It seems to me that those programs have gotten more abusive, not less. LIFE was horrible, but they didn't have a hobbit, they never left us in dog cages for a week. According to you Max, it is apparently impossible to be a bad or irresponsible parent. This industry is indeed one big con job, jails institutions and death is just one small part of how they convince parents that hating their kids is the best thing for everyone.
If programs did not exist, parents of troubled teens would organize online and end up creating their own. The demand is there, that is why programs exist. According to fornits no parent would think of sending a kid to a behavior program, then a cold calling program marketer calls them and cons them into sending their perfect child away, all to make money. In my own experience this does not come close to accurately describing how this industry is structured. The demand comes from parents, and programs compete to fulfill that demand.
I was put in isolation in the program as you describe, yet I don't consider it abuse. It was clearly explained the rules when we arrived, and if you broke certain rules, like harming yourself in particular you were placed in isolation and staff watched you all the time, because you proved to them you couldn't handle what little freedom you had in the program. There are isolation rooms in psychiatric hospitals, run by the "professionals" and regulated by the state.. They exist for a reason, and as someone who has experienced it I know it's not very pleasant, but that's the point. It motivates you to behave in a way that will prevent you from being placed in it again. That's the essence of behavior modification, and guess what, it usually works.
