Amazing Closures and Victories in 2016

It's been several months since I've last updated. I'm just keeping track of all the news that's been going on and it looks like there's great progress. 2016 was quite an eventful year for our war on the troubled teen industry. To start off there have been several closures of VERY abusive residential facilities and "schools" that have flown under the radar long enough.

2016 Closures:
Midwest Academy - Keokuk, IA
Eagleton School - Great Barrington, MA
Turning Point Youth Center - St. John's, MI
National Deaf Academy - Mount Dora, FL
Mesabi Academy - St. Buhl, MN

There has also been some political victories, Congressional Candidate and ex-child abuser Paul Babeu has not only lost the election last November, but also his job as Pinal County Sheriff. I guess that video that surface really gave insight into his background and true intentions if elected. Also we were elected a president that seems like a game changer. Trump doesn't seem to have any conflict of interest with known companies such as CRC Health Group and UHS. So could we see reform and accountability that's long overdue in 2017?

All we can do now is hope.

10 Years Later, Yet Nothing has Changed

Today marks a decade gone by since my experience in this horrific and shady industry, you can read the whole story about my escape. This was the motive why I started this campaign to expose what the media has failed to report on, and to help lobby reformation for out-of-home placements and the safety of troubled youth.

Since this time, it has slowly woken more people up (My family unfortunately was not reached in time to save me from this ordeal). The real game-changer was Maia Szalavitz's book "Help at Any Cost: How the Troubled Teen Industry Cons Parents and Hurts Kids" that detailed the history of the abuse and death in youth treatment centers. This prompted a GAO investigation in 2007 to pass federal laws and oversight of these programs. A life-saving bill introduced called "Stop Child Abuse in Residential Programs for Teens Act of 2008" was to put all of this to an end. Sadly, the bill did not become law, it died in the Senate after lobbyist from NATSAP, PSI, and other industry giants fought back. The bill has been reintroduced several times without success by now-retired representative George Miller. The head of the GAO who led the federal investigation Gregory Kutz, has since left the department.

So as a result, the hidden Holocaust has continued. Parents still sent their kids to these facilities despite the warnings. They continued to believe the lies these programs were boasting until it was too late, their children were already severely abused, raped, or even killed. There were a handful of parents that did head the warnings given by survivor groups and advocacy organizations (Such as CAFETY and ASTART, kudos to them) and were coerced by the education consultants, school districts, and Ph.D's to send their child to these programs with recorded death and abuse.

Video Exposing Congressional Candidate's Therapeutic Boarding School Abuse

You may recall my information gathered on Arizona Sheriff Paul Babeu and his heavy involvement in the Troubled Teen industry. Remember last time he ran for congress he endorsed Mitt Romney's campaign (head figure of Bain's CRC Health Group)?

Well he'a at it again this time, but here's the catch. A home video of a Christmas gathering with his family back in 1999 has surfaced where he talks about his job at the DeSisto School. In the video below, you can see him admit to the cruel and inhumane punishments being used on the students and even laughs when he brags about it.

Education Consultant Licensing and IECA Quality Control

A recent article shows that it IS possible to educate troubled teens outside of "therapeutic" schools. In my view it shows the need for quality control regarding the education consultants that send kids to these programs. Here is the audio podcast of the story to better education you on the steps you can take when your child reaches the breaking point.

TeenRescue's Pamphlet of Lies Shows Effective Industry Lobbying

Here they go again. With all the failed attempts to bring regulation and oversight for these therapeutic boarding schools and wilderness programs comes with bogus ideological arguments. It seems the biggest lobbying group for these abusive facilities aside from NATSAP are the faith-based programs. This one in particular comes from TeenRescue Inc. who owns a collection of very abusive religious schools including Julian Youth Academy.  Religious programs on this bandwagon are best at getting citizen support as it grabs the attention of the Evangelical populations who don't realize it's propaganda to protect their shady and abusive business practices that are dangerous to children.

Does that sound Christian to you?
That's because it isn't. If your still not convinced, read about the lessons from the Stanford Prison Experiment.

To the left is a pamphlet from Teen Rescue Inc.  to convince parents with children enrolled  to oppose the life saving bill. You can see how biased they are. I'm here to tell you "DONT BUY IT!" because your adding to the problem that plagues the troubled teen industry.