not knowing what you call a "program" vs. a residential therapeutic enviornment, or what would be therapy to you at all, it isn't easy to counter. Pray tell, what is therapy ... to you???
Therapy can only be provided by licensed Psychologists / psychiatrists. Otherwise, it is "emotional growth" which tends to be anything but. See below:
Life is full of coersive things. Get a drivers license or face posible fines. Register your car or face fines or impound. Give your kids a state-standard education of be subject to child abuse penalties. Work hard and well and get the legal means for a nice new car and fancy dinners, otherwise eat what you get at a shelter.
I don't think the DMV uses lifespring / est / raps. That is what people are referring to as "coercive".
The concept of child suggests guidance/direction from parents etc is in order so they can learn generally accepted standards. Parents have a duty to impart those things. The concept of adult suggests maturity of independent judgment. Laws set the split between child and adult usually around 18 - 21, but there really is no magic "click".
Doesn't someone who has legal right to a home and shares that with another has the right to "demand" certain conduct in order to let that other person continue to reap the benefits of occupancy??
Within reason
With kids, those "benefits" include food, clothes, etc. Are such "demands" as to conduct as a condition of continuing to get residency etc a coercive practice?
It depends on the demands.
Or are parents required to accept/allow whatever their kid does indefinitely without consequence? Are the parents obligated to provide the same benefits regardless of behavior or be deemed coercive? Somewhere along the line, parents are morally and legally obligated to provide certain things for their kids, whether or not the kids ask for them. Parents are at least morally obligated to guide behavior, and often are legally responsible if the behavior doesn't conform to established standards.
This is true. However parents are not only responsable for this. If a child in program accuses the place of abuse, and the parent, on programs request, dismisses the accusations as "manipulations", the parent is liable if the child is found to be telling the truth.
So, if the kids behavior is not conforming to established standards, aren't the parents legally (forget morally for the moment) required to get that behavior to become modified? Or does that become the awful "behavior modification" to be avoided?
Modifying behavior does not equal "behavior modification". The behavior modification techniques
practiced by many programs(
lifespring,
est, other LGAT techniques, confrontational therapy derived from
Synanon), often by unqualified/licenced staff, are not what psychologists would define as "behavior modification". On the contrary, they would likely
define it as abusive if not highly unethical. Parents do NOT have a right to do that, or have it done to their children. Parents are NOT permitted to modify their child's behavior by any means necessary; however more often than not they are not aware it happens. How many parents are full aware of the details of what happens in programs?
And this is just regarding emotional abuse. Do you think WWASP style (dog cages etc...) discipline is ok? It may modify behavior, but at a cost only paid by the child.
More info on LGAT techniques. - Source: APA
When the kid doesn't substantially conform to legal standards of conduct, what should a parent do - or not do - to meet their legal obligation? ...their moral obligation?
Buy a parenting book? Talk to a psychologist? Group therapy? Wrap-around (in home) programs? 30 day treatment/detox centers? Let it pass?
Practically any option is better than sending your kid into an industry that is completely unregulated, and recommended by another completely unregulated industry (educational consultants).
