Lon's Rant on Unethical Marketing Practices

[Deborah]

Enjoy Lon's rant on unethical marketing practices and his advice to parents who don't know 'who to trust'.

http://www.strugglingteens.com/archives ... thics.html
Excerpts:

In checking out professionals, parents also have to make sure the accreditation or certification body claimed by a professional really exists and is legitimate. For example, the Independent Educational Consultants Association (IECA) is a real organization that takes its ethical standards very seriously and has disciplined members for infractions. Though enforcement of these standards of course is not perfect, a serious effort does exist, and it is enough to get the attention of all its members.

Written ethical standards in the Emotional Growth/Therapeutic school and program field include two purposes. One is the attempt to protect parents from being taken advantage of by unscrupulous practitioners. Another purpose is to support fair competition among professionals. If unscrupulous marketing techniques can be eliminated, then professional success is more likely to be achieved by superior service rather than clever and slick marketing. In both these ways, success in establishing ethical standards benefits parents, children and ethical professionals.

Many of the parents who call me are totally confused about how to make the right placement choice for their child. They are not only confused by multiple and often conflicting diagnosis, they are also confused by the programs they are considering because each seems to feel it is the best placement for their child. Meanwhile, the referring professionals and self appointed ?watch dog? groups who believe they have the inside track to what the truth is, confuse parents further by making different and conflicting recommendations. This is why the question from parents often really is, ?Who to Believe??

[Watchaduen]

They are all liars and out to make a buck.  From the Independent referral guys, to the Teen Help Agencies, to the Torture Home owners.  Liars all of them.  When we were looking for a place that could help our son we started calling those Teen Help Agencies.  Lies, lies, lies.  Later to find out they have never even visited these places.  If they had, they would have been told the same lies we parents heard.  After being told lies from the Teen Help agencies, we then called the places directly. More lies from the owner's.  The Fountains (owners of Bethel Boys Academy) told us what we wanted to hear.  One question specifically asked by us was "how do you discipline the boys"?  We were assured that no child will ever be touched and that they used military discipline.  When we asked for them to elaborate on that statement, we were told that it would mean extra chores, such as scrubbing a toilet with a toothbrush.  Or running extra laps (having no idea that my son would have already run over 100 laps in a single morning).  LIARS all of THEM!!!!!!!!