I Speak of Dreams

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

Academy at Ivy Ridge Survivor

Parents, do you have a troubled teen?  Are you thinking of sending her to a therapeutic school?  Are you sure that's the best alternative?  Read the words of a girl (below the fold).

This comment deserves its own post.

Another Academy at Ivy Ridge student's story.

From an Alumna Of Royal Gorge Academy

I received an e-mail from a former Royal Gorge Academy student, who gave me permission to republish it here.

You are completely right to put a warning on this school.

I went there as a troubled teen, and benefited to some extent from the program there. The academic side has a small staff of teachers who are overworked, but amazing.

Unfortunately one of my group mates was actually dyslexic and was pretty much told to stop lying and deal with the computer programs there. Everything is done on a computer and it is NOT an appropriate learning environment for children with learning disabilities for several reasons. The biggest is the fact that students and staff (not the teaching staff but the behavioral staff) can disrupt class any time they choose, and do so. Another flaw is the academic staff and behavioral staff have no connection or coordination except disciplinary.  Third, the Principal when I was there showed huge favoritism and was manipulative and lied.

I'm glad I had the opportunity to get away from the bad situation I was in at my home town, however I didn't graduate the program, and am now at a Christian University, while the girls I know who have graduated the program are currently back to ditching school, drugs, and general partying.

The school is corrupt and the academic program is weak to say the least. The only shining spot in all of this are the few teachers who are sadly overworked, and the cook in the kitchen.

Below the fold, background postings on Royal Gorge Academy, and other "schools" associated with Randal Hinton,  R. B. Lichfield, and WWASPS.

 

Shawn Jones, an Academy at Ivy Ridge Victim

There was an article in the paper yesterday about Shawn Jones, the young man who was brutally mauled by three dogs in 2001.  Jones spent nearly a year in the hospital.

His mother assigned custody to a relative, Belinda Arnett.   I was shocked to read that  at some point  between 2002 and 2005, Arnett sent Jones to the Academy at Ivy Ridge (AIR), a notorious behavior-modification treatment facility masquerading as a school. 

In my opinion, no part of the AIR program is reputable, and might be particularly ill-suited for a child that had been traumatized by a dog attack, subsequent lengthy hospitalization,  and who had significant physical disfigurement.

Fortunately, Jones' incarceration at AIR prompted his mother to regain custody.

Jones returned to California in 2005, and now is playing football for Mount Diablo High School.

I wish him the very best.

Parents, if you are considering a residential treatment program for your child, please download and read this factsheet from Alliance for the Safe, Therapeutic and Appropriate Use of Residential Treatment (A START).  Download ASTART_program_questions.pdf

Academy at Ivy Ridge Not A School, Says New York State
Class Action Suits Against Ivy Ridge and WWASPS

HA! Hinton Convicted and Lichfield Rejected by Romney

Randall Hinton was convicted of two counts: third-degree assault and false imprisonment.

Hinton should never again be allowed to work with children.  I hope it is the first step in the shuttering of this network of abusive, ineffective programs.

In other news, it looks like the person who has reaped the biggest financial benefit from the programs Hinton's been associated with, Robert Browning Lichfield, has been dumped from the Milt Romney campaign. Or maybe Lichfield stepped down voluntarily.