Tips on Avoiding Abusive RTC's

When searching for specialty schools for your child, it's easy to get them mixed with behavioral health treatment centers that use non evidence based therapy that can easily be abusive. This is because many of the education consultants who focus on special education placement specialize in "therapeutic schools" (residential treatment). You may think that they are professionals who know what they're doing. However, there are no regulations or liscensing for education consultants. The Independent Education Consultants Association (IECA) have a pledge to go through which provides no enforcements on the qualification of ed consultants. http://www.iecaonline.com/PDF/IECA_Principles_of_Good_Practice.pdf 

 What they will not tell you are the track records and outcomes of children placed in these facilities. These consultants are members of IECA which has evidence of receiving kick-backs from RTC's to recommend as schools. IECA does not keep record of their all donations and often remove their disclosures. When searching for specialty day/boarding schools, you have to take a close look at the licensing and accreditation requirements at the state you live in or sending your child to. After months of research, I've come up with this map to guide you through the strength of the oversight of private schools and their requirements in each state. This will help you identify which states have RTC's fall under the radar and claim to be private schools.

Regulation and Oversight Regarding Private Schools and RTC's Across the U.S.

Risk Categories

Category 1 (Blue): Safe, there seems to be no issues.

Category 2 (Green): So far good, there are a few bad apples.

Category 3 (Yellow): Moderate, might be worth a chance. 

Category 4 (Orange): Very few standards, go at your own risk. Best to Avoid

Category 5 (Red): Almost no standards. Avoid at ALL COSTS

Category 0 (Grey): No data available.

More information regarding state Licensing and Accreditation 

• standards http://www2.ed.gov/admins/comm/choice/regprivschl/regprivschl.pdf
• http://www.samhsa.gov/News/NewsReleases/residfacilchildrenFinal.pdf
• http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/socwork/nrcfcpp/downloads/policy-issues/Licensing_Standards_Residential_Placement_Facilities.pdf

Accreditation should also be questioned. Not all accrediting bodies are the same, as some have little or no criteria for facilities to meet in order to obtain accreditation. My research found a number of organizations that are illegitimate and have no standards. 

_If you find any of these organizations on the facilities website (such as under accreditation), do not send your child. It's very likely that the treatment program or school is illegitimate and often abusive. All of these organizations have been investigated by congress from approving dangerous programs. More information will be posted regarding each of them and why you should never trust them. For example, in many states schools and colleges will not take any transfer credits or diplomas issued by schools accredited by the Northwest Accrediting Commission (NWAC) and there is a reason for it. The schooling is inferior or rarely taking place due to the brainwashing and abuse spent throughout the days run by cheaply hired staff. 

*There will be updates to this in the future as more research get's done. Since this is an international problem, I will also be coming up with a similar map for facilities in other countries.