To add to my post of December 24 and to answer some questions.
No I do not know anything more about daily therapy at the school other than what the web site contains. I only know that my aquaintance (who is the non-custodial parent of the student) is not allowed to be involved in any face-to-face therapy with her child and a therapist. Instead my friend is only allowed a ten-minute conversation with her child per week. The counselors are pressuring the child to make these phone conversations (which are monitored and recorded) "structured". That is, they require the child to ask my friend "therapeutic" questions. If the parent does not want to respond to these questions, the child and the counselor at New Leaf terminate the call. All discussions between my friend and the child are turned over to the custodial parent for use in an on-going custody/visitation dispute.
In the end what has New Leaf accomplished with this child? Before the student entered New Leaf she was hostile to the custodial parent and loving toward the non-custodial parent. Now she is openly hostile and contemptuous of the non-custodial parent. I do not know what her relationship is with the custodial parent. So, is the situation better? Who knows??
As for screening the parent and child, yes absolutely. The parent(s) must be able to pay. And New Leaf at North Carolina will not address children with severe emotional or behavoiral problems.
They do not want children who have abused drugs or alcohol, been runaways, are sexually promiscuous, have been violent or suicidal, or have children with severe learning or emotional disabilities. They do not have the expertise to deal with these problems.