I remember that my grandmother (who lived with us) told me that staff was asking my mom about kids that hung out with names and addresses. She was told to talk to those parents and try to "save" those kids. Amway meets the Moonies....kind of like a pyramid scam, only they didn't get commissions, just that nice fuzzy feeling that they are saving the world from the evils of drugs. Art and the senior staff constantly were telling the parents that is was their duty to spread the word.
I know I was no angel, but my family life was.....well let me just say very few people I have met have had worse. My mother dumped us at churches, Christian schools, where ever she could, with whoever would take us. The school I was at before the Seed was Berean Baptist in WPB. Of course I didn't fit in there either. Even after graduating the Seed, I was told by that principle that girls like me would never change. I figured why bother trying, was damned if I do, damned if I don't. When I started dating my husband, I can still remember my mom telling me not to screw that up like I did everything else....in a sense she was dumping me on him. To this day my mom still has never said "I am proud of you". She still thinks that the Seed was the best thing to happened to her.....er us. Crap, it probably was. My brother and I were gone almost a year, it was a vacation of sorts for her. I didn't realize at the time that my Aunts and Uncles were very upset that she had put us in the Seed. Although they didn't know the extent of our family life, they knew that is wasn't normal.
I really think that parents were different in the 70's. My mom was actually 2 generations older than me. I never even owed a pair of jeans till I was 14. She was still under the "children should be seen not heard" mind set. Most of my friends, like myself are very involved in their children's lives. She had 3 failed marriages, all alcoholic and physically abusive. My oldest brother had to finally take a gun after my dad and make my mom leave and he was only 17. That left her emotionally dead and unable to be a loving parent. I am lucky to have a great relationship with kids. My oldest is in College in Boca and we talk to each other every day. I had a good example of what not to be.
Some survive, some give up.....I teetered between the two for a long time. Ultimately I survived and took charge of my life. The process was not easy or quick. The only thing I have not managed to conquer is smoking........which was almost encouraged at the Seed. Amazing....14 years old and my mom brought my brother and I a carton of smokes every week.