Sue Scheff and PURE Set Sights for 2007

[Anonymous]

Sue Scheff And P.U.R.E Set Sights For 2007
 
Parent Universal Resource Experts
10/29/2006 9:57:14 PM

Contact: Sue Scheff 954.349.7260 www.helpyourteens.com

October 30, 2006/Webwire

Sue Scheff, President of Parent Universal Resource Experts (P.U.R.E) announced new company objectives and goals for 2007. ?We are very pleased with the results and the progress that P.U.R.E made in 2006,? said Scheff.


With a re-vamped website offering new parent resources, a favorable court ruling defeating an appeal from World-wide Association of Specialty Programs and Schools (WWASPS), and an award of $11.3 million in a victory against Internet defamation, the year has been eventful for Scheff who is arguably one of the nation?s outspoken proponents for family advocacy and parent awareness.


?This past year has taught me a lot about my convictions regarding the teen help industry and the reality that I will always be someone under attack on forums and blogs in an effort to be discredited,? continued Scheff. ?But, I vow to continue to fight to raise parent awareness and offer parents support through professional referral resources and services for many more years to come.?


Parent?s Universal Resources was founded in 2001 by a group of parent advocates to help families in crisis with defiant or struggling teens. ?P.U.R.E. was established to offer first hand experience and share schools and programs that we would send our own children to. We are not therapists, or medical doctors; we are parents helping parents,? said Scheff.


P.U.R.E.?s confidence in best-of-class service offering comes from associations with behavioral health professionals that are highly credible and reliable. They operate a very rigorous screening process that includes a network of schools and programs that offer national accreditation for education and vocation, a therapeutic milieu?s that mandates at least 10 hours of clinical intervention per student per week, and a transition approach that requires participation of the entire family unit. ?With our added associations with the Better Business Bureau, States Attorney Generals Offices, and the Alliance for Children & Families, we believe we are a more thorough and objective option for parents,? concluded Scheff.


In connection with assisting parents, P.U.R.E. helps organizations such as Coalition Against Institutionalized Child Abuse (CAICA www.caica.org) to insure that children are kept safe and are not placed in abusive environments. P.U.R.E. is also involved in the distribution of ?What Every Parent Needs to Know,? an informational DVD that further educates parents on how to find the right programs and schools for their family and teen. Sue Scheff will also have her first book, ?At Wit?s End? published in spring 2007.



 
Related Links
 

www.helpyourteens.com
 

www.ciaca.org

[Anonymous]

Fuck both of you bitches.  Quit plugging your goddamn referral sites here.

 ::fuckoff::  ::both::  ::fuckoff::  ::both::

[Anonymous]

Philip Elberg, of Medvin & Elberg of Newark, New Jersey, sharply criticized Scheff and other people who refer parents to programs for troubled teens. ?People in this industry have consistently used their money and their access to lawyers to silence critics of the industry and this may be one of those examples,? Elberg said. ?Sue Scheff is simply another person in the industry of people who make money from the plight of frightened parents.??

Note: It would appear that Ms. Scheff has a selective memory.  This statement by Mr. Elberg was published by the news media in a news publication - not a message board or blog.

Second, the "blogsphere" was not represented at the trial ergo this "victory" has an unavoidable "hollow" ring to it.  The defendant did not (could not according to her) tell her side of the story.

Third, according to news reports, Ms. Scheff through her attorney David Pollack offered to settle the case for $35,000 pre-trial.

[Anonymous]

Fourth:  According to transcripts from the WWASPS v. PURE trial it was learned that Sue Scheff continued to refer children to WWASPS programs after removing her own daughter from one of their programs claiming it was abusive and after starting PURE.

Source:  Court Document:  WWASPS v. PURE
http://isaccorp.org/wwasps/wwaspsvpure.pdf

[Anonymous]

Fifth: In a press release issued by ISAC, an acronym for the International Survivors Action Committee, one of the programs to which Scheff makes referrals, Whitmore Academy, was initially charged with multiple counts of child abuse and hazing in connection with four children at the boarding school.

The owner recently pled no contest to four counts of hazing, and was ordered to pay fines and complete community service.

The prosecuting attorney told the Deseret News, ?I believe it effectively shuts them down in the state of Utah.? According to a September 2006 news article by the Deseret News, ?The former operator of a therapeutic school [Whitmore Academy] for troubled youths, who has been kicked out of Mexico and accused of starving horses in Canada, has agreed not to run another rehabilitation school in Juab County.?

The allegations of child abuse did not deter Scheff from enrolling children for a profitable sum of money. In a separate case, the United States Court of Appeals found that defendants PURE and Sue Scheff, "[C]ompete with the schools associated with World Wide. PURE schools pay Ms. Scheff a substantial sum whenever a child enrolls in its program based on her recommendation."

According to the non-profit International Survivors Action Committee (ISAC), Scheff and her company are on the ISAC ?watch list? for questionable practices that may place children at risk for abuse or neglect.

Source: http://isaccorp.org/pressreleases/suesc ... ctory.html

Watch List

http://isaccorp.org/watchlist.asp

[Anonymous]

///In connection with assisting parents, P.U.R.E. helps organizations such as Coalition Against Institutionalized Child Abuse (CAICA www.caica.org) ///

Just how is "PURE" helping CACA?
Could it be money?
Could be. . .
Izzy said from the start, she expect to find a way to make "advocating" pay. Looks like she found her cash cow. It explains a lot.

[Anonymous]

Sixth:  Sue Scheff's friend and colleague Isabelle Zehnder (Caica) has written and published material on her website relevant to a referral agency called Teen Revitalization accusing them of selling potentially abusive programs and sharply criticizing them for failing to provide the names of the programs they promote (see below).

However, Ms. Zehnder fails to point out that PURE (also a referral agency) does not provide the names of the programs they promote, either.  Isn't this a bit like the pot calling the kettle black?

From the Fornits Archives:

http://wwf.fornits.com/viewtopic.php?t=17269

It is believed Teen Revitalization/Russ Bundy is another referral agency selling potentially abusive programs for children, teens, and young adults.

Mr. Bundy fails to provide names of the facilities he promotes. It is our belief these facilities are potentially abusive WWASP/WWASPS/ Lichfield-affiliated programs. Programs with a long history of alleged abuse and neglect inflicted on the children, teens, and young adults entrusted in their care. We urge you to take time to compare the programs.

It is further believed individuals, like Mr. Bundy, who promote these programs receive $1,000 for each child they refer to the program. It has been documented that one referral consultant has earned as much as $50,000 in one month referring children to these programs.

CAICA has been informed by parents whose children were in these programs that they would receive one month free tuition for each child they refer to the program, and $1,000 per child they refer after their own child leaves the program.

Below is a list of the facilities promoted by Teen Revitalization along with a short description provided along with a "Learn More" link (in red) for more information.

Below each program promoted by Teen Revitalization are links (in green) where you can make the comparison for yourself and see if you believe the programs promoted by Teen Revitalization are affiliated to WWASP/WWASPS/Richard Lichfield, programs with a history of alleged and documented abuse and neglect to the children and teens in their care.

[Anonymous]

Mark Sudweeks was not merely "accused of starving horses in Canada...."
In REGINA vs SUDWEEKS, Mark Sudweeks was found guilty of felony animal abuse, and was fined over $100,000 and was was banned from owning animals for life!

That is over and beyond any type of accusation!

[Anonymous]

Seventh:  As also contained in the WWASPS v. PURE court transcripts, it appears Ms. Scheff is/was acquainted on a business level with a woman named Gayle Palmer DeGraff, who worked in program admissions for the now defunct Red Rock Academy.  It was at this program that a young teenage girl named Katherine "Katie" Lank fell down a deep crevice while hiking on Christmas Day 2002 and later died after being airlifted to a hospital in Las Vegas from injuries she substained in the fall.  Gayle Palmer DeGraff has a long and verifiably checkered history with the troubled teens industry including a stint working for the infamous Steve Cartisano (Challenger) before starting her own program called  Summit Quest where Michelle Sutton was hiked to her death in 1990.  Michelle's mother Catherine Sutton is a dedicated and very vocal critic of the troubled teen industry, and in particular, referral agencies such as PURE.  Red Rock Academy was apparently one of the programs PURE made referrals to, according to the WWASPS v. PURE transcripts, and Ms. Sutton who personally confirmed that Katie Lank was referred to Red Rock Academy by PURE.  Red Rock Academy was sued by Katie Lank's parents for negligence and other allegations.  The suit was settled out of court a few years later.  

Excerpt from Michelle Sutton Memorial website:

When Michelle died, Summit Quest Director, Gayle Palmer, spread a false rumor about our daughter, saying that Michelle smuggled cocaine into the program and died of an overdose.  We silenced this rumor by requesting that an extensive drug screen take place on Michelle.  The Program then spread another rumor claiming that Michelle lacked the will to live and was NOT a survivor.  The Highly Trained Survival Experts "SOLD" to us, let our daughter die of dehydration.  Now, they were blaming Michelle for her own death.  I believe that a little love, common sense, and respect for the gift of human life could have saved our daughter.  I understand that the former Director of the Summit Quest Program, Gayle Palmer, is back in Utah, and has since worked at several programs involving children.  I understand she has helped Referral Agencies such as P.U.R.E. with the placement of children in various programs.  
 
I must forgive, but cannot ignore, what happened to my child, and many others to follow, in the name of "help and therapy."  I have often said, "I could not have done TO Michelle what was done TO her and walked away a free person."  Why is it, I ask, that the people running these programs continue to get away with neglect, abuse, molestation, rape, and murder?  It is time to STOP the inhumane "treatment" of children.  The time is NOW

http://www.michellesuttonmemorial.com

[Anonymous]

Perhaps Sue Scheff speaks the truth in her little statements here:
Perhaps she does refer to programs where she would "send our own children to."  Maybe she would send her own daughter and son to places like Whitmore Academy, Sorenson Ranch and the like.  Maybe she really does think places like this are just fine for her own children, huh?

[Anonymous]

oops....someone's learned a new word, "milieu"
Now that's got a nice little ring to it, don't it folks?
Maybe now that Sue-SUE billing herself as an author, everyone will have to get accustomed to these new high-flung words, won't we.

Nice word.

[Anonymous]

Yea, Susan, "therapeutic milieu"---that's "therapeutic environment" to most people.  DUH!

Now, exactly where to you refer parents and their children that offer this "therapeutic mileu?"
And exactly how much are you paid for sending them there?

[Anonymous]

So essentially, WWAPS isn't the only org. that pays for referrals but according to Caica, parents should especially beware of referral agents selling WWASPS programs?  WTH? Why not condemn the whole unethical practice of programs paying finder's fees Ms. Zehnder? Surely, given the obvious appearance of "CONFLICT OF INTEREST", warning parents to steer clear of ANY referral agency would be the most appropriate way to protect children and their parents from referral agencies regardless of what programs they are selling.

 :roll:

[Anonymous]

So essentially, WWAPS isn't the only org. that pays for referrals but according to Caica, parents should especially beware of referral agents selling WWASPS programs?  WTH? Why not condemn the whole unethical practice of programs paying finder's fees Ms. Zehnder? Surely, given the obvious appearance of "CONFLICT OF INTEREST", warning parents to steer clear of ANY referral agency would be the most appropriate way to protect children and their parents from referral agencies regardless of what programs they are selling.

 :roll:

That would all make sense if their intentions were to help kids, but that's not what they're about.  It's about the money.

[Anonymous]

Re:  This DVD: "What Every Parent Needs to Know,? and press release by Boyd Hooper of Family 180.  Sounds to me like the two are somehow connected?

http://wwf.fornits.com/viewtopic.php?p= ... 98df6e5254