I need more information

[str8h8er]

And do not know how to obtain it.

I was in Straight (Springfield VA) from 1985-1986. I want my medical records. Everytime I inquire as to where I can obtain them, I run into a brick wall. I spoke to a guy name Willy Williams in Fairfax County who told me my records were destroyed in 1996. If Straight was under fire, why would any medical records be destroyed.

I recently found out that my stay at Straight was funded through a grant given by the Dept of Mental Health and Substance abuse.

Wouldn't they have information? Perhaps I am just chasing my tail.

I just need some leads. Any ideas?

[Anonymous]

And do not know how to obtain it.

I was in Straight (Springfield VA) from 1985-1986. I wasnt my medical records. Everytime I inquire as to where I can obtain them, I run into a brick wall. I spoke to a guy name Willy Williams in Fairfax County who told me my records were destroyed in 1996. If Straight was under fire, why would any medical records be destroyed.

I recently found out that my stay at Straight was funded through a grant given by the Dept of Mental Health and Substance abuse.

Wouldn't they have information? Perhaps I am just chasing my tail.

I just need some leads. Any ideas?

unfortunately our  records are next to impossible to obtain

[Anne Bonney]

I've never known anyone that's been successful in getting them.  Good luck though, there's got to be something around somewhere about a few of us, wouldn't ya think?

[hanzomon4]

How do your records just disappear? Are we talking medical records or records from Straight?

[Anne Bonney]

Yep.  There are a lot of us who tried to get them.  We were told various versions of essentially the same thing.  We shredded 'em.  You ain't getting 'em.

I think that's why Rich was breaking into the building in the first place.  He was trying to get his.

[str8h8er]

It is so frustrating. It's just more bullshit. It never ends does it?

In my case, I thought that since the funding came from the State of Virginina, then there would be some record of me somewhere.

I was wondering if there was anyone else who received "allocated grants" from the state for their stay at Straight?

I have a hard time believing that records were allowed to be destroyed considering the issues surrounding Straight.

I wonder why all medical records off all "Straightlings" were not examined prior to anything being destroyed.

I'm pissed. Again and again. :flame:

[Anonymous]

:idea: One idea would be to contact Dr. Schwartz. He's still practicing in Vienna VA and was listed on the DFAF forum along with Newton a couple years ago. I received a letter back in the mid 80's from him requesting that I fill out a questionnaire. I never did, but I still have that letter. He had LOTS of names of kids on it that he was looking to find out who was where with their programs, etc... Like maybe he has this shit in his basement or something... hmmm, let me know what you find out...

Oh, and I contacted the mental health/retardation agency in Richmond also a couple years ago, sent FOIA requests etc... they claim there's nothing in their files about straight inc. After 10 years the records are marked for destruction. I was looking for some things about Dr. Riddile who went to Congress and plugged the program in 1983, as I sat on front row there in GULAG5515.

PM Rusty Goat if you want some contact/networking info... I 've got some stuff you might find useful...

[webdiva]

:idea: One idea would be to contact Dr. Schwartz. He's still practicing in Vienna VA and was listed on the DFAF forum along with Newton a couple years ago. I received a letter back in the mid 80's from him requesting that I fill out a questionnaire. I never did, but I still have that letter. He had LOTS of names of kids on it that he was looking to find out who was where with their programs, etc... Like maybe he has this shit in his basement or something... hmmm, let me know what you find out...

Oh, and I contacted the mental health/retardation agency in Richmond also a couple years ago, sent FOIA requests etc... they claim there's nothing in their files about straight inc. After 10 years the records are marked for destruction. I was looking for some things about Dr. Riddile who went to Congress and plugged the program in 1983, as I sat on front row there in GULAG5515.

PM Rusty Goat if you want some contact/networking info... I 've got some stuff you might find useful...

Dr. Schwartz, the evil man that he is, is on the board of DFAFs Global Drug Policy BS
http://www.globaldrugpolicy.org/aboutus.php
and still working with Inova Hospital for Children how lovely, he's helping the children! Fucker. (Dr schwartz, not you lol)

[Anonymous]

Dr. Schwartz kind of looks like what I imagine the Jerky Boys character "Sol Rosenberg" to look like. He always wore those really thick-framed glasses, and had that dark, wavy hair.

[maias]

There is videotape of these records having been abandoned-- either from VA or MD Straight, I can't remember which.

It was done, as I recall, by a Florida TV station in response to Richard Bradbury's efforts at exposing Straight after some runaways came directly to him.  The tape showed boxes of abandoned, clearly medical records in an empty building.  As I recall, the reporter expressed outrage that this private information was simply left for anyone to find it.

I imagine the next stop for it was the dump.  The tape gave the impression that people had left the building as though someone-- police? regulators?-- had been chasing them and hadn't been able to dispose of the records properly.

If this is the Straight you were at, I do not think you will be able to get the records even if they now wanted to give them to you.

To the person who posted about having a copy of a letter from Dr. Schwartz, would it be possible for you to PM me?  I would love to see a copy of that.

[Nonconformistlaw]

It is so frustrating. It's just more bullshit. It never ends does it?

In my case, I thought that since the funding came from the State of Virginina, then there would be some record of me somewhere.

I was wondering if there was anyone else who received "allocated grants" from the state for their stay at Straight?

I have a hard time believing that records were allowed to be destroyed considering the issues surrounding Straight.

I wonder why all medical records off all "Straightlings" were not examined prior to anything being destroyed.

I'm pissed. Again and again. :flame:

That was probably the point of shredding, so those records could never be examined. Why on eath would Straight want to leave behing a paper trail to document their endless misdeeds, crimes, etc?

Oh but the shit gets deeper. I know for a fact some former staff members took client records with them (also stuff like COC's, letters, etc) when they left staff. I know a person that sifted through a box of these docs but unfortunately it was years ago and access to these docs are impossible now.

Also, you would think the police department (where I was kidnapped by Straight) would have my records since there are public record and I was an adult at the time. But no, I have been given the run around every time I call the police dept, have been sent on a wild goose chase (I suspect deliberately) to the historical society, where I was told the police were "telling me a story", their words not mine.

There is nothing but shadiness surrounding the whereabouts/destruction of our records.

[Anonymous]

I've heard rumors that there is a facility in MD where all the Springfield records are kept.  I don't know if that is the case or not.

I've recently been looking for the same thing.  I emailed the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, which is a national organization.  I will let you know if I hear back from them.

[RTP2003]

That was probably the point of shredding, so those records could never be examined. Why on eath would Straight want to leave behing a paper trail to document their endless misdeeds, crimes, etc?

.

They learned from their role models in the Third Reich.  They didn't want a bunch of embarrassing paper trails that would reveal their complicity in the systematic child abuse that was Straight, Inc.

[Deprogrammed]

It is so frustrating. It's just more bullshit. It never ends does it?

In my case, I thought that since the funding came from the State of Virginina, then there would be some record of me somewhere.

I was wondering if there was anyone else who received "allocated grants" from the state for their stay at Straight?

I have a hard time believing that records were allowed to be destroyed considering the issues surrounding Straight.

I wonder why all medical records off all "Straightlings" were not examined prior to anything being destroyed.

I'm pissed. Again and again. :flame:

My thinking is this:
If ye were court ordered by the state of virginia to go to straight or somehow sent by the state, then ye would have to go to the courthouse and request your juvenile records. I requested mine successfully, and found out quite a few things that I had been wondering for years. Ye would need to bring your id with you etc...
they may not have medical records on you unless ye were locked up in a state facility such as juvie etc..
good luck to ye
-DP

[Carmel]

This sounds very much like what I understand happened in Dallas.  One day everyone just left.  I knew some ex-staffers that went up to the building and just went right in and saw everything just sitting there.  Computers, furniture, paperwork...everything.  They said they trashed alot of stuff, literally vandalized.  After that, I suspect it was all just hauled off to the dump.

Whats creepy to me is that it was shut down by the state I believe on either licensing grounds or abuse claims or both sort of mashed together, and nothing was confiscated.  I know the state was interviewing clients for a long period asking about abusive conditions.  I was an interviewee myself.  I am curious about whether or not they brought the client records with them from California when they shipped all those kids over....or if they just abandoned that stuff too.