Fornits
Treatment Abuse, Behavior Modification, Thought Reform => The Troubled Teen Industry => Topic started by: Anonymous on January 07, 2007, 12:37:54 AM
-
http://www.meadowlarkacademy.com/faq.html (http://www.meadowlarkacademy.com/faq.html)
Anybody know who owns this program? Seems like it's a fairly new facility.
Thanks!
-
Brat Camp Print E-mail
The ABC series featuring brat camps has generated a lot of interest in wilderness style programs. The program presented on television followed several defiant youth as they dealt with issues and problems they were struggling with. The Brat Camp type of program falls under what may typically be classified as a wilderness style program. These programs are named such because the experience takes place in remote locations without any of the creature comforts that children of today take for granted. The Brat Camp series provided an opportunity for parents to see that they are not alone, that there are others who struggle dealing with the problems associated with a troubled teen, and that there is help.
The wilderness style program may or may not be the best option for your child, if you are looking for help give us a call we will explore some of the options that are available to you.
THey are actually trying to use Brat Camp to sell their program? :roll:
-
Notice:
If Meadowlark Academy is not an appropriate placement the admissions coordinator may recommend and alternative adolescent service including schools, programs, treatment alternatives, therapists, and transport services; Meadowlark Academy does not own, control, manage, nor direct any individuals or companies that provide these alternative services. Meadowlark Academy does not assume any liability or responsibility, implied or otherwise for said services, our admissions staff is neither Doctors nor trained professionals, we merely provide recommendations for services. Therefore, all liability or responsibility for any recommended services is assumed entirely by the service provider, as outlined in their individual enrollment agreements with the parent/sponsors. Meadowlark Academy admissions personnel may receive a fee from the alternative placement option for referring a student to them.
-
Meadowlark Academy admissions personnel may receive a fee from the alternative placement option for referring a student to them.
No conflict of interest there! :roll: Child=commoddity
-
Registered January 2006
Teen Placement Service. L.L.C.
Who is that?
-
Just on a hunch, I typed in teenplacementservice.com and got this:
http://www.tpsrep.com/ (http://www.tpsrep.com/)
-
Second Mortgage to pay for Program
Many parents are forced to take a second mortgage on their home to pay for their children?s stay in a specialty school or camp. This avenue can be cost effective for some families as it may also be a tax advantage. Most 2nd mortgages are tax deductible. We are not accountants but many people have informed us that they have been able to use this strategy. This is not to say that it will work for everyone but it may be worth exploring. We also have second mortgage resources for people that do not have very good credit.
:-? on the front page
-
Damn, check this out:
http://www.bootcampvideo.com/ (http://www.bootcampvideo.com/)
-
It looks to me like they offer ANYONE who refers kids to these shitholes money. These look like the same mass produced websites as the people selling pharmaceuticals set up, with the same referal setup.
-
How creative. Send $100.00 for a boot camp video showing a transport?
GMAFB!
-
http://www.tpsrep.com/staff.htm (http://www.tpsrep.com/staff.htm)
Gee, St. George, Utah. What a surprise.
-
We also receive call on a regular basis for parents having trouble with children as young as 6 years of age.
Either I call bullshit here or lose my sanity, so I'm calling bullshit.
-
Whoa ... Kevin Richey?
Is this WWASPS related by any chance?
http://www.tpsrep.com/staff.htm (http://www.tpsrep.com/staff.htm)
-
Not sure about WWASPS related but here's some more info on Kevin Richey
http://www.tiptonacademy.com/aboutuskevin.php (http://www.tiptonacademy.com/aboutuskevin.php)
-
Googling the phone number, appears to have some connection to Tipton Academy.
A transaction that is returned to Meadowlark Academy for any reason may be subject to a returned item fee by your banking institution and the Tipton Academy bank.
http://www.fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.ph ... 635#189635 (http://www.fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.php?p=189635#189635)
http://www.fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.ph ... 920#189920 (http://www.fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.php?p=189920#189920)
-
So Tipton and Meadowlark are like "sister programs", Meadowlark being the newer of the two?
Richey did work for WWASPS/ Teen Help. Check the PURE threads too.
-
It does not sound as WWASP. For once they dont have parent seminars.
For second the number of levels are lower than WWASP.
So far, I have seen 3 levels (Orange, White, Red T-shirts). A child have phone privileges at level two, rather than level three.
http://www.tiptonacademy.com/contract.pdf (http://www.tiptonacademy.com/contract.pdf)?
Third it seems that the main purpose rather than therapy is to provide both jobs and cheap labour the local community.
There are only 44 miles between them.
long assed link (http://http://local.live.com/?v=2&sp=Point.qjd1sz6vks7k_301%2520E%25207th%2520St%252c%2520Delphos%252c%2520KS%252067436-4009%252c%2520United%2520States___)
nother long link (http://http://local.live.com/?v=2&sp=Point.qjpc2z6stkjk_201%2520Arnoldy%252c%2520Tipton%252c%2520KS%252067485-9328%252c%2520United%2520States___)
Forth they use the peer group as staff in earlier stage than wwasp. All members in a peer group becomes junior staff watching over each other in order to move forward in the program. I would certainly not recommend a child which is paranoid to go there.
That kind of therapy can not solve any serious problem. It is prison the parents are buying for their children in such places. Please notice that the staff reads mails and monitor phonecalls. They even write it in the contract.
It is not wwasp. They might have been inspired by them.
BTW. I disagree about their statement about the states being the greatest country in the world, but it may be because I am a Dane.
-
Rick strawn has sent kids to tipton & meadowlark. What they do seem to share with WWASP is shithouse looking facilities. No pretence at nice buildings etc here for either. meadowlark also have young looking staff.
http://www.helpingteens.com/ (http://www.helpingteens.com/)
-
Summer school:
They can not brainwash the poor soles in just three months. What keeps WWASP going is the fact, that most former inmates is either broken down, brainwashed beyound what should be possible or wandering the streets as homeless with the strength to write about their torment.
That calls for time. Time to milk the parents, time to break even the most upstanding youth down.
So if a facility offers summer school, like they do: (see http://www.meadowlarkacademy.com/brat-camp.html (http://www.meadowlarkacademy.com/brat-camp.html))
soon there will be survivors outthere i large numbers, which could testify about abuse. I am not a supporter of the program, but they can not push their client as hard as wwasp do.
-
They can not brainwash the poor soles in just three months.
Some kids buy into the WWASPS ideology from day one. Every kid reacts differently. Some have graduated as fast as ten months, others it can take three years. So you'd be surprised how fast you can break someone down and change them. EST seminars were only two weekends.
What keeps WWASP going is the fact, that most former inmates is either broken down, brainwashed beyound what should be possible or wandering the streets as homeless with the strength to write about their torment.
:rofl: Okay that I definitely don't agree with. At myspace group anti-wwasp there is close to 500 members! Kev started a website called anti-wwasp which is gaining a lot of attention now. Believe me, we have the strength to write about it, the problem is getting people to read it. It's not the kids that keep this perpetuating, it's the parents. Not that many kids actually graduate the program and sing its praises for very long. Check out the pro wwasp group, its been open for a year and it has 30 or 40 members, a lot of whom never even went to wwasp. Then check out the groups critical of WWASPS, numbering in the thousands. It's the parents who keep this going. There is WAY more information available to a parent than say in the year 2000.
-
WWASPS enrollment like all troubled teen programs is driven by parent demand - ergo the correct name for this industry really should be the TROUBLED PARENT INDUSTRY as suggested by Fornits founder, Ginger Warbis.
As long as you have parents desperate to get in control of their teen's attitude and behavior, the troubled parent industry will exist.
BANK ON IT.
-
Although I agree with what you've said Guest - i fail to see how you can blame a parent for wanting to get an out of control teen back into control? I mean if your kid is using drugs, stealing cars & crashing them, mugging old ladies in the street and the list goes on, then of course a parent is going to want control over their kid, it's natural to worry about them killing themselves (or someone else) The real issue is persuading parents to deal with it, not sending their kids off to be parented by someone else, the programs are run by parent's fear!
meadowLark and Tipton are sister companies as far as I know - Meadowlark takes only girls and Tipton takes boys, this is probably a good thing to seperate the two genders, I also think Animal Behaviour therapy is a brilliant way of deaing with a troubled child, but, hey, do parents know they don't have to send their child away to do this - go to the local dog training unit and arrange traiing days for kids with behavioural problems, or buy your kid a dog dammit (we've had a dog training day here recently) it really does work
I noticed the site says they will take in children who have ADHD, this is such a bug bear with me, how can a program fix ADHD - it makes me so mad when they claim to be able to do that, they can't, no-one can fix it, its a disability, it can't be fixed :flame:
rant over
-
i find this idea of animal therapy as bemusing as i do nature therapy. Isnt this what average families do when they get a dog and make the kids take responsibility of feeding it, or when mum says its a beautiful day so get outside in the sunshine and turns the telly off? Or when american parents send their kid to summer camp. It seems if you stick the label therapy on something pretty mundane you can charge thousands of $$$.
-
:rofl: And be reimbursed by insurance!!!
Imagine a parent trying to get a reimbursement for a horse they bought their daughter who'd been raped, cause it was 'therapeutic'. :rofl:
-
Titter ye not Deborah
We have a place down the road from here called The Arrow riding School for the disabled
They take children with all disabilities, even those with behavioural and learning disabilities because horses are calming, also children need to place a special trust in such a powerful animal, medical insurance wil cover the fees - when I can get my boys to help me at the yard, I have 2 different kids on my hands, it's either be responsible or you're going to get a very large and very heavy animal kick, bite or trample you, they know this and take their responsibilities there very seriously, they also really enjoy the actual care of the horse, mucking out, making up feeds, hay etc - they have skills there that I didn't know they possessed
Roll on summer, they won't come up there when it's cold, dark & raining :wink:
-
WWASPS enrollment like all troubled teen programs is driven by parent demand - ergo the correct name for this industry really should be the TROUBLED PARENT INDUSTRY as suggested by Fornits founder, Ginger Warbis.
As long as you have parents desperate to get in control of their teen's attitude and behavior, the troubled parent industry will exist.
BANK ON IT.
`Scuse me but, that's old info. I'm Ginger McNulty again.
-
:rofl: And be reimbursed by insurance!!!
Imagine a parent trying to get a reimbursement for a horse they bought their daughter who'd been raped, cause it was 'therapeutic'. :rofl:
You might be able to get away that. Many years ago I attended an asset protection program for doctors. One strategy was to have a friendly doctor prescribe a swimming pool for you (say, for arthritis). You could then build the pool and deduct it from your federal income tax as a medical expense. This loophole has since been closed.
-
Titter ye not Deborah
We have a place down the road from here called The Arrow riding School for the disabled
They take children with all disabilities, even those with behavioural and learning disabilities because horses are calming, also children need to place a special trust in such a powerful animal, medical insurance wil cover the fees - when I can get my boys to help me at the yard, I have 2 different kids on my hands, it's either be responsible or you're going to get a very large and very heavy animal kick, bite or trample you, they know this and take their responsibilities there very seriously, they also really enjoy the actual care of the horse, mucking out, making up feeds, hay etc - they have skills there that I didn't know they possessed
Roll on summer, they won't come up there when it's cold, dark & raining :wink:
I lived and worked on a horse farm for a time. I hated it. Horses require care 7 days/week all year. No breaks. No holidays. Low pay. I did not find mucking stalls took much in the way of skill. The only reason I did it was my girlfriend at the time, was studying to be a large animal vet and lived on the horse farm. We were shacking up, as it were.
I learned plenty about horses including how to ride them (hunter/jumper) and care for them. So it was not a complete waste of time.
-
from the meadow lark website. Sound like a boot camp to you?
STRUCTURE:The Meadowlark Academy is proud to acknowledge the United States of America as the greatest country in the world. We are proud that this country is founded on religious values; that we have been, and continue to be defended by our loyal troops; and that it recognizes the intrinsic value of each member of its society. Our history as a nation is not about the accomplishments of individuals. It is a rich history of the uniqueness of individuals coming together for the greater good of all. There is no area that more clearly evidences this than our highly structured and patriotic success. In the patriotic tradition, individuals are taught to respect the values inherent in following those in authority. Youth at the Meadowlark Academy will learn structure and discipline. This will be seen in the uniforms worn, sleeping arrangements (barrack style), use of respectful terms to adults and peers such as Sir, Ma'am, Mr., Mrs., please, thank you, etc., in structured mass movements and at flag ceremonies. Staff at the Meadowlark Academy will have high expectations of conformity in these structured settings. As a parent, you may rest assured that this will not be accomplished through punitive or verbal intimidation. Staff will address youth in a firm and, as needed, assertive manner always remembering to maintain the dignity of the youth in their care.PPC:The Positive Peer Culture discipline has a long and successful history. The Meadowlark Academy incorporates some of the basic components from this discipline. PPC is neither a loosely organized program nor one that is totally run by the adolescents. There is a keen understanding of the need to have adults oversee the process without derailing it by taking over. When a youth arrives at the Meadowlark Academy, she will be assigned to a group and its staff mentor. She will remain in this group throughout her stay. Each group will have responsibilities associated with it. Groups will be assigned varying details, community service projects, group aspects of the animal therapy program, sports/academic etc. teams, and group therapy sessions. In the group she will learn teamwork, sound decision making in the absence of specific guidelines, and how, through cooperation, significant accomplishments can be made. Staff are taught to understand the need for youth to learn how to work through their issues to help them prepare for similar situations they will have when returning to their familie
-
Titter ye not Deborah
We have a place down the road from here called The Arrow riding School for the disabled
They take children with all disabilities, even those with behavioural and learning disabilities because horses are calming, also children need to place a special trust in such a powerful animal, medical insurance wil cover the fees - when I can get my boys to help me at the yard, I have 2 different kids on my hands, it's either be responsible or you're going to get a very large and very heavy animal kick, bite or trample you, they know this and take their responsibilities there very seriously, they also really enjoy the actual care of the horse, mucking out, making up feeds, hay etc - they have skills there that I didn't know they possessed
Roll on summer, they won't come up there when it's cold, dark & raining :wink:
I lived and worked on a horse farm for a time. I hated it. Horses require care 7 days/week all year. No breaks. No holidays. Low pay. I did not find mucking stalls took much in the way of skill. The only reason I did it was my girlfriend at the time, was studying to be a large animal vet and lived on the horse farm. We were shacking up, as it were.
I learned plenty about horses including how to ride them (hunter/jumper) and care for them. So it was not a complete waste of time.
No kidding - i been doing it 27 years now :-?
-
So I contacted these Teen Placement ppl twice. They only recommended Tipton or meadowlark. Someone should call with a pregnancy story and see who they recommend.
it seems that like Teen Help which was WWASPS marketing arm these guys do the same thing.
One of the admission coordinators is a lance leavitt. There was a utah Governor called Mike leavitt who eventually Bush made head of the EPA. Is lleavitt an especially common name in the US or are these guys related. Any further info would be useful
-
Bump.
-
These guys have some sort of relationship with the Buffalo soliders who killed Anthony haynes
http://www.thebuffalosoldiers.com/ (http://www.thebuffalosoldiers.com/)
if you go to the bottom of the page and click on the link Visit our friends school for troubled teens
It will take you to this page
http://www.troubledteen.us/ (http://www.troubledteen.us/)
Does anyone know of the best way to alert the Authorities in kansas about this or to research this further?
-
According to a correction made on the Wiki datasheet (http://http://wiki.fornits.com/index.php?title=Meadowlark_Academy), the former owners seem to have sold the facility. Can anyone verify this?
-
See also the following thread for some background of Meadowlark Academy's founding and related activities of involved personnel:
- Utah Program Owners/Employees Opening Programs in Kansas
http://www.fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=24162 (http://www.fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=24162)
OP of this thread contains the 8 March 2006 article by Tim Unruh, "Owners of Boys' School Plan Delphos, Kan., Girls' School" (The Salina Journal, Kansas).
-
Another old article is copied out below, from around the time the GAO was actively investigating several of these programs nationwide a couple of years ago. The article discusses the potential impact of the GAO investigation on these three related programs: Meadowlark Academy, Tipton Academy and White Rock Academy (which had their operating license just recently suspended, at the time).
Apparently there were some instances of Meadowlark students having their prescribed medications withheld? From the below article, emphasis added:
Annual licensing renewal inspections for the Meadowlark Academy were completed in September 2007 and September 2008. That facility, too, was cited for non-compliance involving files and paperwork, and those violations were corrected.
One complaint was made against
Meadowlark Academy. It was investigated in February 2007. The state issued two citations afterward, regarding delivery of client services.
One citation was for not having a staff member present in the gym the night of Jan. 15, 2007, when four girls left the building through the gym doors.
The other citation noted the academy did not arrange for the services of a mental health provider; two residents claimed to be diagnosed as bipolar and had been prescribed psychotropic drugs in the past, but their parents were withholding their medication.[/list][/size]
-------------- • -------------- • --------------
Salina Journal
Youth academy operators defend programs (http://http://www.saljournal.com/news/story/Youth-academy-operators-defend-programs)
By DAVID CLOUSTON
3/20/2009
Congress has, for at least two years, been trying to pass legislation to better protect against youth abuse and neglect at boarding schools, boot camps and other residential facilities.
Investigations by the federal Government Accountability Office uncovered thousands of cases of youth abuse and neglect since the early 1990s at such institutions nationwide.
And a separate GAO investigation found major gaps in states' licensing and oversight of residential programs.
Such a sweeping spotlight shines brightly on all youth residential programs, although those operators whose facilities are in compliance say they welcome the scrutiny.
"We appreciate the state coming in and making us make sure we're on top of our game," said Danielle McClendon, chief program administrator for Youth Education Systems, the parent company managing Meadowlark Academy for girls in Delphos, and the Tipton Academy for boys in Tipton.
"I do know of places that just have a warehousing mentality," said McClendon, calling it "unfortunate" that those programs "don't have the same ethical outlook and integrity."
The residential academies are owned by Kevin and Kaye Richey of St. George, Utah. Both institutions are housed in school buildings left empty because of consolidation of public schools. Tipton Academy opened four years ago, and Meadowlark Academy celebrates its third anniversary in June.
For-profit residential youth centers in Kansas are drawing attention after the Kansas Department of Health and Environment last month suspended the operating license of White Rock Academy in Esbon.
That facility's alleged violations ranged from not having state permission to admit youths from out of the state to locking emergency exit doors after being told not to do so and failing to provide the intensive mental health and drug treatment that residents were promised.
Annual operating license renewals were completed for the Tipton Academy in December 2006, 2007 and 2008. Each review noted minor areas of non-compliance involving facility files and paperwork that were subsequently corrected.
KDHE records also show that complaints against the facility were made in November 2006, July 2007, July 2008 and September 2008. None of the complaints resulted in issuance of citations.
Annual licensing renewal inspections for the Meadowlark Academy were completed in September 2007 and September 2008. That facility, too, was cited for non-compliance involving files and paperwork, and those violations were corrected.
One complaint was made against Meadowlark Academy. It was investigated in February 2007. The state issued two citations afterward, regarding delivery of client services.
One citation was for not having a staff member present in the gym the night of Jan. 15, 2007, when four girls left the building through the gym doors.
The other citation noted the academy did not arrange for the services of a mental health provider; two residents claimed to be diagnosed as bipolar and had been prescribed psychotropic drugs in the past, but their parents were withholding their medication.
Both areas of non-compliance with KDHE regulations were corrected, according to the state.
Also during the February 2007 inspection, academy staff members were reminded that access to communication between a parent and child cannot be restricted, even with parental consent.
McClendon said both the Tipton and Meadowlark academies utilize a behavior modification model to help youth make positive lifestyle changes.
Such programs involve positive and negative reinforcement, through a point and reward system and graduated sanctions. Positive peer culture -- getting youths to support each other's positive behavior -- is also utilized, she said.
The state requires youth residential programs to run on a staff-to-student ratio of 1-7 during waking hours and 1-10 during sleeping hours.
The state doesn't require that staff working with youth have a college diploma or specialized training in working with adolescents. The minimum requirement is a high school diploma and 18 hours of in-house training a year.
McClendon said her company's in-house training consists of skills such as verbally de-escalating potentially violent behavior, adolescent development, emergency policies and procedures and the signs and symptoms of illness.
Most of the youth clients spend 12 to 18 months in the facilities' care.
"We do know that Rome wasn't built overnight and these (behavior) problems didn't surface overnight. It takes time to build these new habits," McClendon said.
McClendon has been working with youth residential facilities for about seven years. She holds bachelor's degrees in psychology and sociology from Northwest Missouri State University and a master's degree in human services and counseling from Kapele University online, headquartered in St. Paul, Minn., which is fully accredited.
Tipton and Meadowlark academies aren't cheap. Like most youth residential facilities (some reports say there are now more than 600 such private institutions nationwide), monthly tuition runs into the thousands of dollars.
At Meadowlark, new students pay about $3,000 in start-up fees and just under $5,000 in monthly tuition, McClendon said. School uniforms are included in the cost.
Technology could make a difference in the future in overseeing youth residential centers.
A bill passed by the U.S. House in February would create a toll-free national hot line for individuals to report cases of abuse, and a Web site would list information about substantial abuse cases at residential programs.
And to prevent deceptive marketing practices and help parents make the best choice of a facility, the Stop Child Abuse in Residential Programs for Teens Act of 2009 would require that programs inform parents of their staff members' qualifications, roles and responsibilities.
The act follows similar legislation passed in the House in 2008. Senate action on the 2009 bill is pending.
Ken Stettler, director of the Office of Licensing for the Utah Department of Human Services, which sets standards for youth residential programs in that state, said he applauds some of the protection measures encompassed in the proposed federal act.
But others would place burdensome reporting requirements on states that would become yet another unfunded federal mandate, he predicts.
Critics of the youth residential program industry, such as the Coalition Against Institutionalized Child Abuse, point to hundreds of corroborated reports of physical and sexual abuse and dozens of deaths in such programs due to lax state and federal regulations.
Such deaths have included a 15-year-old boy, Caleb Jensen, who died from an untreated staph infection in 2007 at a Utah wilderness camp for troubled youths. Jensen's mother in January filed suit seeking at least $45 million in compensatory and punitive damages. Her son was found dead bundled in a feces- and urine-soaked sleeping bag.
A disruptive teenage girl at a Catholic church-run treatment center in Cleveland died in December. A coroner ruled she choked on vomit and suffocated while being held in a face-down position. Three workers involved in the incident were fired.
And a Pennsylvania boy, 16, died in February 2006, while being restrained at the SummitQuest Academy in Lancaster County. Joey Aletriz's death was the second in two months at the facility. SummitQuest closed in February.
Stettler said his state has toughened its laws regulating youth residential centers. His office sponsored conferences in the late 1990s trying to attract legislators from other midwestern and western states to discuss the issue "because we knew that other states could be at risk."
"Numerous programs are in business for the right reasons," Stettler said. "Then there are those who see it strictly as an investment."
At the Tipton and Meadowlark academies, McClendon said her company works with other agencies whose representatives can see how their programs are being run.
For instance, teachers from the Smoky Hill Education Service Center in Salina work with students at both academies. The teachers help the academy students complete the integrated learning system software, which is a computerized learning system that enables students to learn at their own pace. The system not only helps remedial students catch up, it can help other students wanting advanced placement courses.
Rita Cook, executive director of Smoky Hill, said the White Rock academy purchased the software but didn't utilize any Smoky Hill teachers.
"This gives us better oversight as to the quality of the program," Cook said.
McClendon said her academies are also working with Lakeside High School in Downs and the North Ottawa County School District in Minneapolis to assure that the credits earned by the academy students meet accredited standards.
The academies aren't accredited, but that is a goal, McClendon said.
The non-profit Saint Francis Academy in Salina has long served as a home for troubled boys. It also works with courts in Kansas and the Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services to help youths who have been removed from their homes due to abuse or neglect find adoptive homes. It also helps reintegrate youths back into their families and helps those families find counseling services.
Saint Francis is accredited by the Joint Commission for Accreditation of Health Care Organizations.
"We have constant oversight by KDHE, SRS and the Joint Commission," said Kevin Carrico, Saint Francis' attorney. "We have a constant stream of audits and all kinds of outcome measures."
Said Cory Rathbun, a Saint Francis executive, "I think when you have an accrediting agency, it gives the organization a level of transparency. You're asking people to come in and review about every aspect of your program."
Reporter David Clouston can be reached at 822-1403 or by e-mail at [email protected].
Copyright © 2010 Salina Journal and MediaSpan