Listen, I have no doubts whatsoever some of these people are caring, empathetic, intuitive and good influences for the kids. I've stated this many times before.
The problem is that what HLA advertises and what it provides are two very, very disparate products. As another poster said, if they were just a boarding school, this wouldn't be such a big deal. This is not the case, however.
HLA advertises that it provides counseling for its residents by masters level couselors which is provably false, considering there is only a single licensed counselor on the premises and many of the other counselors have unrelated degrees or no degrees whatsoever.
This is a huge problem in a couple of respects. One, "therapy" is being provided by unlicensed, untrained and sometimes completely uneducated staff and two, it is absolutely and unquestionably false advertising.
If HLA cannot manage hire and retain even the most minimally qualified people (sometimes being nice or caring just isn't enough - I think we can agree on that), what the hell are they doing with or for your kids for $5700.00 a month?
A second point: If there are indeed people who care about the welfare of these children, why do they accept the conditions under which these children are held? Why aren't they standing up for what is right and confronting the management as to why these kids get such low-quality care?
I hear what you're saying, but part and parcel of "caring about the kids" is addressing the shitty, subpar conditions of their treatment, the lack of proper mental health care, the unlicensed, uneducated staff, the behavior modification program, the unlicensed teachers without degrees in their disciplines, the blatant violations of accrediting standards and ORS regulations, the manipulating and fear-mongering (both kids and parents) etc - not to mention their being confined with dangerous inappropriate placements, some of whom have been reported by employees to be pedophiles and sexual batterers/rapists - is it not?
At what point does "caring" translate into doing the right thing?