Fornits

Fornits Home for Wayward Web Fora
An open discussion about the troubled parent industry

I promised to post this on behalf of EmoJanice, who make some contributions to our cause

If you have watch "Hell Camp - Teen nightmare" on Netflix, you have learned all about the US domestic fight against the teenage life. The teenagers in the US cannot like young Danes go into a shop and buy alcohol, so they will never sit down over some beers and talk. As result they live in a divided society.

The parents in the US can legally hire a firm which collects the kids and place them in handcuffs and legirons only for them to take the children to wilderness camps where some of them die or so-called private prisons called boarding schools or residential treatment centers where some also die.

Why? Tougher legislation - the fight against drugs, 3-strike laws made the parents fear for the future of their children. So these places have been allowed to kill children for several decades.

Now parents in Russia who have children who might see themselves as the other gender or a unicorn can opt to take their children to private hospitals where the so-called doctors try to "cure" the children. We all know what is going to happen.

The bodies of teenagers will start to pile up.

Why? Tougher legislation against LGBTQIA+ make the parents fear for the future of their children.

Two countries who is against each others both have parents who react the same.

Victims of the Troubled Teen Industry in the United States (Domestic Prisoners of Conscience)
In Russia, parents are having gay children abducted to be ?cured? (The Washington Post)

Harvested from Yelp

Management is truly awful. If nepotism is not on your side you are treated like complete trash. You now get in trouble if you clock in early, and you get in trouble if you stay longer to help someone out. They will continue to increase your work load without increasing compensation and unless you kiss the bosses butt you will never be treated with a shred of respect. Meetings and all trainings are required, unless you have the benefits of nepotism or you're part of management, then you get a free pass on all requirements with no consequences. Pay raises and promotions don't go out to the hardest workers, they go out to who ever has a parent in management. I cannot tell you how many times I was passed over for promotions only to find out it went to a bosses kid who is always late for work, never follows protocol and puts the kids in danger.

I feel so bad for the girls that are sent to this place by their parents. They are neglected. And it has become increasingly clear that the owners don't care about them. All the kids are to them is fat paycheck every month. This place is a sad excuse for a treatment center. Please never work here. You'll be treated like garbage, you'll be neglected and given no real chance to advance. This place is a pure scam. Every week it looks more and more run down and I have seen no signs of them planning on improving anything. The compound I stayed at in Tanzania was nicer than the girls rooms. They say they have plans to upgrade and expand, but it's all talk, they never do anything. When you get a new girl management with holds all information about them except their name. They do not try to prepare you at all on the best way to handle them. You're forced to completely wing it because management is completely useless when it comes to anything. I guarantee that every single good review this place has gotten is because management wrote it, or someone who benefits from nepotism wrote it.

This is from a girl who whole heartedly put their heart and soul into the program that is established at renewed hope ranch. Giving this one star is honestly even way to much. I was sent to the ranch at the end of may last year I had problems with drug use and can look back at that time and still understand that I was in a need of help. However, what is done at this facility is not right and you are grouped together almost randomly. I had drug use and huge defiant problems and those were the biggest reasons I had gotten sent to the ranch. When arrive you can be grouped with a girl who screams their head off all night and slams their head against the wall even though you personally do not have those issues. This exposes a lot of the girls at the facility and I was 16 when I was there and really couldn't imagine if I was any younger experiencing those things I was in a very vulnerable place when I had arrived and it became very easy for me to cling to any hope that I was shown. Knowing that I put my heart into this program and to come out utterly destroyed from the inside out shakes that all this place truly does is damage. If your a parent reading this I know your probably really scared and terrified to make the wrong decision about your child's life. With anything and everything you do do not send your child here you will find the right place, this place is not it trust me you do not want your child here. I only say this because looking back in my experience I can see that when I'm forced to ask to go in and out of every room, forced to wear the same color shirt, forced to only talk with a staff, forced to have a staff listen to me pee, forced to be quite for 30 second before meals, forced to give the caps to my art pens away, forced to give a book away that might just be a little inappropriate if someone else comes across it that these rules did not and do not teach me anything that I need in my real life. The justification behind the majority of these rules is they are trying to keep us safe. Which yes that is there true job to keep us safe however, these rules do not need to applied to everyone and the girls need to be separated depending on their risk level. When we are all thrown together girls are exposed to various things like: knowing what cocaine is, watching a girl kick,bite,punch each other or another staff, being exposed to eating disorders or watching on of there fellow peers try and kill themselves. I only say all these things because it's true and I can truly say that I put everything I had into this program and came out not knowing how to act in a correct manner or how to be comfortable alone. I know that I needed and I know the child that you probably love so dearly needs help. But this is not it there are other options I recommend going to a short term program or doing intensive out patient therapy I think that you will get a much better outcome and probably a really happy little girl by the end of it. I also recommend reading these articles it goes over a lot of options and programs that will probably benefit your child a lot more http://www.astartforteens.org/. I hope you make the right decision always tell your kid that you love them.

My daughter was there for eight months from December 2017 -August 2018. Her mother made that unilateral decision aided by getting it ram-rodded through the court over my objections. I was very skeptical of this as I felt she should be treated with science based treatments and ththerapy not fringe treatment. The founder /director is a licsensed clinical therapist, married LDS church going man with children and seemed to be a decent man. H e was not . He came on to her and shut off security cameras and microphones to prey on my daughter with sexual physical advances, kissing etc. , After her release he kept in contact wit her and continued to mhis advances on he now r including sending pornographic photos to her.

Found som random views of this program:

Please read the Yelp reviews, they can and have taken down reviews that do not go against Google review guidelines!
I left this program with better social skills but only because I was learning what to say and what not to say in order to not be punished and to eventually leave.
People were put on safety for eating a skittle off the ground.
I was screamed at and abused by a staff, that turned out to be a convicted arsonist (records are available if you call the local police station), because I didn't hear her saying to let a therapist get French fries before me when it was my turn to get food. It was so bad that I hid under a table, and it was then that she started threatening to take my level.
I was held for way too long because they wanted my mom's money.
I was berated  for loving  Harry Potter (most staff were Mormon)
Others had to use me as a stepping stool to get out of the program.
My therapist told my transgender friend that he was just a confused lesbian because he was assaulted.
Said transgender friend walked away from a conversation with staff and as a result was unnecessarily tackled to the ground and restrained by four staff.
One of my friends was on com block for a month. Which basically means they forbade her to speak for a whole month.

I was put on safety for running out of the bathroom located inside my room with a towel wrapped around me and pants on to get a shirt I forgot (I was about to be late and people were punished for not having woke up, gotten 100% ready for the day, cleaned their room and getting out of the room within 25 minutes of another resident waking us up (said resident was assigned to wake up ten minutes early to wake everyone else up and they also would keep track of the time for everybody else)) when Kim from admissions who was horrible to us started shouting, "SAFETY! SAFETY! SAFETY!" at me, if this gives you an idea of how much staff abused safety phase. Within three days of my graduation I was having nightmares and would literally wake up screaming, my mother as my witness.
One male staff was super creepy.
They made workouts unsafe.
A group was called by the before mentioned arsonist staff to tell people to not talkto me because I wanted attention.
We weren't allowed to speak to our parents for an extended period of time when we first got there, so that Solstice could use that time to make our parents think that we would say and even make up anything to get to go home.

0 stars. abuse. neglect. i have severe ptsd from my time at solstice and i resent my parents for life for what i went thru. if you love your child, dont fucking send them away to some bull shit abusive compound in the middle of utah. fuck you if you have ever sent your child away. what a way to bail on parenting. go ahead and give up then. fuck you solstice and fuck you to the "parents" who send their children away. may you rot in hell.

Your child will be brutally emotionally abused daily. I was there for 11 months and 4 years later my PTSD from Solstice is still so severe I have an incredibly hard time functioning as an adult. They take away every right, treat you like a criminal who deserves nothing, and constantly tell you you are a bad kid who deserves to be punished for every mistake. I promise you if your child needs this level of help they are already suffering enough, they do not need to be punished farther. This will ruin their childhood. This will drive a wedge between you and your child for the rest of their life when they get out and realize how bad it really was and that you sent them there. Please listen to the people who actually lived through it not parents. Any time parents visit they treat us completely differently. This is cruel child abuse that no one deserves. They should not be in business after they have ruined so many peoples young lives. They delete many past residents google reviews which speak volumes.

This place is absolutely awful. Do not send your kid here. Or anywhere in Utah for that matter. Sending a kid away to a program like this can do more damage than good, especially if the program blatantly ignored abuse and the laws. I have first hand experienced awful treatment and care that ended up with me regressing fully into the person I was before my previous programs. This place should honestly be shut down. They isolate gay kids, there's always an inappropriate staff and student relationship, and refused to respect and support my religion. They have done so many harmful things and legitimate refused to listen to listen to me ask for help. Everyone that I have met up with since, has suffered a great deal because of this place. I still wake up shaking from nightmares. If any parent needs to talk to someone about where to go, they can always reach out and contact me.

I went to Solstice in 2012 and let me tell you, it was a mess. I am not someone who is bitter about my time there, nor do I write this to get back at the hell they caused me. I am writing this because parents and young women need to know the harsh reality of what it was like to be at Solstice. I don't even know where to begin...for starers, my therapist was terrible. Her name was Melissa and she is the main root of my trauma from Solstice. I will never forget the day she told me that my mother was never going to be stable and that I would always be as sick her. I cannot explain the amount of dread my whole body experienced when meeting with Melissa. When I explained my distrust with her, I was immediately silenced. Because I was the patient and she was the therapist. Therefore nothing I said had validity unless it was what THEY wanted to hear. I am graduating college with a double major and a minor with a 3.7 GPA. I am not a dumb girl. I know the rights and the wrongs and I know what a healthy patient-therapist relationship looks like. No one had that with Melissa.
Another instance I witnessed a terrible restraint that brought me to tears. A young girl was restrained because she was sitting on the floor. yes, she was refusing to move but I assure you this girl was simply being defiant... she was no danger to anyone. Sadly, this provided a perfect opportunity for staff to once again abuse their power. Three male staff grabbed her to try and take her away only to end up wrestling and pinning her to the ground. The girl struggled and had a panic attack to which the staff laughed and continued to restrain her. Imagine this violence against your daughter.
Lastly, I will NEVER forget when Melissa and I looked at my blog where I had a photo of myself when I was struggling with anorexia and Melissa laughed because I "just looked bizarre". She did not have any compassion for me, and apparently no knowledge on how to deal with eating disorders.
I witnessed countless girls get verbally abused by staff who would later lie when the RT tried to bring it up. I know that I grew fearful for ever slipping up, for ever losing control. The whole place was a game and you just had to learn the hard way how to play it right. Everyone threw everyone under the bus. No one was honest. I don't know a single girl that was there during my time that had a good experience. Adult staff that worked there that had quit were willing to put forth testimonies about the injustices. If that doesn't convince you I don't know what will.

PLEASE DO NOT SEND YOUR DAUGHTER HERE.
email me with any questions or concerns, haidha@guilford.edu

Due to a recent article, I will make this thread where I will collect some feedback to work with:

I came back years later to see if anyone had had an experience even mildly in likeness that I did. Scrolling through the negative comments and seeing how demeaning Star Guides is in response is the epitome of my experience. ?We?re sorry your post care wasn?t the quality you deserve?
I attended star guides in 2016. A roughly 86 day stint. During my time I experienced a series troubling and neglectful events. Kena Frey on various occasions would come and ?therapies? the members of my group but at no point meet with me. Weeks i went without therapy to ?help me manage my need for ?control?. There are stories that are better left for a court room and not a Google review. In my time following i saw some of the best Clinical Psychologists in the country and into adulthood. Every time I?ve been evaluated there?s always a note that indicates Star Guides induced severe PTSD and panic disorder etc. There truly aren?t words for the negative impact this had on my life. No child in this kind of situation with the severity of the issues my peers had should be seen by anyone other than someone with a clinical psychology degree. Much less someone with a general masters. I now run a very successful business in the recovery space. Graduated from a top tier institution. However I?m not a success story of starguides. My parents and those around me would say i came back dark, distrusting, and traumatized. With even a larger mountain to overcome.  I?ll leave you with this. There are many many resources in the recovery space. I work with facilities everyday who work with kids of the same issues but in a way that doesn?t cut deeper. There are so many solutions and facilities who are actually looking at the science of recovery and creating challenging but healthy and safe places for recovery. I encourage all parents in this position to pursue not only care from qualified clinical psychologists but programs that promote safe healing not a military style break you down to build you up. In times of chaos or distress it?s easiest to make a rash decision.  Choosing to send your child off should be given a great deal of consideration and research. I know mine wish they had done more research. We could?ve avoided a lifetime of pain, because as we all know, the body keeps score.

Please do not send your children here. I spent seven months in this program and any "progress" I made was short-lived and came at a high price. My education was ruined. My mental health is worse than before, though since this program is only concerned with behavior, I suppose that's to be expected. I have all but lost the ability to show and feel things like love and affection, especially towards my parents. I have struggled to re-adjust to society and wonder if there just isn't a place for me anymore. In summary, the "help" this program provides has made my life significantly more difficult. And I can assure you I am not the only one. This, and many other Wilderness Therapy Programs, have damaged many lives. We deserve a roof over our heads, a bed to sleep in, a shower, a toilet, a daily change of clothes, education. We do not deserve to be watched while using the bathroom for any reason or made to perform physical labor. Living in this kind of environment can be crushing. Unfortunately, it's a feeling many will never be able to forget. I can only hope that a parent will read this and consider a different treatment option, or that someone who has been through a similar experience will read this and feel less alone.

It is located in Indiana and there are articles on Reddit and Project Unsilenced covering it.

I have lived here for one year and months and highly recommend considering you options when coming to this facility. My experience was absolutely horrendous. I was not helped when coming to this facility in fact was set further behind and was given less opportunity. There were care specialists that were clearly biased and gave favoritism to other residents. Not only this, I was promised full confidentiality of all treatment information but I was not given this respect and this caused me more troubles. I was put down by other residents and I was not helped by the care specialists. I was discharged unsuccessfully because of failed polygraph in  which I was forced to take by the facility and what was worse is I had been truthful, but had been called a liar. These polygraphs have caused the fall of so many residents and in my entire 14 months of stay,  I saw only 1 person discharge by completion of the program. These residents are undergoing a tremendous amount of stress, I know because of the social awkwardness that I still have today.  The facility also does not have a welcoming setting, I felt I was in solitary confinement . These people will walk out with more mental problems and will likely discharge unsuccessfully. In my personal opinion, avoid this place at all costs. In the mist of all this, they did offer a great christian environment but may be a problem if there were one who was not christian. The care specialists generally liked to show christian movies and shows. One more thing, the school offered had no opportunity, most of the schooling was on computer and classes offered were chosen for you, generally an elective like basic skills or Indiana studies. So complicated classes such as algebra had to be self taught on a computer. Please consider all of your options when coming to this facility, because generally any other residental is better than here.

Fired a good staff member for completely bs reasons and treated them poorly with clear bias for certain members. Not very understanding of staff having to do what they can to keep things under control in high stress situations with zero help from other staff even if it doesn't 110% go the way management wants it to go.

As someone who successfully discharged from the facility. I say, depending on the kind of environment you want your child in, this may, or may not be a good place. They may have good staff, but many staff who work here are power hungry when it comes to position. I would recommend somewhere else, but it is your choice.

There might be basis for an article about this place. 3 arrests

• Rhydd Court School sex abuse and cruelty scandal - eight in court (Worcester News)
• Worcestershire: Eight in court accused of child abuse at school  (BBC)
• Rhydd Court (Cliffey House) (The Rhydd) (The Dicamillo)

Rainbow House Inc. is located in Jonesboro. Georgia. The police seems to have arrested several employees (At least 4). The charges count inappropriate sexual conduct, child molestation, statutory rape, and sexual assault, sexual exploitation and failure to report the crimes. Not unusual in the group home business. Now the police have to look for more possible victims.

At least 4 employees arrested in sexual assault, cover-up at youth shelter; More victims discovered (Fox 5 Atlanta)
More child victims discovered in Rainbow House sexual abuse case (Atlanta News First)