Treatment Abuse, Behavior Modification, Thought Reform > The Troubled Teen Industry

SLT Editorial: Let the GAO Drop the Other Hiking Shoe

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ZenAgent:

--- Quote from: ""Nihilanthic"" ---The fact that such consistent reports for so long have gone unheeded is simply inexplicable, to be frank about it.

One thing my ex-cop relative can't understand is how this has not been investigated. He is CONVINCED if ONE report is made, they will investigate, "Unless a Doctor has called the kid a pathological liar" or some shit like that.
--- End quote ---


My wife called the Blount County Sheriff's Department after trying for hours to find out her daughter's condition following a vicious restraint.  The Deputy who took the call refused to do a welfare check, claiming PV had it's own security and the Sheriff's Dep't would only go to PV if the program reported an assault, which has occurred:



Other reports

* A 26-year-old Knoxville woman working at Peninsula Village, Jones Bend Road, Louisville, reported at 3:08 p.m. Dec. 9 a 17-year-old female patient there punched her in the head and pulled her hair. Two other employees reported they were either bitten or hit by the girl. Legal options were explained.

Hell, yeah...you GO, girl!

So, the Blount County cops responded to that incident, but refused to do a welfare check for a parent.  My wife asked the deputy for his name, and he didn't want to give it, then mumbled a German name before hanging up.  Later we discovered that the Sheriff's Department is obligated by law to do a welfare check, which I'm sure the Deputy was aware of.  It became apparent that PV did have it's own security - the Blount County Sheriff's Department.  It was 27 hours later when my step daughter's father was notified the girl was "fine".  He didn't seem to care, but we were beyond stressed.

My step daughter tried to use the 3x5 card complaint and request system to ask to see a doctor she remembered from Peninsula Lighthouse, next to the Village.  The doctor was a good guy, and she wanted to have him check her out, since her teeth were hurting and her thyroid was out of whack.  A counselor read the card, then tore it up in front of my step daughter, saying "You're not going to get the chance to manipulate anyone else,"

Not much hope of getting word to the outside.  PV even refused to let my girl's lifelong pediatrician make a professional visit to examine her patient.  The doctor was told it was out of the normal routine - even though the PV handbook states patients can be visited by their clergy, physician, or attorney with no interference.

Nice NATSAP program, huh?  SACS accreditation, bogus JCAHO certification, "professional and experienced" staff resting on the laurels of their GED's...

Ursus:
Excerpts from the above press release* originally posted by Deborah, emphasis added:

October 11, 2007

U.S. Reps. George Miller (D-CA) and Nick Rahall (D-WV) today asked the Inspectors General at the U.S. Departments of the Interior and Agriculture to launch investigations into private residential treatment programs for children that operate on federal land. The request comes one day after the release of a government report that documented cases of fatal child abuse and neglect in such programs, including deaths that occurred on federal property.

< snip snip >

Miller is the chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee. He requested the GAO report in 2005 and he convened yesterday's hearing. Rahall is the chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee. The chairmen made their request to the Inspectors General in a letter delivered today.[/list][/size]
I've good reason to believe that Congressman Nick J. Rahall, the Chairman of the Committee on Natural Resources in 2007, is a very close relative of Sam G. Rahall, former Straight parent and on Straight, Inc.'s Board of Directors during the same time period as Joseph Zappala, not to mention being a familial namesake of the "Rahall Warehouse," of which some former clients have not so fond memories of...


----------------------------
* Original post neglected to include source link and appropriate title. Said omission here rectified:

Press Release - Thursday, October 11, 2007

Chairmen Miller & Rahall Request Inspector General Investigation into Teen Residential Treatment Programs on Federal Land[/list][/size]

N.O.S.O.B.:

Antigen:
Looks like Nick is on our side and with some considerable clout. Awesome!

Ursus:
Well... I tend to think that Rahall's primary concern in that Inspector General Investigation Request probably had to do with the land usage.

I don't actually know this for a fact, or at all, but I wouldn't be surprised if it came out that Congressman George Miller may have leaned on Rahall to get involved in order to increase the clout of the request.

Congressman Nick Rahall was a Member of the House Natural Resources Committee for 34 years, being Chairman for the last four of which. None of his advocacy work has had anything whatsoever to do with the troubled teen industry or anything even remotely connected to it. It just doesn't appear to be on his radar...

Some further reading:

* Official Govt. Bio
* Nick Rahall (political profile at the Washington Post)
* Nick Rahall (Wikipedia article)
* Questions raised about Nick Rahall helping son (by John Bresnahan, 8/12/10, Politico) - comments

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