I Speak of Dreams

Silver Lining to Economic Slump: Abusive Residential Programs for Teens Shut Down

These programs associated with the World Wide Association of Speciality Programs andSchools (WWASPS) have closed since 2008: Royal Gorge Academy (Colorado), Tranquillity Bay (Jamaica), Spring Creek Lodge (Montana), and Darrington Academy (Georgia). More by Maia Szalavitz at Mother Jones and Huffington Post.

Royal Gorge at I Speak of Dreams

• Royal Gorge Academy closed October 16, 2008
• • January 12, 2007: Randall Hinton, Royal Gorge Academy, Arrested
  • January 13, 2007 Randall Hinton's Qualifications
  • January 29, 2007: Patty Pacheco, Whistleblower at Royal Gorge Academy
  • March 12, 2007: Royal Gorge Academy in the News
  • July 9, 2007: Countersuits from Royal Gorge
  • September 11, 2007: Hinton Convicted
  • November 4, 2007: Testimony from an Alumna of Royal Gorge
  • November 4 2008: Royal Gorge Academy Shuts Down

Royal Gorge coverage at the Coalition Against Institutionalized Child Abuse (CAICA).  Some of the children at Royal Gorge Academy were transferred to Red River Academy, also owned by Octwell LLC.  Details on Red River Academy at AntiWWASPS.

Tranquility Bay coverage at International Survivors Action Committee (ISAC:

• Tranquility Bay confirmed closed as of January 2009.

As of 3/18/09, Brad and Rose Lustick at "Teenpath" (http://www.teenpaths.org/) are still actively marketing

• Tranquility Bay (http://www.teenpaths.org/tranquility_bay/),
• Darrington Academy (http://www.teenpaths.org/darrington/), and
• Spring Creek Lodge (http://www.teenpaths.org/spring_creek_lodge/) .

What do you want to bet that anxious parents are shuffled off to one of the other, still-open, still-abusive programs?

Local news article on the closing of Spring Creek Lodge:

http://www.vp-mi.com/articles/2009/01/14/breaking_news/doc496e176b41949364534296.txt

Spring Creek closes its doors Posted: Wednesday, Jan 14, 2009 - 09:55:42 am MST

Jamie Doran Valley Press Spring Creek Lodge closed its doors for the last time Friday Jan. 9, leaving everyone who had been employed there unemployed and the students at the lodge without a place to go.

Representatives for Spring Creek Lodge could not be reached for comment by the Valley Press before press time.

The lodge first opened its doors about 30 years ago by Nancy and Steve Cawdrey. The lodge was opened as a place to address drug, alcohol and behavioral issues of young people from across the county.

The lodge once had over 500 students enrolled, but during the past several years enrollment dropped down to less than 50.

Thompson Falls Superintendent Jerry Pauli said that while he had no ties to the lodge, the Thompson Falls school system had been impacted by it.

“As their enrollment numbers went down, people who worked there were unemployed, which caused kids to leave our schools because their parents needed to relocate,” he said.

At one point Spring Creek Lodge was the largest employer in Sanders County as it employed about 200 individuals in various positions throughout the lodge.

Pauli said that the Thompson Falls School Board will be holding a special meeting Tuesday Jan. 20 at 7 p.m. to discuss the expansion of their own Alternative Learning Center at Thompson Falls High School.

He said the Alternative Learning Center has been around for years and has had anywhere from 30-43 kids involved either part or full-time in the program.

“What we’re doing is looking to expand that program to pick up some of the kids who were in Spring Creek,” he said.

Pauli said there will likely be some students from Spring Creek that will be picked up by families in the Thompson Falls area and expanding the Alternative Learning Center would be a great way to help accommodate those students.

“At the meeting we’ll be addressing and hopefully making a decision on whether or not we should expand our services and this program to include these students,” he said.

Abusive Teen Programs: 2009 Deposition from a Student at Cross Creek Manor

The content of this post has been removed following a request from the subjects of this post.

Abusive Teen Programs: 2009 Deposition from a Parent on Cross Creek

The content of this post has been removed following a request from the one of the subjects of the posts.

CEDU Documentary to Be Released in 2009

Liam Scheff, a freelance journalist,  has been working on a documentary about the CEDU family of schools, which closed in 2005.  Here's the link to Liam's CEDU documentary page.

Here are some voices from CEDU survivors:

Jennifer Says: December 18th, 2008 at 12:33 am

I think your documentary is great. I’ve tryed to explain what we went through to family and friends with no success. They all think I’m making up stuff. The one thing I can say about CEDU is that I came out of the place in fear. When I graduated I was so afraid of authority and thought everyone was talking behind my back. To tell you the truth, talking with people from CEDU is alittle scary for me. I remember the raps and things people said to me (and I said to others). I felt so small and afraid

Teen Gulag in Texas, Excel Academy, Shuts Down

Maybe the economic downturn does have a silver lining (see the Royal Gorge post).  I wrote about Excel Academy in 2006. It was founded in 1997 and then was purchased by the Aspen Education Group in 2001. Aspen Education Group became part of  the Youth Treatment Division of CRC Health Group in 2007.

Today it was announced that as of November 21, 2008, Excel Academy of Texas will discontinue operations and consolidate services. With the robust continuum of services within Aspen Education Group, we are in the fortunate position to consolidate Excel's services with other Aspen programs to weather the current economic downturn. Our network of solid, quality programs will allow us to continue providing the highest level of care for our current students and those still seeking treatment.

Teen Gulag in Colorado, Royal Gorge Academy, Shuts Down

Just a quick note and a reprint of the Colorado paper.  I'm behind on homework.

The economic downturn has some silver linings.

 

Update on issues around therapeutic schools

Maia Szalavitz has two articles at Mother Jones:

When Is "Tough Love" Torture?, a profile of attorney Phil Elberg, who

has probably done more than anyone else to hold the billion-dollar teen treatment business accountable. If the legislation passes, he may soon have many more cases—and perhaps, finally, some competition from other lawyers for them. [snip]

Elberg discovered that, although its practices were on the extreme end, KIDS was part of a massive industry including hundreds of poorly-regulated programs still operating nationwide.

The second article is on the gutting of HR 5876, the "Stop Child Abuse in Residential Programs for Teens Act of 2008,": Under the Radar: the Child Abuse Bill Swap

It's frightening that the new version of the bill now incorporates two of the three demands made by the National Association of Therapeutic Schools and Programs (NATSAP), which represents the industry. When "tough love" first began to appear in residential programs for youth and adults with addictions, state regulators passively let abuses continue and for decades failed to shutter even programs that used practices like keeping patients awake for 72 hours and gagging teens with Kotex.

"What I fear from passage of a watered down law is that everybody concerned would file it under done and done, congratulate themselves on a fine job and move on to other concerns," says Cynthia Clark Harvey, who testified at the hearings about the death by medical neglect of her daughter Erica in the Catherine Freer wilderness program, "The industry took at least twenty years to metastasize into its current form. It's going to take a strong effort, delivered over a period of years, to radically transform this abysmal mess."

 

Update on Litigation Against Academy at Ivy Ridge

The class action law suit against New York's Academy at Ivy Ridge (AIR) was brought by parents who had enrolled their children in the $4,000/month residential program, after it was determined that AIR was not accredited in New York state, and therefore could not award high-school diplomas.

AIR, at its founding, was part of Robert Lichfield's World Wide Association of Specialty Schools and Programs (WWASPS).  It subsequently "severed" its relationship.

In April, Magistrate Judge George H. Lowe in Dungan v. Academy at Ivy Ridge, 06-cv-0908 granted class status.   In  May,    Senior U.S. District Court Judge Thomas J. McAvoy on denied class action certification.

I'm not sure what the McAvoy ruling means, in real time.

Therapeutic Schools News: A Documentary and Two Sites New to Me

I haven't written about therapeutic schools and their abuses  for months.  This isn't for lack of interest -- just nothing sparking indignation has come across my desk recently.

Liam Scheff, a writer and journalist, evidently was an inmate at the "struggling teen" "emotional growth" program CEDU for part of his teen years (see here and here for more about CEDU).  He is making a documentary about CEDU. Here's a link to the video on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYWWe6MB3cc

Dr. Bush was a PhD candidate in psychology at the University of Washington in 2005 when she testified before Congress on unregulated "therapeutic" programs.  She was also quoted in the article, At Some Youth Treatment Facilities, Tough Love Takes Brutal Forms.  She is now a postdoctoral fellow at University of California, San Francisco in Health Psychology.

The second site new to me is Benchmark Young Adult School--Exposed, by Michael Crawford.

 

Allison Pinto Testifies on Abusive Youth Programs

Somehow I missed this.  There was a hearing in congress on the Abuse and Neglect of Youth in Private Residential Facilities. 

More info at A Start

Belwo the fold, Dr. Pinto's testimony