Question for Whitmore Parents or Students

[Anonymous]

Hi,

Anybody remember a post from a W kid or parent that said approx. how much they thought Sue Scheff was paid by WHITMORE for referrals?

I tried a WWF search, but there's just too many threads and posts to sort through, I did my best, but I'm hoping someone remembers and can either answer the question OR point me to the original thread and post.

Thanks for any help you can offer. I'm curious what the fee range is and would think this info might be useful to journalists and others exploring this side of the industry.

FYI - ED CONS are paid by parents, not programs, but Scheff is not an educational consultant. She's just a parent who had a troubled teen and once worked for WWASPS referring other parents to them until something happened.  It's in the WWASPS v. PURE transcripts, but I don't remember what it was that happened to prompt Scheff to start her own referral business.  Maybe someone else knows?

 :wave:

[Anonymous]

Tim Lowe the therapist and "sometimes acting admissions director at Whitmore" said Sue Scheff was paid 10% of the annual yearly fee of the student she enrolled at Whitmore.
Most parents in 2003-2004 were paying approximately $3,750.00 to $4,500 per month to the Sudweeks.
Tim Lowe also said that 100% of the placements at Whitmore Academy came from Sue Scheff, PURE.
This guy had no reason to lie that can be seen.

That's a lot of money from this cash cow of Scheff's.

Scheff continued to refer kids to Whitmore, even after the Sudweeks were being investigated for child abuse. Worse yet, she continued to send parent to Whitmore even after Cheryl Sudweeks was charged with criminal child abuse.
And yes, she was paid by the owners of the program, and she's not an educational consultant. Scheff has been know to lie about this,being a consultant too.  Can read this lie, along with others--like lying about having a degree...etc etc... by reading her deposition using the search feature.

And Scheff has the nerve to complain about WWASP that she referred kids to herself?  This woman has something terrible wrong in her views of "helping children." She refers children to what is known to be an abusive facility. This is just wrong.  And Scheff does it to make money. There's just no way to explain something like that.

[Antigen]

I think I can explain it. Sue Scheff is dumb as a bag of hammers. She initially sent her kids off for reprogramming, but didn't ever catch onto the "wink, wink, say n'more" about the pepper spray, isolation, physical beatings and all the rest. When she 'discovered' all this, some months after having taken up fulltime employment at selling the program to desperate strangers, she was incensed!

So she set about to alert all the other dumber than bricks yuppies of the danger. "Don't send your kid to WWASP, they leave bruises! Here, send them to one of these other places. Same great brainwashing, less physical evidence."

Today's mighty oak is just yesterday's nut that held its ground.
--Anonymous

[Anonymous]

Well, the Sudweeks--Sue Scheff's little abusive friends at Whitmore-- left physical evidence on the kids they abused. Guess that's why Cheryl Sudweeks is facing a criminal trial. Guess that's why several families have filed a civil suit. Maybe Ms. Scheff will be called as a witness in the criminal and civil trial and she will get a chance to explain herself. And she does such a great job explaining herself under oath, now doesn't she? Yea, right.

[Anonymous]

I definitly think this trial should be covered by the mainstream media ... DATELINE, 48 HOURS, maybe even COURT TV?

This is bigger than the WWASPS controvery in my opinion because it involves criminal charges and an investigation on U.S. soil. Also, the issue involving finder's fees for placements may be of interest to journalists who aren't aware of this practice which does raise troubling questions about a potential conflict of interest.

Lastly, Maia's book is a good resource for journalists to get the back story on the industry at large -- as is the current tragedy at the boot camp in Florida.

Bottom line, it's not ALL ABOUT WWASPS ... they may be the biggest but when you combine all the group homes, faith based schools, wilderness programs, etc. the picture that this is really an epidemic comes into focus.

Just my 2 cents for what it's worth.

[Anonymous]

How does one generate interest in mainstream media for a trial like this? It is barely covered in the Utah newspapers.

[Anonymous]

Agree that these other programs are just as dangerous as WWASP.  It's still kids being abused.

[Anonymous]

What prompted Sue Scheff to start her own referral business?  Simple.  MONEY $$$$$$$$$$$

[Antigen]

Then why didn't she just go into wholesale drug smuggling? Or insurance fraud? Or prostitution? Or immigrant slave trade? She is, after all, located just outside of Snort Lauderdale. All of those trades are more lucrative and less cruel than the one she chose.

No, there's more to it. The money is there and it's a potent lure. But not anywhere near as potent and addictive as zealot sadistic altruism.

Tough Love: Abuse of a type particularly enjoyable to the abuser, in that it combines the pleasures of sadism with those of self-righteousness. Commonly employed and widely admired in 12-step groups.
--Chaz Bufe

Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and consciencious stupidity.
--Martin Luther King, Jr.

[Anonymous]

Endora, after looking up the definitions of the words (1) zealot  (2) sadistic  (3) altruism

It does appear that Sue Scheff just might be (1)A fanatically committed person who (2) derives pleasure from inflicting pain on others by (3)attempting to spread what she views as her moral obligations towards all humanity, and her unselfish concerns for others.

But, I don't really think so.
Maybe when she locked her daughter away in that WWASP program, and she saw just how easy it was to gather up all that money in referral fees, she just decided to go out on her own and open her own little business?

Of course, when she got accused of stealing a few "clients" from WWASP, things got all nasty.

OR, maybe she just doesn't like kids?

[Avid Folkie]

I agree in saying the whitmore should be put in the media along with all the other lies. you people like to look at these kind of things because it makes you feel like you give a hoot about the world. Now granted, some of you posting here are either former whitmore kids, or parents of whitmore kids, and you do care. However it seems to me that rarely any of you even mention cheryl's name. You talk about Sue Scheff or whatever. Ive never even heard about her. I dont care who she is. What i care about is when people lie about a person like cheryl because, unlike people who never went there, i saw that she put every once of energy and love she had into the kids that went there. She cared just as much about the kids at the whitmore as she did about her own, and she is a loving, caring, concidering parent. I feel bad mostly for her family because they don't deserve to be going through all of this, and neither does she. If you are going to be angry about all this, take it up with the Utah board of education or one of the other governmental departments that "let this slide  under the radar". Don't blame cheryl sudweeks for caring, or for trying to make a living off of the thing she cared most about which is helping other people. Cheryl gave me the greatest gift i ever had, and if you people wanna say that im lying or that i dont even know Cheryl or something stupid like that you can go ahead, but if cheryl didn't help me, than i dont know how i went from a depressed, suicidal, self hating kid who was incapable of love to a person who cares so much about other people, and a person who would do anything for the person that he loves. and if you wanna make fun of my grammar or something else like that because you couldnt think of anything better to say feel free to go ahead and do so because ill know that what i said stopped you in you're tracks. Im expecting you people to throw out names and money signs and numbers in return, and you have every right to do so, but nothing you can say can make me feel differently about the way i feel about cheryl or the way i feel about myself. someday you or your kids will be listening to the music i make, and you wont even know it. every song i write, i write with cheryl in mind. every time i feel down i try and remember what cheryl would say. everytime i feel happy or i feel like i did something great, i wish cheryl was there because i konw she would be proud of me. numbers, and laws, and names, and words do not overcome the power of Love, and that is all Cheryl wanted to do. We live in a weak society. Everytime we hear about something discomforting, we change the channel, or change the website, or put down the paper. We make up laws so that anything that doesnt seem "PC" is against the law. Now i may be wrong about laws and what not and the contract because i never read it myself, but if i am correct in saying that when we are put there for whatever time we are, it is under her and mark's custody. Ive had my fair share of abuse and pain but none of it came from the household of Mark and Cheryl Sudweeks. I wish you all good fortune and good times to come.

Sincerely,  Mark ponte

PS for all you people who may disbeleive me in saying who i am, and it has happened on this forum in the past, feel free to ask me any questions. I know who i am.

[Joyce Harris]

Avid Folkes,

You have your RIGHT to feel towards Cheryl Sudweeks any way you choose to feel.

But you do not have the RIGHT to call anyone else a LIAR, OK?

And you hear the name Sue Scheff over and over because she referred children to Whitmore Academy and was paid lots of money for doing that.
You may want to ask your parents if they were referred to Whitmore Academy by Sue Scheff or PURE.  I assure you, their answer will be "YES."

You must remember: you get to have your own OPINION, but you do not get to call victims and their parents LIARS.
No one has attacked you, or called you names.

Please show other people the same respect.

[Anonymous]

Mark all these issues were taken up with the authorities in Utah. That's why the Sudweeks had their license revoked, and why they say "they are out of the teen help business." Think those were Mark Sudweeks's words to Kristen Stewart at the TRIBUNE newspaper.

[Anonymous]

Well, Cheryl just has a strange way of displaying all that LOVE:
It's just not LOVING to do the following:
Spit in a child's face.
Call girls "slut..whore..dildo..bitch"
Throw boys down the stairs--two of them
Make kids beat up other kids
Withhold food as a form of punishment
Slap a kid across the face
Only allow timed two-minute showers
Make kids put poopy toliet paper in open containers.
Scream, rant, rave and cuss at kids
Hold marathon GROUPS on kids
Read kid's journals aloud in GROUP to humiliate them.
Fondle young girls
Talk about your personal married sex life
Tell lies all the time
Make kids write false police reports
Make loud scenes out in public
Tell tall tales about personal health
Listen in on private phone calls to parents
There's more...so much more.

[Anonymous]

avid folkie do you protest too much in saying who you are? hi cheryl! n
now remember about checking those ip addresses, ok?