ABOUT THE ISSUE
In its present state, the unregulated
troubled-teen industry is
a dangerous breeding ground for corruption and abuse. Allegations of abuse,
neglect and deaths are increasingly being brought to court.
Teen Advocates USA
counts 74 program-related deaths of juveniles since 1980. This industry profits
by persuading parents to pay for the kidnapping and captivation of juveniles in
order to modify their behavior. "Some 10,000 to
20,000 teenagers are enrolled each year. A patchwork of lax and ineffective
state regulations - no federal rules apply - is all that protects these young
people from institutions that are regulated like ordinary boarding schools, but
that sometimes use more severe methods of restraint and isolation than
psychiatric centers. There are no special qualifications required of the people
who oversee such facilities, nor is any diagnosis required before enrollment. If
a parent thinks a child needs help and can pay the $3,000- to $5,000-a-month
fees, any teenager can be held in a private program, with infrequent contact
with the outside world, until he or she turns 18," writes Maia Szalavitz, author of the
investigative expose book
Help at Any Cost.
It is the perspective of
Lone Souls that the concept itself is
fundamentally flawed - that outside of criminal incarceration, the practice of
abducting and captivating people of any age is an unacceptable violation of human rights.
Legislation
for reform is on the table.
Representative George Miller (D-California) proposed the “End Institutional
Abuse Against Children Act”—HR 1738—in April of 2005.
The bill would
- Provide $50
million in funding to states to support the licensing of child
residential treatment programs. States would have to monitor the
programs regularly to ensure their compliance with licensing
requirements;
- Establish
federal civil and criminal penalties for the abuse of children in
residential treatment programs;
- Expand federal
authority to regulate programs located overseas but run by U.S.
companies and provide civil penalties for program operators that
violate federal regulations; and
- Require the
State Department to report any abuse of American children
overseas.
For more
information on this issue,
please
check the
links
provided on this web site
and read the book
Help at Any Cost.
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