Author Topic: ABM Ministries  (Read 19554 times)

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Offline Anonymous

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ABM Ministries
« on: January 01, 2009, 01:58:11 PM »
Ok I might not be in the right place, but your post caught my attention. I have a niece that has been recently put in a reform school in Missouri called ABM Ministries. After talking with her in person this week, what she told me was remarkably the same treatment that you are describing here. I feel uneasy about what she has told me therefore, I am trying to do a little background check on this place. I do not feel that the parents are seeing things clearly. I do not have any basis for this other than a uneasy spirit. Any help that you could give me would be greatly appreciated.
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Offline richmullinax

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Re: An Apology to Survivors of Straight from a Former Exec Staff
« Reply #1 on: January 01, 2009, 02:07:37 PM »
Hi, Lazyh. I recommend contacting http://www.isaccorp.org/

RM

 
Quote from: "lazyh"
Ok I might not be in the right place, but your post caught my attention. I have a niece that has been recently put in a reform school in Missouri called ABM Ministries. After talking with her in person this week, what she told me was remarkably the same treatment that you are describing here. I feel uneasy about what she has told me therefore, I am trying to do a little background check on this place. I do not feel that the parents are seeing things clearly. I do not have any basis for this other than a uneasy spirit. Any help that you could give me would be greatly appreciated.
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »

Offline psy

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Re: An Apology to Survivors of Straight from a Former Exec Staff
« Reply #2 on: January 01, 2009, 02:10:00 PM »
Quote from: "lazyh"
Ok I might not be in the right place, but your post caught my attention. I have a niece that has been recently put in a reform school in Missouri called ABM Ministries. After talking with her in person this week, what she told me was remarkably the same treatment that you are describing here. I feel uneasy about what she has told me therefore, I am trying to do a little background check on this place. I do not feel that the parents are seeing things clearly. I do not have any basis for this other than a uneasy spirit. Any help that you could give me would be greatly appreciated.
Well.  My advice first and foremost to parents would be to "trust your gut".  In addition, there are certain warning signs of abusive programs that one should pay attention to.  Have a look at this link here:

http://isaccorp.org/warningsigns.asp

The parents very well may not be seeing things clearly.  As Greg Kurtz of the GAO noted, parents are just as vulnerable to getting sucked in to eventually being either partial or full element of the program:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DyK3XlsWIEQ

Take a look at what some parents at Kids Helping Kids partipated in:

http://www.isaccorp.org/kidshelpingkids.asp

Since you're in a neutral position, not being directly influenced by the program, you're probably one of the few people who can see this issue clearly.  Another suggestion I have is to take a look at the information several of our resident researchers have gathered and see if anything sounds familiar:

http://wiki.fornits.com/index.php?title=ABM_Ministries

Also, I would recommend you contact Isaccorp directly to see if there is any information they might have about the facility not listed publicly at the moment.
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Benchmark Young Adult School - bad place [archive.org link]
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"Our services are free; we do not make a profit. Parents of troubled teens ourselves, PURE strives to create a safe haven of truth and reality." - Sue Scheff - August 13th, 2007 (fukkin surreal)

Offline Anonymous

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ABM Ministries 2
« Reply #3 on: January 01, 2009, 02:38:50 PM »
Ok Thanks so much for the quick responses. I went to the isaccorp web site and looked at all of the warning signs. From what little I was able to talk to her about he stay there and what it was like she has described 16 out of the 41 questions. One thing that really bothers me is that she has to take a pill each day. She is told that it is a vitamin. Her dress apparel consists of denim overalls and a approved shirt. She is not allowed to shave her arm pits, legs, ect. She is not allowed to go to the bathroom without the group, so after 8:30 pm untill 8:00 am she holds it!! The floor has an alarm system on it to detect movement of anyone out of bed. The list goes on and on.
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Offline psy

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Re: An Apology to Survivors of Straight from a Former Exec Staff
« Reply #4 on: January 01, 2009, 02:42:29 PM »
It certainly doesn't sound good.  If it's not too personal, what were the alleged problems for which she was sent there?
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »
Benchmark Young Adult School - bad place [archive.org link]
Sue Scheff Truth - Blog on Sue Scheff
"Our services are free; we do not make a profit. Parents of troubled teens ourselves, PURE strives to create a safe haven of truth and reality." - Sue Scheff - August 13th, 2007 (fukkin surreal)

Offline psy

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Re: An Apology to Survivors of Straight from a Former Exec Staff
« Reply #5 on: January 01, 2009, 02:50:02 PM »
just FYi, I dug up this from the internet archives.  Seems the places has somewhat of a history:

http://web.archive.org/web/200503101111 ... index.html

Also, you should know that many programs, once they close down or are closed down, open under alternative names or dummy "ownership", often employing the exact same staff, practices, and/or even marketing under the same name.  One good example of this is Alldredge Academy (AKA the Ayne Institute).  It's also worth noting that there is no federal regulation over these institutions, not that it would do any good (I have very little faith in the ability of the government doing anything but making things much worse).  What this essentially means is while you might assume there would be some authority looking over these places, you'd more often than not be very, very, wrong.

Also relevant, former studnets have alleged that they were drugged:

http://web.archive.org/web/200410130105 ... mazine.htm

Another site in the internet archive:
http://web.archive.org/web/200503061849 ... ivors.com/
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »
Benchmark Young Adult School - bad place [archive.org link]
Sue Scheff Truth - Blog on Sue Scheff
"Our services are free; we do not make a profit. Parents of troubled teens ourselves, PURE strives to create a safe haven of truth and reality." - Sue Scheff - August 13th, 2007 (fukkin surreal)

Offline Anonymous

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ABM Ministries 3
« Reply #6 on: January 01, 2009, 02:53:50 PM »
She is 15 years old and had been caught by her parents sneeking out at night to meet a 17 y/o boy. She was drinking alcohol. No drugs where envolved or criminal acts of any kind. She has a very close relationship to me and I do believe that she is not misleading me. She can not talk to her parents because of a coummunication break down however, that is why she comes to me. Being her aunt we have been very close since birth and have a wonderful relationship. Hope this helps. Quite honestly her parents are the ones that are out of control!!!!!!
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Offline psy

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Re: An Apology to Survivors of Straight from a Former Exec Staff
« Reply #7 on: January 01, 2009, 03:02:55 PM »
Quote from: "lazyh"
She is 15 years old and had been caught by her parents sneeking out at night to meet a 17 y/o boy. She was drinking alcohol. No drugs where envolved or criminal acts of any kind. She has a very close relationship to me and I do believe that she is not misleading me. She can not talk to her parents because of a coummunication break down however, that is why she comes to me. Being her aunt we have been very close since birth and have a wonderful relationship. Hope this helps. Quite honestly her parents are the ones that are out of control!!!!!!

What you are describing is a pretty common situation.  Sadly, there is no due process so kids can be sent to these places for whatever reason, no matter how minor, regardless of whether the problem really lies with the parents (would any program make any money if they dared suggest such a thing!).

Right now you have two avenues of "attack".  You can tell the parents that it's a high likelyhood that their child is being abused... or you can tell the parents that there is a high likelyhood that the program is conning them out of their money.  Which approach is more sucessful depends on the parent.  In either case, it's going to take a lot of research in to both the origins of the organization, of the facility itself, of it's licensing, and of the backgrounds, qualifications and any criminal historyies of the staff and/or owners.  Basically you're going to have to "beat the program" in talking to the parents, which is difficult.  To that end, you need concrete evidence of what you say, since they're far more likely to believe the program (that being said it is possible and has been done many times).  Chances are the folks at ISACcorp have already done a lot of this research for you, so I suggest at this point, they would probably be your next step.  Don't hesitate, however, to ask for help round here if you get stuck.  You're always welcome on Fornits.

PS: do you mind if I split off this topic into two separate ones since we've kinda veered off the original?
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »
Benchmark Young Adult School - bad place [archive.org link]
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"Our services are free; we do not make a profit. Parents of troubled teens ourselves, PURE strives to create a safe haven of truth and reality." - Sue Scheff - August 13th, 2007 (fukkin surreal)

Offline Anonymous

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Re: An Apology to Survivors of Straight from a Former Exec Staff
« Reply #8 on: January 01, 2009, 03:11:08 PM »
Thank you so much for your imput. It has been greatly appreciated and a great help.
God Bless you
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Offline Anonymous

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Re: An Apology to Survivors of Straight from a Former Exec Staff
« Reply #9 on: January 01, 2009, 03:16:49 PM »
No I dont mind at all if you split them off. I have to leave for a while but i will check back.
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Offline psy

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Re: An Apology to Survivors of Straight from a Former Exec Staff
« Reply #10 on: January 01, 2009, 03:19:12 PM »
Quote from: "lazyh"
Thank you so much for your imput. It has been greatly appreciated and a great help.
God Bless you
You're very welcome.

When you get back, you shouldn't have a problem finding the thread.  I'll call it ABM Ministries.
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »
Benchmark Young Adult School - bad place [archive.org link]
Sue Scheff Truth - Blog on Sue Scheff
"Our services are free; we do not make a profit. Parents of troubled teens ourselves, PURE strives to create a safe haven of truth and reality." - Sue Scheff - August 13th, 2007 (fukkin surreal)

Offline Oscar

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Re: ABM Ministries
« Reply #11 on: January 01, 2009, 04:47:24 PM »
We have them under investigation for being Mountain Park Academy working under a new name. Datasheet on the wiki

Mountain Park was closed down which requires a lot when we are talking about Missouri.

I believe that they are under some kind of supervision because they have removed the old student handbook which spoke of the use of corporal punishment (To be read here) and replaced it with new guidelines to the staff forbidding them to use corporal punishment.

The old parentmanual stated:
Quote
Before enrolling a student, parents are expected to sign a statement indicating that they have read, understand and agree to have their child governed by all policies, rules and regulations of the academy and to have corporal discipline administered to their child in accordance to those rules.

Mountain Park was a bad place. A boy was killed there so the offenders could end up in prison instead for many years because they believed it was better. You can see his name on our death list. His name was Will Futrelle.

She will most likely end up suffering from some kind of PTSD. You can read the "Mountain Park Magazine Article" - page 1 to 4 and understand how it is to reenter the world from an enclosed box as a program in reallity is.
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Offline Antigen

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Re: ABM Ministries
« Reply #12 on: January 01, 2009, 05:10:53 PM »
Hey, if I'm not mistaken, that's the very same organization and facility that Alexia Parks wrote about in American Gulag http://www.teenliberty.org/

Alexia's story is the same as yours. Her niece was sent to a gulag school and her book tells the story of her struggle to get her out.
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Offline Anonymous

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Re: ABM Ministries
« Reply #13 on: January 01, 2009, 08:47:46 PM »
Thanks to everyone for your responses. As I posted earlier that I am not the parent so I have to build a case if you will to show the parents what could be happening to their daughter. I would take as much information from anyone that is willing to give it. Thanks so much again for the info and God bless you all.
P.S. I will keep printing items off to show them
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Offline Anonymous

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Re: ABM Ministries
« Reply #14 on: March 17, 2009, 07:48:25 PM »
My daughter went through ABM several years ago.  She was totally out of control when she was sent.  Yes, they have a very strict and structured environment.  She is now a hard working adult and was thankful for her experience at ABM.  Prior to sending her I did speak with several other sets of parents who have had children attend there.  Sorry, no regrets and I would highly recommend it to anyone.

Good luck.

Mabel
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