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PARENTING
Group rates programs for troubled teens
After her own harrowing experience, a Weston mom formed Parents Universal Resource Experts.
BY YVONNE CAREY
Special to The Miami Herald
After failed attempts at family therapy and private counseling, Weston working mother Sue Scheff decided to send her troubled teen to a therapeutic boarding school to ease the tension for both mother and daughter.
Scheff and daughter Ashlyn, 14 at the time, pored over the literature from the few available facilities and settled on one run by The World Wide Association of Specialty Programs and Schools (WWASPS), a Utah-based organization that claims its programs can correct inappropriate behavior in children 12 and older.
Scheff learned her daughter was being abused only after Ashlyn became gravely ill from food poisoning at the facility.
''Another parent from the program called me and asked how Ashlyn was doing and it was only then I found out because her daughter had managed to leak the information to her,'' Scheff said. "They either told me [Ashlyn] was lying in her letters asking for help or that contact with her was detrimental to the treatment.''
The experience led Scheff to start P.U.R.E., or Parents Universal Resource Experts, an organization that assists parents in finding trustworthy programs for their children struggling with issues like addiction, violence and attention deficit disorder.
''Before P.U.R.E., there was nowhere to go,'' Scheff said. "We do all the research and legwork for them to find what is available, and then they decide where to place their teens. We prescreen these schools and programs by visiting them and interviewing not only the parents and teens who completed the program or attended the school but also those who are currently in the program or school.''
P.U.R.E. also has a suggested reading list for parents and teens. It is financed by several schools and programs as well receiving private donations, Scheff said, so the service is free.
Terri Pardo of Pembroke Pines said the referral list of doctors, psychiatrists, psychologists and group therapy included an out-of-state source that was perfect for her son, Robert.
''She has firsthand experience to know what it's like to need help. You feel all alone,'' Pardo said of Scheff, noting the popular perception that the parent is at fault and that more punishment is the answer. "This gave me an alternate source from someone who went through the same thing and it was a great comfort.''
Scheff's plight, and her solution, have gained the attention of the media. Dr. Phil McGraw, host of the popular psychology TV talk show, Dr. Phil, has recommended P.U.R.E. to parents.
According to a June Miami New Times article, at least six other WWASPS programs around the world have been investigated or closed during the past decade, following allegations of abuse or questionable practices.
''Teen boot camp abuse is widely known and a very serious, hot topic,'' Scheff said. "We don't want to separate the kids from the parent. We want to bring families back together.''
Scheff has written a book based on similar experiences of parents, At My Wit's End, which she hopes to have published by next fall.
