Just to make sure that anyone new who stumbles onto AARCSurvivor is up to speed. Dean Vause is still not a psychologist. AARC blatantly lies on their website when they claim that they have independent validation of their success rate. The study that they refer to was written by Vause, along with a staffer, another board member and a member of the faculty of Vause's correspondence school. The host homes are not required to meet any standard to ensure the safety of the children. The techniques used in AARC were taken directly from Kids of New Jersey. Kids of New Jersey was shut down due to abuses of child clients and fraud. Vause worked for Kids, and this is in fact the training he had in dealing with addicted youth. AARC describes itself as unique, but everything from the use of client parental homes to the terminology employed at AARC comes from other programs, Kids and Straight, that were shut down due to abuses.
AARC will take in any child, regardless of their drug use, as long as the parents will pay for AARC to take the child. Most AARC clients are not chemically addicted to drugs, although many graduates develop chemical dependence as a symptom of their trauma at AARC.
The doctor to whom AARC refers it's clients will allow AARC staffers to be present with a patient during presentation for examination. This ensures that the client cannot explain any injuries to a doctor in confidence.
The man to whom AARC refers children for second opinions on addiction, Peter Choate, works hand in glove with Vause, and is in fact one of the authors of AARC's 2005 study. Once in AARC, a child can expect to deal only with people affilliated with AARC.
AARC preempts any complaints by accusing the children of lying about abuse in advance.
Most of the testimonials about AARC have been provided by faculty or graduates of Vause's correspondence school alma mater, the Union Institute.
As I said on an earlier post, although this is redundant, the basic facts of the scam of AARC should never be obscured.
One of the arguments that AARColytes use, rather than addressing any of the aforementioned facts, is to say that they haven't been caught yet. So until that happens, I will continue to draw attention to the false and dangerous aspects of AARC.
