As I understand it, one problem with reporting abuse is the short statute of limitations: You must file a complaint within 2 years of the abuse taking place. Another is details: You must be able to name a specific person who committed a specific crime on a specific date in a specific location. A third, and sadly huge, difficulty is credibility: When survivors say they were harmed, the program can say they are liars and manipulators and were defective when they came to the program.
It is an extremely frustrating situation.
On the other hand, whenever a program can be successfully prosecuted or sued, it is a huge victory and builds a body of case law that will help the next person.
One area in which programs have successfully been sued is in malpractice: The child did not have the condition the program diagnosed, or the treatment did not match accepted practice for the treatment of the condition (such as the case of the parents being told a no-sugar diet and fresh air/sunshine would treat a child's bipolar disorder and depression--as documented by the GAO report).
Auntie Em
