blog of a program parent

[Anonymous]

Hello.
As promised I am at the beginning of my journey with you. For starters I want to begin by saying I am apprehensive of what I will have to remember and think about. I need your support not only to keep me moving forward, but to help me see myself as a person whose story is worth being told.

I am not going to start at the very beginning of my life, but rather later on when my problems fist started. You see, I don’t remember much, due to mental blockage. My mind has blocked out all of the times I spent with my mother, and even now I shiver with fear thinking of how my life was when she was in my life. My parents began the divorce when I was seven years old. I was forced into therapy to evaluate if there would be any emotional scarring. I remember the woman. She was like the fist grade teacher you never forget, you know the one… she made you feel like you were the poster child for cuteness. She had me draw pictures for her, while she talked to me. One day, she asked me who I wanted to live with. As a seven year old what do you expect? I told her “My daddy, because mommy can take care of herself.”

My older brother and I went to live with my Dad. My younger brothers went with my mom to live in New Mexico. And that is the starting line in which we begin. For 4 years I blamed myself for the divorce thinking it was my fault for the family to be split up… if only I was a better child, if only if only, if only. My dad constantly told me that it wasn’t my fault and that canned line “We both love you, but we don’t love each other anymore”. If they both loved me so much, why did my mom leave me? After a few years of holiday visitations my father fought for us in court. He was given full custody of my brothers and I, and for a while we were together. We missed our mother terribly, but our dad made up for it. He gave us everything he could. He was the mother, the father… he was our best friend.

As people grow older they get lonely. My father met Diane on a chat room for people who want to fix their marriages. Soon after the divorce my dad began dating her. I remember Miss Diane. Sweet, kind, funny… then one summer we went to visit our mother in New Mexico. During that summer my Dad married Diane. (My brothers and I were not involved in the ceremony which is kind of messed up if you ask me) For that year things were not much different, Diane would visit from Minnesota for a week, every month or so, then we got a new house and she moved in.

The first year went smoothly enough. There were adjustments to be made, but when families combine that is expected. Diane even took me on a girl’s weekend to Chicago, and I had the greatest time. All the while the relationship between my mother and me was growing cryptic. She would tell me horrible things about my father, how he had an affair, how I wasn’t worth the trouble of raising… etc. I believed her, she was my mother after all. I began to resent Diane, to hold a grudges. I was 12 years old. I didn’t know any better. My mother would say one thing, my dad and Diane would say another. I was lost in a loop of truth and deceit.


My dad’s time was divided between his wife and his kids. Immediately, I noticed the change in things. She became strict and different as if she was a warden coming into a new prison to find all the convicts allowed to leaving the facility for months at a time. I began to wonder if the sweet kind and funny person was an act. But my dad was in love with her, so I decided to let him be happy. (In my 11 year old mind I thought I was obligated to this still thinking I caused the divorce.)
I began to rebel against her, thinking that I would lose my dad. We both treated each other poorly. Soon it was a war zone in our house. I began to rebel in different ways I made friends with a girl who introduced me into cigarettes alcohol and cutting. That’s when it all went wrong.

Well. I don’t want to tell it all in one night would I?? LOL Thank you for reading my own meandering experience. I will write more tomorrow. Again any questions or comments you know where to go.

[email protected]
katies thoughts

[FemanonFatal2.0]

Katie, do you want to continue you blog of sorts in this thread or in the dedicated thread "Katie's Story"? its up to you. In fact if you want to keep the information on this page available to readers all we have to do is link the thread, so even if people stop posting on it it will still be accessible via the other thread.

For now Ill respond here, and copy it over if you decide to start this in the other thread.

Thank you for sharing that, and I want you to know that I can really relate. I had a super strict step mom as well who was deathly afraid I would turn out like her loser drug addict brother. I know you didn't mention too much about the tension in the home, but I remember it well and understand how hard on you that must have been.

I hope you know that your story most definitely is worth telling, and I know that its hard to go back and access all these buried feelings but I hope you know that you are not only helping yourself heal, but you could very well help others to do the same. I hope you know that you were not a bad kid, and you didn't deserve to get sent away. It seems like you struggle with depression and you shouldn't carry any blame for that, you were born with it. As sad as it is, some of us just get dealt a shittier hand then the rest of the players in this game, and all you can do is work with what you've got. Your parents had the responsibility to help you through the hard times and give you the love you needed to grow up feeling worthy. The fact that your step mom felt it appropriate to judge, chastise and punish you all the time for normal teenage behavior is clearly an issue of bad parenting skills, and considering she isn't your parent makes it that much more inappropriate. I read some of the things she said about you, she wasn't worried about you as much as she resented you and judged every little thing you did. Do you know how happy most parents would be if their kid was just smoking cigarettes as a teen? I can understand parental concern, but I don't think she handled it correctly and in my opinion made your depression (not to mention the family relationship) much worse with all the confrontation and blame games. Do you feel as if she may have turned your family against you?... because that's what it seems like to me, and I also think her mind games have effected your self esteem.

At some point I would recommend mentally separating your feelings from anything she ever said or did to you. I personally do this by reminding myself that the problems with my step mother stemed from her issues, not mine. Not that I didn't have any problems, but I believe those are better handled with someone who loves me unconditionally. Basically, if she doesn't truly want to help me or she tends to go crazy then my problems are none of her business. My relationship with my dad and step-mom now is fine, as rocky as it was when I was a teen we have put all that behind us because they choose not to get involved in my problems. That doesn't mean I lie to them or don't ask for help if I need it, it means they simply realize their days of being "the punisher" are over and I am the one who builds my own moral compass. Oddly enough, I think I have done a much better job then they ever could, maybe they realize that, and someday your parents will too.

[Anonymous]

Oh my god, these sick people do referrals...

http://mcarter.parentshelpingteens.com/

[Miss Antsy Pam]

Hi katie,

Welcome to fornits...glad Femanon was able to make contact with you!   Glad to have you here!
 :peace:

[mcarter.fornits]

This is Michael C Carter.   Diane found this (I had read some of fornits years ago, and decided that I wasn't truly interested in it and all the bashing and flaming going on.  I've spent the last two hours reading this thread, wrote down some random thoughts:

Wow!  I only got to page two of this, and I felt I had to respond a bit here.

First, there were NO jumpsuits.  NONE.   When they girls were in orange - it was an orange t-shirt.  
Not a jumpsuit. Same slacks, shoes, etc - just an orange t-shirt.  As opposed to yellow (which designated those who were at risk or
threatening to injure themselves (i.e. cutters), and another one that was for those who had planned or attempted to run away.

Nor do I believe anyone was forced into these - it was simply the clothes they had to wear.  When you only uniform is a t-shirt -
you wear it.
------
Also, one thing about Cross Creek is it is a state licensed treatment facility - with several therapist on staff at all times.  
Treatment facilities are much more regulated than the ordinary schools.

A lot of people have mentioned the lack of due process - this was not a prison.  As a few have stated, I am responsible for my
children until they turn 18.  It was my belief that she was on the verge of complete self destruction.  If you had actually gone
and read the BLOG - which many of you admit that you have not, then you would know that we spent a year in therapy and with Katie
going to short term facilities three times before being sent to the program.  It wasn't until she had been kicked out of school and
I was out of options that I found this.
-----
Ok - then we get to page what - 5?  Talking about last year when Katie broke some minor rules and lied about them.  People call me evil
because I express the fact that I was frustrated.  It is sad that men in todays society are not permitted to express ANY emotions -
I'm evil because I'm frustrated that she is lying and breaking the rules again.

Look at it this way.  If you constantly lied to your boss about doing your job at work, if you were writing a novel at work instead
of doing your job - what response would there be?  If you were caught stealing supplies, or surfing porn at work.  It is not uncommon
for people to be fired for not obeying the rules - regardless of what the rules are.  Period.  One thing that was attempted to be
taught was that actions have consequences.  People make their own choices - and if you choose not to obey the rule then you will suffer the
consequences.

Unless of course you are rich or a powerful politician (hey, if I don't pay my taxes I'm going to jail, not becoming treasury secretary).
But the rest of us live in the real world.
-----------
I also find it very interesting to see people posting and responding anonymously - it is real easy to hide where no one can see
you.  I'd like to challenge all of you to be as open with your identity as mine has become.
I'd like all of the people who feel the need to criticize me put up their name and links to their pictures as well.  It is easy to
sit back behind your pc and call me evil - I'm out there and being honest - where are you?
-------------
People are upset that I put up a referral page.  Sorry if you don't like it.  But you will be ecstatic to know that only 4 people
ever asked for information on the site, and to this date we did not get one referral.  Nor did insurance pay for this, or any
donations.  I'll be paying off the loans for close to 30 years - and the monthly payment is more than my mortgage.  In an attempt
to help my daughter.  Did it work - only time will tell.  But she didn't end up in the hospital for sniffing glue and lysol like her
best friend pre-program did (who I heard actually od'd a few years back), though they were doing it together.
---------------
After that, somebody mentions the melt-downs - when Katie's older brother and I had to hold her down.  This was pre-program, and those
incidents led her to go to a local hospital program - which lasted a whole week.  This was during the period she was threatening her
brothers and step-mother - swinging at Diane and stopping just short of hitting her.  Verbally abusive to everyone in the family.  Her
older brother would not have any friends over because of her - it was amazing to find that once she was not in the home that her three
brothers actually did have friends.  Katie was not, and will not, rule my home.  Period.
----------------
At the bottom of page 7 - personal attacks against Diane because of her weight.  Just because I'm fat doesn't mean I can't tell that others
aren't fat as well.  Guess what - I don't really want my daughter to be fat.  I don't want her to be over 300 lbs.  But she now is.
In the program she was actually slowly loosing weight - which all her doctors had said she needed to do.  She exercised, if not every day
then nearly so.  Now I'm lucky if she ever gets off the couch.  I can't force her - she is 18 now and makes her own decisions.  But it
doesn't mean I have to like them.
-------------------
Page 8.  LEAVE MY FATHER OUT OF THIS.  Period.  Again, I challenge these people creating new accounts to come clean with their identies.
But leave those not involved out of this.  I am completely responsible for all my own decisions - those good and bad.  I decided to send
here there - I take full responsibility.  Do you anonymous posters think it was right - no.  Too bad.  Take some responsibiliy yourself
and come clean with your own identity.
-------------------
Page 10.  Comments about us not trying other alternatives.  These are the other alternatives we tried for a year prior to the program?  The
therapy for her and the whole family?  Getting her involved.  Oh, she loved that one.  The worse she acted the more attention she got - so
that I had to practically neglect her three brothers because everything at the time had to revolve around her.  As a parent I have all of
my children to consider, not just one of them.  I would have loved to find something that worked that was cheaper and easier - but I failed
to find that.  Of course I should have just come on this forum and have all of the anonymous posters parent her for me, because you have
all the answers.  As I said before, I take full responsibility for my actions and my mistakes.  I'm not perfect like all the people
posting on here - sorry for that.
--------------------
Page 11.  I love how quoting statistics (and we all know that 78.239% of statistics are made up right on the spot :-) makes the behavior
correct.  Just because you can quote that 78% of kids cheat on tests DOES NOT MAKE IT RIGHT!!!  Some things in life are shades of grey, but
others are not.  Cheating on a test is never correct, is never right. Period.

Bottom of the page - gee - some open and honest opinions - what a nice change.
---------------------
Page 12 - someone mentions due process and having somebody do screening - admitting.  Lets see - Katie had already been admitted to short
term programs run by local Hospitals three times in the year prior - and only stopped those because the insurance ran out.  She would have
stayed (voluntarily) in the last one quite a bit longer had the insurance not stopped covering it after a total of 30 days.  Unfortunately
hospitals cost even more than the program.
----------------------
Page 13 - I had to laugh when another anonymous poster is asking for the IP and name of someone else.  If you aren't willing to reveal
your identity, then don't ask anyone else to.  Me - I believe I should have the name, city, phone number etc. of EVERYONE critical of me
on this forum - because you felt the need to post mine.
--------------------
Page 14 - Katie's letter.  Let me say that as a parent I chose to create the blog to help others.  It was my experiences.  Katie wants
to be hurt by everything and everybody - and in truth the blog is about Me, not really about her.  It is what I went through.  I don't have
her side because I am not her!  I only know my own experiences.

Oh, and I don't know if we will discuss it or not, but Katie is perfectly welcome to share her thoughts / feelings.  I just hope that
she takes responsibility for her words, and begins to learn to take responsibility for her actions and her life.
---------------------
As I create this account, Katie sees it over my shoulder and gets upset.  Reading what I'm doing over my shoulder it at the very minimum quite rude.
She is mad because I don't have her side of the story - I'll read the rest of her thread later.

I've created a new email for this that people can email if they like - I don't want my normal one flamed.  You can email me at [email protected].  However I WILL NOT RESPOND to anonymous emails - since people have decided to post my name, Diane's phone numbers and a whole lot more information, then if you expect me to respond then I will expect the same - a minimum of your full name and location.  Nor will I respond to flames.  I will entertain open and honest discussion.  I am limiting it to that account - period.  Anything sent to other accounts, or posted on my personal blog, will not be responded to.

I don't know how often I'll check here - depends on how much of a beating I feel like receiving in any given day.

Michael C Carter
Father

[Anonymous]

the "people" defending you is one person--thewho, who claims to have a "fiduciary" interest in ASPEN education, and likes to mock sexual abuse victims and tell them they are sick for lying about such stuff
http://fornits.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=21670

You might want to consider what it says about your position to have that sort of person "defending" it. Being responsible for someone until they are 18 does not = owning them until they are 18. By paying to have Katie incarcerated for three years, you not only abandoned your responsibilities but became the rankest sort of child molester and torturer imaginable—the type that does it in conjunction with an organization because he’s not only evil but too fucking cold and self interested to interest himself in  the dirty work.

[Anonymous]

This is Michael C Carter.   Diane found this (I had read some of fornits years ago, and decided that I wasn't truly interested in it and all the bashing and flaming going on.  I've spent the last two hours reading this thread, wrote down some random thoughts:

Wow!  I only got to page two of this, and I felt I had to respond a bit here.

First, there were NO jumpsuits.  NONE.   When they girls were in orange - it was an orange t-shirt.  
Not a jumpsuit. Same slacks, shoes, etc - just an orange t-shirt.  As opposed to yellow (which designated those who were at risk or
threatening to injure themselves (i.e. cutters), and another one that was for those who had planned or attempted to run away.

Nor do I believe anyone was forced into these - it was simply the clothes they had to wear.  When you only uniform is a t-shirt -
you wear it.
------
Also, one thing about Cross Creek is it is a state licensed treatment facility - with several therapist on staff at all times.  
Treatment facilities are much more regulated than the ordinary schools.

A lot of people have mentioned the lack of due process - this was not a prison.  As a few have stated, I am responsible for my
children until they turn 18.  It was my belief that she was on the verge of complete self destruction.  If you had actually gone
and read the BLOG - which many of you admit that you have not, then you would know that we spent a year in therapy and with Katie
going to short term facilities three times before being sent to the program.  It wasn't until she had been kicked out of school and
I was out of options that I found this.
-----
Ok - then we get to page what - 5?  Talking about last year when Katie broke some minor rules and lied about them.  People call me evil
because I express the fact that I was frustrated.  It is sad that men in todays society are not permitted to express ANY emotions -
I'm evil because I'm frustrated that she is lying and breaking the rules again.

Look at it this way.  If you constantly lied to your boss about doing your job at work, if you were writing a novel at work instead
of doing your job - what response would there be?  If you were caught stealing supplies, or surfing porn at work.  It is not uncommon
for people to be fired for not obeying the rules - regardless of what the rules are.  Period.  One thing that was attempted to be
taught was that actions have consequences.  People make their own choices - and if you choose not to obey the rule then you will suffer the
consequences.

Unless of course you are rich or a powerful politician (hey, if I don't pay my taxes I'm going to jail, not becoming treasury secretary).
But the rest of us live in the real world.
-----------
I also find it very interesting to see people posting and responding anonymously - it is real easy to hide where no one can see
you.  I'd like to challenge all of you to be as open with your identity as mine has become.
I'd like all of the people who feel the need to criticize me put up their name and links to their pictures as well.  It is easy to
sit back behind your pc and call me evil - I'm out there and being honest - where are you?
-------------
People are upset that I put up a referral page.  Sorry if you don't like it.  But you will be ecstatic to know that only 4 people
ever asked for information on the site, and to this date we did not get one referral.  Nor did insurance pay for this, or any
donations.  I'll be paying off the loans for close to 30 years - and the monthly payment is more than my mortgage.  In an attempt
to help my daughter.  Did it work - only time will tell.  But she didn't end up in the hospital for sniffing glue and lysol like her
best friend pre-program did (who I heard actually od'd a few years back), though they were doing it together.
---------------
After that, somebody mentions the melt-downs - when Katie's older brother and I had to hold her down.  This was pre-program, and those
incidents led her to go to a local hospital program - which lasted a whole week.  This was during the period she was threatening her
brothers and step-mother - swinging at Diane and stopping just short of hitting her.  Verbally abusive to everyone in the family.  Her
older brother would not have any friends over because of her - it was amazing to find that once she was not in the home that her three
brothers actually did have friends.  Katie was not, and will not, rule my home.  Period.
----------------
At the bottom of page 7 - personal attacks against Diane because of her weight.  Just because I'm fat doesn't mean I can't tell that others
aren't fat as well.  Guess what - I don't really want my daughter to be fat.  I don't want her to be over 300 lbs.  But she now is.
In the program she was actually slowly loosing weight - which all her doctors had said she needed to do.  She exercised, if not every day
then nearly so.  Now I'm lucky if she ever gets off the couch.  I can't force her - she is 18 now and makes her own decisions.  But it
doesn't mean I have to like them.
-------------------
Page 8.  LEAVE MY FATHER OUT OF THIS.  Period.  Again, I challenge these people creating new accounts to come clean with their identies.
But leave those not involved out of this.  I am completely responsible for all my own decisions - those good and bad.  I decided to send
here there - I take full responsibility.  Do you anonymous posters think it was right - no.  Too bad.  Take some responsibiliy yourself
and come clean with your own identity.
-------------------
Page 10.  Comments about us not trying other alternatives.  These are the other alternatives we tried for a year prior to the program?  The
therapy for her and the whole family?  Getting her involved.  Oh, she loved that one.  The worse she acted the more attention she got - so
that I had to practically neglect her three brothers because everything at the time had to revolve around her.  As a parent I have all of
my children to consider, not just one of them.  I would have loved to find something that worked that was cheaper and easier - but I failed
to find that.  Of course I should have just come on this forum and have all of the anonymous posters parent her for me, because you have
all the answers.  As I said before, I take full responsibility for my actions and my mistakes.  I'm not perfect like all the people
posting on here - sorry for that.
--------------------
Page 11.  I love how quoting statistics (and we all know that 78.239% of statistics are made up right on the spot :-) makes the behavior
correct.  Just because you can quote that 78% of kids cheat on tests DOES NOT MAKE IT RIGHT!!!  Some things in life are shades of grey, but
others are not.  Cheating on a test is never correct, is never right. Period.

Bottom of the page - gee - some open and honest opinions - what a nice change.
---------------------
Page 12 - someone mentions due process and having somebody do screening - admitting.  Lets see - Katie had already been admitted to short
term programs run by local Hospitals three times in the year prior - and only stopped those because the insurance ran out.  She would have
stayed (voluntarily) in the last one quite a bit longer had the insurance not stopped covering it after a total of 30 days.  Unfortunately
hospitals cost even more than the program.
----------------------
Page 13 - I had to laugh when another anonymous poster is asking for the IP and name of someone else.  If you aren't willing to reveal
your identity, then don't ask anyone else to.  Me - I believe I should have the name, city, phone number etc. of EVERYONE critical of me
on this forum - because you felt the need to post mine.
--------------------
Page 14 - Katie's letter.  Let me say that as a parent I chose to create the blog to help others.  It was my experiences.  Katie wants
to be hurt by everything and everybody - and in truth the blog is about Me, not really about her.  It is what I went through.  I don't have
her side because I am not her!  I only know my own experiences.

Oh, and I don't know if we will discuss it or not, but Katie is perfectly welcome to share her thoughts / feelings.  I just hope that
she takes responsibility for her words, and begins to learn to take responsibility for her actions and her life.
---------------------
As I create this account, Katie sees it over my shoulder and gets upset.  Reading what I'm doing over my shoulder it at the very minimum quite rude.
She is mad because I don't have her side of the story - I'll read the rest of her thread later.

I've created a new email for this that people can email if they like - I don't want my normal one flamed.  You can email me at [email protected].  However I WILL NOT RESPOND to anonymous emails - since people have decided to post my name, Diane's phone numbers and a whole lot more information, then if you expect me to respond then I will expect the same - a minimum of your full name and location.  Nor will I respond to flames.  I will entertain open and honest discussion.  I am limiting it to that account - period.  Anything sent to other accounts, or posted on my personal blog, will not be responded to.

I don't know how often I'll check here - depends on how much of a beating I feel like receiving in any given day.

Michael C Carter
Father

quoted for the sad

[TheWho]

Nicely said, welcome Michael.  We hear many stories from the childs point of view.  Its good to hear the parents view which is rare here.  I hope you can stick around.

[Anonymous]

^^ the who
viewtopic.php?p=255174#255174
He thinks young people getting tortured is funny.

[Ursus]

Oh my god, these sick people do referrals...

http://mcarter.parentshelpingteens.com/

For the record, their story on the referral page is essentially a distilled version of what is on Michael Carter's blog. From the link Yael provided:

The honeymoon was over. We had been married for almost a year, and the relationship between my new wife and my daughter was rapidly deteriorating. At first we didn't notice much - it was summer, and she was out with friends all the time. And some money seemed to be missing from my wife's purse. And my other three sons would also find money missing. Then just before school started we get the call.

She just needed a ride home. From the hospital. Because her best friend was there. They had been huffing lysol, and she passed out and wouldn't wake up. She did later that night and was released, but it was an immediate wake up call for us.

The first step was a local teen treatment facility. She was admitted, stayed there a week or so, then did the outpatient program for a couple of weeks, then was back at school. But it wasn't enough, and a few weeks later she was back, with a threatened suicide. This time they pushed her through a bit faster, as the insurance (limited to 30 days inpatient mental health coverage - LIFETIME) was running out. We finally got her into a regular psychiatrist after this. It was simply amazing how you can have a crisis, and not a single doctor has room for a new patient.

We tried several different tasks, but nothing helped. A third time she ended up in the hospital after taking extra doses of her medicine. More therapy, and more blowups. Finally the school called. She was spending so much time either in the nurses office or the counselors office, every day, that she was completely disruptive to the school. With three weeks to the end of the school year, we were told if she wouldn't stay in class she couldn't come back.

At wits end, her biological mother offered to try for the summer. At first it seemed to go well, but once school started it deteriorated at a metoric rate - until I get a call on Saturday that she is flying back on Sunday.

At wit's end, we found TeenHelp.us, and they guided our admission process to Cross Creek Manor for my daughter. They gave us a list of escort services and helped arrange for a student loan. During a time of crisis when we had no where else to turn, they helped out. My daughter was escorted to Cross Creek Manor on 9/23/05. I truly believe that had we not done this, then she would be on a rapid path to jail or death.[/list]

@Michael: I'm glad, for your sake, that you did not get any referrals out of that. In time, I hope you may see it that way too.

I strongly suspect that the vast majority of WWASP parents who make such sites are in your shoes, i.e., go through all of the trouble and self-exposure involved in making this kind of site, and then get virtually no mileage out of it.

Can you not see that this is just WWASP suckering you into providing advertising for them? It is only the rabid diehards and ideologues who market this crap aggressively who might make any money out of this, and since it isn't really money per se, but "tuition credit," all of it is really just for Cross Creek's benefit!

[psy]

The worse she acted the more attention she got

So you consider her cutting her wrists "attention seeking" behavior?  You think what she did was out of some selfish desire for attention?  Pardon me French, but that's fucked up of you to think, much less say on a public forum.  While some might take your words to heart as reflecting on your daughter, personally I think they say more about you.

Btw: name's Michael Crawford

..and just so you know, there is hardly any regulation at all over private programs for teens.  You might want to read a book on this such as "Help at any cost" by Maia Szalavitz.

[Anonymous]

The worse she acted the more attention she got

So you consider her cutting her wrists "attention seeking" behavior?

Btw: name's Michael Crawford

..and just so you know, there is hardly any regulation at all over private programs for teens.  You might want to read a book on this such as "Help at any cost" by Maia Szalavitz.

there is 0% regulation. 1,000s of wwasp survivors filed criminal chrages with no adequate response, then contacted re George Miller, who sent the A.G. a formal letter requesting investigation into WWASP. His answer? 'The govt can't investigate wwasp for the torture of minors because WWASP is a private company'

http://www.nospank.net/ashcroft.htm

[Anonymous]

The thought that either of you is a real person is so wholly sickening that I want to call epic megatroll on this entire thread. I can't, because this exceeds the epic megatroll levels of any of Muldoon's epic megatrolls. (if this IS you, Muldoon: KUDOS!! 13/10 LEGENDARY! A bit more and you will become a transcendent, deific troll to be worshipped by all lower trolls.)

Seriously, is this Idiocracy made flesh? Did both father and daughter crawl out of an abandoned Wal-Mart festering with garbage? Did you come swimming out of Rush Limbaugh's toilet like an fish that thought it evolved but didn't? All my beliefs about genetics have been vindicated in the worst way possible. Your troubles are self-parodying and self-inflicted, and the fact that you were stupid enough to post your real name is just icing on the cake.

I have a million "die painfully" variants, but none of them even begin to approach the sheer level of utmost contempt I have for you. I cannot even hold all of it to the forefront of my mind at any one time. Once I think I have finally experienced all of the pure, unmitigated disgust that reading your posts creates, I find more of it lurking behind, like an endless river of shit.

What the hell are you doing here, Michael? Did God transport what passes for your soul into that underequipped body purely for the fun of it? Did Hell fill up and they are now sending their spirits into this realm, to spawn more hell-things and (of course) torture them as is the norm in that infernal place?

If you were in the least human you would have... no. I'm not here to give basic humanity lessons to programmies (pigs, singing, etc).

Mr. Carter, kill yourself! .38 to the head, swan dive off a tall building, walk into lava, noose through a car window and a brick on the accelerator, something creative, whatever! Just.. leave! And take that desperate thing you've made of your daughter with you, or at the very least have the mercy to force her hysterectomy, because whatever mutations have happened to your DNA at some point in the past should not be passed on any further!

[psy]

Most "programs" spoken of on fornits, because they claim to be "schools" or "emotional growth" get around requirements for licensing and regulation as treatment facilities...

PBS montana did a good documentary on this:
http://www.montanapbs.org/WhosWatchingTheKids/

That one is about Spring Creek Lodge in Montana, another WWASP school, but the same applies in Utah, which has the worst reputation of any state in this area.

[BuzzKill]

M. Carter - you've taken a tiger by the tail and given it a yank. But thats good. It might go a long way to waking you up.  
You made a terrible decision when you put your daughter in a WWASP program. I understand fully the kind of stress and frustration and fear that brought about this terrible decision; but it was a terrible decision none-the-less.  Indeed, as our Bruin friend suggest, you should get down on your knees and thank God you aren't responsible for any referrals.

I too am a WWASP program parent. I know how it is done; how they worked on you; how the program set you up and realed you in; how they gained and kept control of your thinking and actions with regard to your daughter and the program.  I have a reading list to suggest.

Help at Any Cost (how the troubled teen industry cons parents and hurts kids) by Maia Szalavitz
Cults in Our Midst, by Margret Singer

Both deal directly with WWASP and/or the LGAT WWASP forces upon the students and parents.

You may also want to look at a few other web sites.

http://www.turleylaw.com  
On the left hand sidebar you will see a link to recent filings. This will take you to a PDF copy of the case Turley has filed against WWASP and all related entities. Also on the left you will see the on-line form to fill out if your interested in having your case reviewed. This may by of special interest to Kattie.

http://www.isaccorp.org
ISAC has a great deal of information on WWASP.  http://www.isaccorp.org/wwasps.asp

http://www.wwaspsinfo.net
A collection of newspaper articles about the wwasp programs.

http://www.tbfight.com
they have a collection of video clips you can access, as well as a lot of commentary.

http://www.paulareeves.com
A repentant WWASP program parent's site.

http://www.nospank.net/boot.htm#n-i04
Jordan Riak's site. This page has some info about Congressman Millers efforts to stop the abuse.

http://teenadvocatesusa.homestead.com/tribute1.html
A memorial list of kids that have died in programs.

http://denver.rockymountainnews.com/des ... t-pg.shtml
A great seris of articles about the WWASP program. I hope it will open.
(If any of you cyber geeks know how to copy this site you should)

Thats enough to get you started.

If you want to "converse" with me After you have done the above reccomended research, feel free to contact me through this site.

Oh - let me second this: PBS montana did a good documentary on this:
http://www.montanapbs.org/WhosWatchingTheKids/

You gotta watch this PBS documentary.