong- but I highly doubt it.
I'm finally writing a book about that place- did you live there?  Or know someone who did?  I would like to find some of the people who lived there at the same time I did, to see how they feel about Northwood.

-nuiloa

[Deborah]

Are you familiar with the term (which I believe was coined by the industry) "Excited Delirium"?
Blames the kid for his/her own death. Cardiac arrest is frequent with restraints.
http://fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.php?to ... rt=0#37223

No, fortunately I was never in a program. But, I have known several kids who were, including my sons. A neighbor's son was killed at a wilderness program:
http://fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.php?to ... t=30#47152
http://www.fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.ph ... rum=41&144

Welcome! And good luck with the book. I don't recall either of those programs being discussed here before, but that could change tomorrow. The more you put the name on the web so it comes up in googles, the more likely you'll be to find others. This thread already shows up on page 2, searching for NCH. Build it and they will come.

[nuiloa]

I think I read of that on TeenAdvocates USA (about Excited Delirium).  I still question myself every day- was it really that bad?  Should I have moved on with my life, as some doctors (medical) have told me?  It's good to know it comes up on page 2 for NCH; hopefully it will show up as the first hit.  On the other hand, the man who runs Northwood tends to somehow 'know' when I'm saying bad things about the place, even now!  I don't know how he does it.  

I am sorry to see that your sons went through such horrible abuse.  I am also sorry to hear that your neighbor's kid died in a wilderness camp.  Northwood was a combination of many things, wilderness camp being one of them.  If you look up 'Northwood Children's' 'Gooseberry Falls' and 'FindLaw' you'll see the only court case I've ever seen brought against them- and this happened while I was living there.  I find it horrifying.  Perhaps I should post the case on here?

Recently I found a link on a PBS special about NCH (also referred to as Northwood Children's Services) called 'Always for the Children', called it a 'heartwarming program' about a 'wonderful organization'.  That's probably what upset me the most, and made me realize it was high time I write this book.  I'm a novelist already; this is the one story I haven't told- my own.

-nuiloa

[nuiloa]

Ah yes- I forgot to add that they just had to pay a great deal of money in overtime to their staff, which they wouldn't pay for a long time. So at Northwood, apparently everybody gets screwed.

-nuiloa