Fornits

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An open discussion about the troubled parent industry

nigel,  i'm going to frame this advice based on the very real question "what do you do when your son comes home".  frankly, and unfortunately this responsibility falls to you, since aspen is only going to sell you what they know, aftercare in the community isn't their specialty.  there are community-based services available depending on the community that you live in.  you also might consider having your son evaluated for any learning disabilities if you haven't done so already.  if you want to pm either me or psy, with at least some basic information about your whereabouts, we can at least point you in the right direction for the community-based supports that will successfully keep your son at home.

I don't think I could have said it any more eloquently than TAC.

Communication with parents should never be used as a punishment, period.  That's not to say that it isn't a common practice in programs of all kinds, but it is to say that if it's not the #1 red flag of a problem program, then it's pretty high up there.  And it's less a matter of what your son is going to say when he's on the phone, it's about your role as a parent.  It shouldn't be up to the program to punish your son, that's your job as his parent.  And if the program were doing their job, they would be preparing both you and him for the inevitability of how you plan on disciplining him when he does come home.  

Again, ditto TAC.

Yes, they do that and they also recommend outside the Aspen group if they feel it is a better fit then what their programs can provide. They are also quick to tell you if your child just doesnt fit their programs or requires further testing prior to acceptance.
Most of the places have each others phone numbers whether they are Aspen Ed or outside the group. Its very common

Guest, since you seem to have so much expertise in the subject.  Do these programs ever even consider suggesting to a parent that the help that they need can be provided at home with services that perhaps they haven't tried yet, that someone might not make a profit off of?  And please offer an example (no names please of the person, but please share the names of the programs involved) if you do.

Now what kind of program do you think a kid like this would end up being placed in if not for Juvie?

My bet is on a program like Three Springs, since they contract out with all sorts of juvenile justice systems.  Che, you have some experience with that program.  Seems like this is a case of being stuck between a rock and a hard place.

There may be programs that would be the lesser of two evils between itself and juvie.  But, no those programs do tend to get kids who should have never been sent away in the first place.  For this kid, any program he would get sent to, or eventually get placed in, would be no better than juvie.  I'm sure Matthew Israel would take him open arms.

DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
CHILDREN’S DIVISION
P.O. BOX 88
JEFFERSON CITY, MISSOURI
January 28, 2008
MEMORANDUM
MEMORANDUM FOR ALL CHILDREN’S DIVISION STAFF
FROM: Jim Harrison, Deputy Director
Children’s Division
SUBJECT: CHANGE ACADEMY LAKE OF THE OZARKS
130 Calo Lane
Lake Ozark, Missouri 65049
(573) 365-2221
This is to advise staff that effective immediately, Change Academy Lake of the Ozarks is licensed as a residential child care agency and meets the standards for basic core residential treatment services. Change Academy is licensed to care for up to sixty-four (64) males and females, ages thirteen (13) to eighteen (18), but does not have a contract with the Children’s Division to provide residential treatment services for children in the custody of the Children’s Division. Instead, Change Academy serves private placements from around the United States. Dr. Ken Huey is the Chief Executive Officer.
Please feel free to contact Fred Proebsting, State Supervisor, Residential Program Unit, at (573) 751-8926, if you have any questions or comments regarding this matter.
JH:JR:ct

Ok, so I quote this little tidbit to show two things.  One, CALO isn't exactly the same thing as the other Missouri program that gets rightly pounded on this forum (Thayer).  Two, it took them until the winter of 2008 to decide to become a licensed facility.

So, what to make of this entire exchange.  First, Mr. Huey, thank you for coming into this little corner of the universe and identifying yourself.  For that alone you deserve at least some measure of recognition.  You didn't have to come here and try to make your case.  "Try" however is the operative word.

Here are my questions.  I have data from New Jersey which identifies the different restraint and seclusion techniques they use in that state.  Of their 92 programs that use some kind of control system, none of them use Positive Control Systems.  Of the systems they use, the models are Crisis Prevention Institute (CPI), Handle With Care (HWC), Managing Aggressive Behavior (MAB), The Mandt System, Professional Crisis Management (PCM), Safe Crisis Management (SCM), The Smart System, and Therapeutic Crisis Intervention (TCI).  Furthermore, it appears that PCS is used almost exclusively by private programs, particularly programs based in Utah.

1.  Why use PCS instead of one of these other crisis intervention models (which is not necessarily and advertisement of the other models, just how your decision was made)
2.  Why not have a contract with Missouri DSS?
3.  Why take youth from all over the country, whereby taking youth from places outside Missouri and surrounding states, you invariably make the transition home more difficult than if they were at least in the vicinity of their communities.

Mr Huey, while I appreciate the effort to show that you are trying to move your program in a more positive direction, in particular your stated refusal to work with escort services is a good sign.  If nothing else I hope you can convince your counterparts to distance themselves from some of the practices you've identified as problematic.  But I can guarantee you that you're not there yet.  And I know that I would personally not be satisfied until further dramatic changes took place within your program.  If you're serious about moving towards these best practices I would actually refer you to the juvenile justice system within your state.  From what I hear they've done a lot of good work moving all of their adjudicated youth into community-based programs that are actually relatively non-coercive despite being part of the juvenile justice system.  But who knows, I haven't actually been on the ground in Missouri to see for myself.

Anyway, thanks for the conversation starter.  I'm sure this won't be my last post on this thread.

Let's be clear here.  What this parent is describing is abuse.  Let's roleplay calling CPS however.

Reporter: Hi I'd like to report an incident of child abuse
CPS:  Please describe the abuse that you witnessed?
Reporter:  A parent on an internet forum said that Sunrise Academy was making her son carry 10 lbs. of books around as punishment and she supported it
CPS:  Do you know this parent or child
Reporter:  No
CPS:  Do you know the name of this parent or child
Reporter:  No
CPS:  Well sir, without the child's or the parent's name there's nothing we can do about it

Have you ever been on the subway or train and witnessed a child being slapped and wanted to call CPS?  Without being able to identify the perp there's really nothing that can be done or that CPS is willing to do.

Disability Rights California might take an interest in a case like this, but given the P & A's shortage of staffing, they might consider this a wild goose chase that isn't worth their time, still worth a call into them though.  Investigating MBA took one staff member, a supreme court case, and ten current and former students who were willing to come forward, and the school is still open and receiving students.

The previous poster beat me to it, but that was certainly the most important thing, that it was a staff member who made the allegations.  Then there was a ton of corroborating evidence by three different generations of MBA students who as soon as the investigation was underway who besides posting blogs on facebook and myspace, contacted the authorities directly.  And there were mental health professionals who could corroborate to the investigators who had no context for what they were investigating, that what they were seeing was in fact abusive and traumatic, and not a form of legitimate therapy.  

It took three kinds of "expert witnesses" to make this work; staff, former and current students, and people with titles at the end of their name for the DHS to take the allegations seriously.