What criteria makes a good program

[Botched Programming]

This thread is actually directed to TheWho, but please share your experiences so that the truth can come out.

For me, I was not in a good program. I was in Straight Inc. During my captivity at this facility, I learned what makes a bad program. Physical abuse, restraints, sleep deprivation. lack of exercise, lack of communication with family, verbal abuse from staff and other clients, denied of proper education as school was not an option till 3rd phase (and there was no definite time limit to get to this phase), lack of proper medical care (I went in with pneumonia and I did not get any treatment until 3 weeks after intake, then is was insufficient), unstable living arrangements (switched host homes so many times during my captivity that my stuff was scattered across Atlanta), and well just basicly was denied of the ability to be like a normal teenager, also I was lied to and told it was a 6-12 month program and was held there for right at 2 years (I would have been better off going to prison).

So I would like to hear about what a good program is like.

[Botched Programming]

OK..... I take it you are scared to reply on this thread....

[Anne Bonney]

First and foremost.......voluntary.  



Period.  No negotiation.  100% voluntary.  Otherwise, what's the point?

[Covergaard]

A good program is one, which is used only if the law has been broken. For smaller violations of local rules like bringing alcohol to the school outside the evenings when the "bag-parties" are held, the city counsel should contact the police, so they can change the police regulation in the city, so it is a misdemeanor.

Drug use could be handled by the parents giving the authorities a secret hint so they can order a drug test in court.

A second demand to a program is that the child should be kept in the local school at all cost. No In-house suspension in a special boot camp styled school as they do in Texas where the punishment push aside any qualified education.

The punishment should take place before and after school. We have created this suggestion to a Danish first offender program.

Basically the daily schedule is:

*05:00-05:30 report in, get home work checked
*until 07.00 Physical Education & Breakfast (Parent / Child. Hour long walk followed by all eating together.)
*07.00 Off to School
*Until 15:30 School and if they leave before they should go to a homework cafe.
*15:30 - 16:30 Physical Education
*16:30 - 17:00 Some kind of community service
*17:00 - 17:30 Group conversation (Therapy)
*17:30 - 18:00 Departure for home

One or both parents should be present in the morning and the afternoon, because they also have something to learn once the partipation in the program is over. Some therapy meetings should be parents / children divided some where 2-3 families are put together with various topics.

The important part is that the child gets to spend his evening with the family.

If the child choose to leave the program by running, sanctions including sleeping at the kiddie jail could be imposed for a shorter period, so the family has to bring the child to the kiddie jail after dinner and get the child in the morning. But it should be a night stay only and after 3-5 nights the child should be given a chance to stand before the group and ask to return home if he or she wants to.

Missing homework or "Choosing out" should not result in nights outside the home but be punished with a longer stay in the program. We have a smiley system in Denmark. The punishment chould be 3 negative smileys resulting in an extra day.

I think this program has what it takes.

1) Bringing the parents into the program, so they learn something during the process and get a lot of extra time with their child.
2) Keeps the child in the school. No lost in merits. By forcing them into homework cafes they can use leisure time to improve their situation.
3) Unpleasant, so the children does not want to go back.
4) Exercise in a healthy way.

Appendix:

Bag-parties are parties where the parents make a bag with alcohol for their underaged child only - an old Danish custom. The parties are supervised at the school property by volunteer parents and the bags are guarded, so there is no cheating.
Homework cafe is a place where students, who can not be coached properly at home regarding schooling, can go and get help from either retired teachers or super-students, who are paid to help. They are founded by most city halls in the battle against the social heritage.

[TheWho]

I am running out of time, but I think a good program should have a proven track record and a proven model.  The school should be free from fences (where possible) have therapists which are independent from the school (paid separately).  I would pass on the whole host family mentality.  The staff should be young for the most part or at least the ones interfacing with the kids on a daily bases.  The school should be highly structured and selective on the type of kids the accept.

to be continued.

[Botched Programming]

Bag-parties are parties where the parents make a bag with alcohol for their underaged child only - an old Danish custom. The parties are supervised at the school property by volunteer parents and the bags are guarded, so there is no cheating.

I don't mean to put another culture in check, however this about an underage child having alcohol underminds the reasoning for a child being put into a good program.

For the most part alcohol and marijuana is what landed me in a program.

It just seems like a double standard to me.

[TheWho]

The time period needs to be predetermined (+/- a month),
kids need to be screened to determine if the program has a good chance to be successful..
no flight risks, kids with knives etc.

[Anonymous]

TheMoron wrote:

I am running out of time, but I think a good program should have a proven track record and a proven model.

Show me the proof of efficacy first and foremost.  I'll wait for you to post a clinical trial showing efficacy of any of these places.  Just one will do.  Surely after 40 years in business, there must be plenty of empirical proof of efficacy.  Please post it.

[Covergaard]

We have rules about use of alcohol. Even in adults environments. At my work alcohol is only allowed whenever we have the Christmas party, freday after 14.45 and if an employee are starting, celebrate his or her 5 year, 10 year, etc. anniversary, or somekind of an official celebration.

Otherwise we do not allow alcohol consumption at my work and I send a employee home if he or she is drunk. The same goes for me. What we are working with can be dangerous if you are not sober.

The same goes for the schools. A lot of firms sponsors high schools etc. when they have their freday bars, so the students know what kind of firms they should seek jobs at. It is a competition for the various firms. We are talking of students aged 16 or older who according to ours laws can buy all the alcohol in shops they like if they obtain their drinking license down at the city hall.

When it comes to students younger than 16 and older than 13 or 14 regarding of what part of our country the teenager come from, it is the parents jobs to see to that you learn about the dangers of alcohol before the age of 16 (Our custom demands that you have been in church and have been confirmed so you have Gods blessing regarding drinking alcohol.).

But still the school have rules and because some of the education demands the use of tools, the students have to be sober so alcohol are totally out of the question.

As it is the case with alcohol outside the permitted times in the workspace where the ultimate consequence can be loss of job, there should be a consequence for bringing alcohol inside the school outside the permitted times.

But we have to weight the benefit of education up against the importance of a consequence. The education should be the most important. So we have to talk about a consequence that allows the child to attend school while still suffer the punishment.

That it what the RRN-program allows.

I hope that explained how we look at alcohol consumption in our culture and I think that we have found a solution what in fact can produce a lower number of murders, rape, DUI's and teenage pregnancies if you compare the numbers to a lot of countries.

[Anne Bonney]

TheMoron wrote:

I am running out of time, but I think a good program should have a proven track record and a proven model.

Show me the proof of efficacy first and foremost.  I'll wait for you to post a clinical trial showing efficacy of any of these places.  Just one will do.  Surely after 40 years in business, there must be plenty of empirical proof of efficacy.  Please post it.

Bingo!

I'll be waiting Who.

:roll:

[TheWho]

TheMoron wrote:

I am running out of time, but I think a good program should have a proven track record and a proven model.

Show me the proof of efficacy first and foremost.  I'll wait for you to post a clinical trial showing efficacy of any of these places.  Just one will do.  Surely after 40 years in business, there must be plenty of empirical proof of efficacy.  Please post it.

Bingo!

I'll be waiting Who.

:roll:

I will speak for the mormon.  If a school operates for a few years and can show that the kids are benefiting from their program and they check with the families after graduation and then again few years later.... if they ask for feedback from students and parents and then react to it.  A school should develop a continuous improvement program so that they are always evolving and moving forward.

I think the main thing is to constantly evolve and to get better.



...

[Oz girl]

First and foremost.......voluntary.  



Period.  No negotiation.  100% voluntary.  Otherwise, what's the point?

I would agree. I would also say that the mentality of institutionalization  of kids under 18 needs to be questioned in most cases even where voluntary. Unless a kid has a severe mental illness and needs a real hospital with doctors, the idea of a place that is not quite a hospital and not quite a school is quaint to say the least.
 American kids are statistically no worse than their foreign peers. In fact according to the guttmacher institute when it comes to some issues like sex and religion they are a little on the conservative side. With this in mind it is unlikely that most will fall through the cracks. So if my kid was wanting to go to a "program" of some sort I would be questioning what it is about life at home that was troubling them so much.

[Anne Bonney]

I will speak for the mormon.  If a school operates for a few years and can show that the kids are benefiting from their program and they check with the families after graduation and then again few years later.... if they ask for feedback from students and parents and then react to it.  A school should develop a continuous improvement program so that they are always evolving and moving forward.

I think the main thing is to constantly evolve and to get better.



...

As soon as you can show me ONE clinical study that shows that what they do is either safe or effective, I'll start taking you even slightly seriously.

[TheWho]

I will speak for the mormon.  If a school operates for a few years and can show that the kids are benefiting from their program and they check with the families after graduation and then again few years later.... if they ask for feedback from students and parents and then react to it.  A school should develop a continuous improvement program so that they are always evolving and moving forward.

I think the main thing is to constantly evolve and to get better.



...

As soon as you can show me ONE clinical study that shows that what they do is either safe or effective, I'll start taking you even slightly seriously.

I dont think a clinical study is needed to show a school to be effective.  I think the proof would be in the kids who graduated and the feedback from the parents.


...

[Botched Programming]

I dont think a clinical study is needed to show a school to be effective.[/color]  I think the proof would be in the kids who graduated and the feedback from the parents.


...

Three words.... Documentation, Documentation, Documentation

Feedback from parents and the kids are merely heresay.