SLT Editorial: Let the GAO Drop the Other Hiking Shoe

[Deborah]

Into the woods: Wilderness therapy needs congressional attention
Tribune Editorial
Article Last Updated: 10/15/2007 12:08:18 AM MDT

Congress has discovered the wilderness therapy industry, which takes troubled teenagers into the great outdoors to treat their behavioral or addiction problems. A new report from the General Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, has found that there have been numerous allegations in 33 states of child abuse and negligence associated with these programs, sometimes leading to death.

    This is not news to Utahns, who have witnessed five of these tragic fatalities since the industry was born here in the late 1980s. In response, Utah government has gradually tightened its licensing regulations and inspection of these privately operated outdoor youth programs.

    Ken Stettler, director of the state office that licenses the programs, says Utah has the most stringent rules and regulations in the nation. He also is confident in the inspection and licensing regime. "We have a good group of programs operating now," he told us.

    Nevertheless, we believe that Utah should welcome the congressional scrutiny, if only to bring a fresh perspective. The initial GAO report is long on generalities but short on specifics. It summarizes 10 cases that resulted in death, five of which occurred in Utah between 1990 and 2002. But the investigators reported that they had difficulty drawing an overall picture of the industry, partly because some states do not regulate private programs.

    However, the report says, the GAO is completing a comprehensive review of state and federal oversight of these programs and expects to report next year. We presume that later report may be more enlightening about the GAO's view of Utah's regulatory regime.

    Even before receiving those results, some members of Congress are calling for investigations by federal land management agencies into the wilderness treatment programs that operate on federal lands. Those calls strike us as premature. We would recommend that Congress await the second GAO report before proceeding further.

    This is not to discount the terrible losses suffered by parents whose children have died in these programs. Clearly, regulations have been insufficient in the past, and some programs have operated negligently, although it is impossible to eliminate all risk in the wilderness. But before ordering more probes, let the GAO drop the other hiking shoe.
~~~

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[Deborah]

Contact:
Tom Kiley / Rachel Racusen
2181 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
202-226-0853

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.

In testimony before the House Education and Labor Committee yesterday, investigators for the U.S. Government Accountability Office, which prepared the report, testified that an unknown number of private residential treatment programs – often called boot camps, wilderness camps, or behavior modification facilities – actually operate on federal land.

In one case discussed yesterday, a 14-year-old boy with clinical depression killed himself in February 2001 while enrolled at Alldredge Academy, a wilderness program in West Virginia that continues to operate as the Ayne Institute. The facility uses U.S. Forest Service land, but because it has not filed all required usage reports nor paid required permit fees [for 8 years equaling tens of thousands] , it is in violation of the terms of its Forest Service permit, according to the Government Accountability Office.

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.

For more information on yesterday’s hearing on boot camps, click here. The full text of the letter from Miller and Rahall is below.
~~~


October 11, 2007
VIA FACSIMILE

The Honorable Earl E. Devaney
Inspector General
U.S. Department of the Interior
1849 C Street, N.W.
Washington DC 20240

The Honorable Phyllis K. Fong
Inspector General
U.S. Department of Agriculture
Room 117-W Jamie Whitten Bldg
1400 Independence Avenue, S.W.
Washington, DC 20250

Dear Mr. Devaney and Ms. Fong:

We write with grave concerns about the safety and well-being of children attending residential treatment programs – sometimes called wilderness camps, boot camps, or behavior modification programs – on federal lands. In a hearing yesterday, the Education and Labor Committee heard extensive testimony about the mental, physical, and sexual abuse of children at such programs, which in some cases resulted in death. While not all residential programs are the same, and many undoubtedly provide positive experiences for children that improve their lives, the evidence we heard yesterday nevertheless demonstrates the urgent need for action.

Through evidence presented at the hearing by the Government Accountability Office, we have learned that many of these programs operate on federal land. Some of the cases of abuse of which we have learned occurred on federal land. In light of these revelations, we believe that it is incumbent upon those tasked with managing our nation’s lands to implement policies and safeguards to ensure that our public lands are not used in the abuse of troubled children.

Accordingly, we ask that you investigate the extent to which residential treatment programs operate on federal land overseen by agencies within your Departments, including the permitting, licensing, and leasing processes governing such use and the extent to which these programs have complied with these processes. We additionally request that you investigate the role that each of your Departments and their agencies have played in investigating and preventing such child abuse and neglect on federal land.

This matter is of great concern to our Committees. We look forward to your office assisting us to better understand of the scope of the problem and the extent to which the Departments have dealt with the problem.


Sincerely,

NICK J. RAHALL II
Chairman, Committee on Natural Resources

GEORGE MILLER
Chairman, Committee on Education and Labor

Cc:
Ranking Member, Don Young
Committee on Natural Resources

Senior Republican Howard “Buckâ€

[Anonymous]

"The seven-member board, headed by the publisher, which decides what issues the newspaper will offer an opinion on and what that opinion will be."

Says it all.

The Salt Lake City Tribune is staffed chiefly, if not exclusively, by idiots.

[ZenAgent]

"The seven-member board, headed by the publisher, which decides what issues the newspaper will offer an opinion on and what that opinion will be."

...and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast which was full of blasphemous names, and it had seven heads and ten horns. The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and bedecked with gold and jewels and pearls, holding in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of her fornication; and on her forehead was written a name of mystery: ‘Babylon the great, mother of harlots and of earth’s abominations.’ And I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints and the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. When I saw her I marveled greatly" (Rev. 17:1–6)

Who's the whore?

[Nihilanthic]

Who knows?

And on that note, I wonder how they say "lets not even INVESTIGATE until they tell us a second time that we're unsafe and kill children" with a straight face.

Seriously!

One complaint warrants an investigation, especially considering the climate of secrecy and zero rights, including the right of appeal, on the part of those children - something adults incarcerated in prison and mental patients do have.

Unfortunately for them there are hundreds if not thousands that are all consistent throughout the years and between programs, which to me indicates some sort of common thread among them.

Wonder what that thread is?  :roll:

[Anonymous]

Anyone know who owns this newspaper?  My bet it's the Mormon Church.

[ZenAgent]

Who knows?

And on that note, I wonder how they say "lets not even INVESTIGATE until they tell us a second time that we're unsafe and kill children" with a straight face.

Seriously!

One complaint warrants an investigation, especially considering the climate of secrecy and zero rights, including the right of appeal, on the part of those children - something adults incarcerated in prison and mental patients do have.

Unfortunately for them there are hundreds if not thousands that are all consistent throughout the years and between programs, which to me indicates some sort of common thread among them.

Wonder what that thread is?  :roll:

My wife and I have talked with Peninsula Village survivors who were incarcerated at various times, covering a ten year period.  There must be something psychedelic in PV's water, along with the E.Coli virus. Unless these survivors are experiencing a mass hallucination, their stories reveal a clear pattern of recurring abuse.  

Doesn't make any difference, though...they're manipulating  us for...well, what?  They're out of the pit, and still in it at times, mentally.  Seeing PV shut down in shame for the shit they did and still do would probably cause the nightmares to fade a bit.

[ZenAgent]

Let's see...the Whore on the Beast is decked out in purple, crimson and gold.  Those colors could mean the Whore is of Merovingian descent...or it's his Royal Purple Badness, Prince.

[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.

[Anonymous]

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.

If Tennessee is anything like Utah, they probably won't investigate without major national attention. See what happened in Utah after a kid died. And this was after multiple other deaths at various places in Utah.

Just a slap on the wrist. Even death does not prompt very much action.
http://http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=1969129

[ZenAgent]

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.

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