By Anthony Meza-Wilson and Christy Harrison

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Helen Taylor didn’t feel like she had much choice. A registered nurse and mother of five, Taylor was caring for a sick parent and studying for a law degree when her seventeen-year-old daughter Grace* was raped at a party and fell into a deep depression. (Grace is not the daughter’s real name). Taylor, who lives in Thousand Oaks, California, knew she couldn’t handle Grace’s needs by herself. A therapist suggested that Taylor place her daughter in residential treatment and Grace, who had always been a well-adjusted, bright girl, was willing to do whatever the therapist suggested in order to get better. Taylor decided on a treatment center in Utah called Provo Canyon School that promised therapy mixed with outdoor sports, dances, and other recreational activities.

Within a month, says Taylor, Grace came home covered in bruises, gaunt and traumatized by her experiences. On one of the worst nights, says Taylor, staff forcibly injected Grace with the antipsychotic drug Haldol for supposed insubordination. Grace’s only crime, she told Taylor, was asking to use the bathroom. Worse still, Taylor says that Grace, a rape victim and voluntary patient, was forced to submit to strip searches on several occasions and was sexually assaulted by Provo Canyon staff—only compounding Grace’s emotional despair. Provo Canyon did not return phone calls seeking comment.

It's a Big Business

Despite horror stories like this one, there is big business in residential treatment centers like Provo Canyon thousands of kids are enrolled in them every year. And since private residential treatment centers can cost as much as a year in college, they’re mostly the province of well-off parents. However, some residential treatment programs have amassed a disturbing number of complaints from kids and parents who, like the Taylors, allege that the schools physically and mentally abuse their students.

Most RTCs use a religious "tough love" approach to treatment, doling out points for “appropriate behavior” and imposing consequences—ranging from the loss of phone privileges to solitary confinement and physical punishments, according to survivors.

Lax Regulators

IGovernment agencies in other countries have begun to crack down on these American-owned programs, but United State regulators have been less assertive. In 2003, Congressman George Miller of California asked the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) to investigate a growing number ofabuse allegations, but to date the DOJ has taken no action. In Utah, State Office of Licensing Director Ken Stettler proposed legislation that would have established stricter licensing requirements for teen treatment centers, but it didn’t fly with lawmakers.

After her daughter’s ordeal, Helen Taylor mounted a letter-writing campaign but to date she has only received a couple of terse replies. She feels that legislators are taking reports of child abuse in their state very lightly and that the police are clearly acting in league with abusive schools. Local police routinely come out to help Provo Canyon deal with attempted escapes, for example, but have not investigated the children’s charges of abuse. “This is political corruption at its worst,” Taylor said.

Parent Watchdog Groups

Survivors and parents have formed watchdog groups and mounted education campaigns to warn other families about the risks. Some are listed below. Other parents are pressing lawmakers to step in: Helen Taylor has developed an email list for updates on her attempts to contact legislators, while another person launched Fornits, a web forum with an extensive teen treatment section allowing survivors and parents to air their frustrations, tell their stories, and strategize the legal and criminal investigation of abusive facilities. Many people now in their forties post messages at Fornits documenting the long-term emotional devastation that results from time they spent in RTCs as teenagers.

Even parents whose children were well served at residential programs are wary of the teen treatment industry because of the big money involved. Linnea Soderlund, a parent who sent her teenage son to two different residential programs primarily for what she called “out-of-control behavior,” says that parents should proceed with extreme caution when selecting a residential program. “Consultants and programs are happy to take thousands of dollars from you in exchange for the hope of saving your kid,” Soderlund wrote me in an email. She says, “Stay in close touch if you place your child in a treatment program,” because parental vigilance is the best protection against abuse.

Soderlund also counsels parents to seek expert diagnosis when determining whether to send a child to residential treatment. “I would urge anyone considering residential treatment to obtain a physical exam and complete psychological evaluation before making any plans for treatment,” she wrote. While she said that the psychological evaluation was a large expense not covered by insurance, she was “immeasurably thankful” that she got one for her daughter. “This is the only way to determine what the issues are and what is at stake,” she wrote.

Experts are Skeptical

Unfortunately, even if a parent finds a suitable, non-abusive program, the long-lasting results are difficult to predict. Dr. Oscar Bukstein, an associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine who specializes in children’s psychiatric disorders, says that even when kids make progress in these “tough-love” residential programs, they very often have trouble reincorporating the skills they learn into their home lives. “When kids get back to their original situation, they start to slip back,” he said. “If anything, the center is probably a safe holding place until kids mature out of [their behavior problems].”

Bukstein also says that some parents send their kids to residential treatment too early, without first considering other and potentially better options. He says therapy and community-based intensive treatment centers that provide more than just an hour a week of counseling are good options for overwhelmed parents, and that generally kids don’t need “tough love” to be treated effectively. “You have to model appropriate behavior,” he said, “but intimidation doesn’t model appropriate behavior—being tough and consistent doesn’t entail being mean and abusive.”

Listening to adults who were sent to RTCs as teenagers, you often hear a much harsher judgement of these programs. Said one, "these toughlove programs are not merely ineffective, but often totally devastating to the children and families taken in by their marketing experts." Many adult survivors want the programs shut down completely.

“I don’t think there’s much out there to tell parents about where you draw the line between normal teenage acting-out and serious behavior problems,” said Barbara Huff, Executive Director of the Federation of Families for Children’s Mental Health. While she says there are no easy answers to this question, guidance counselors at the local schools, private therapists, and other professionals can help identify children with behavior problems early on and can also work with families to find appropriate solutions.

And above all, experts agree, parents should avoid giving in to embarrassment or despair that keeps them from seeking appropriate help close to home. “We all fear the stigma that is attached to ‘troubled teens,’” said Dawn Martin-Rugo, a parent who enrolled her daughter in a wilderness program and a therapeutic boarding school. “We want to protect our teen and ourselves from the judgments of others, but it is important to get over this fear as quickly as possible—everyone knows someone who has a child who has “fallen apart.’” Common sense and community support are your best protections against the false promises offered by unscrupulous people who stand to profit from selling you an expensive residential program.

Practical Suggestions

IIf your children or your friends’ children run into trouble, consider these tips from other parents and mental health experts:

• Get a ‘reality check’ from school officials, teachers, family, and friends to help assess the seriousness of the child’s behavior problems.
• Explore local options first, and look for a therapy program that works with the whole family, not just the teen.
• Invest in physical and psychological assessments that will define the child’s problem and point to appropriate remedies.
• Hire an educational consultant who works only for the family (and does not receive a commission from schools).
• Investigate the schools in person, and also check with the parent watchdog groups (listed below) to avoid the worst offenders.
• Ask a lawyer to review enrollment contracts before signing them.
• And finally, stay in contact with the child throughout their stay in a residential facility so that you can move them out quickly at the first sign of trouble.

Resources for Parents

NoSpank.net is the work of a group called Parents and Teachers Against Violence in Education. The site provides a good collection of documents and news articles from a range of sources.

The International Survivors Action Committee is a nonprofit, independent watchdog organization. Their site includes a list of warning signs to help parents avoid abusive programs, as well as a list of schools with the most damaging track records.

The Straights is a website created by a father named Wesley Fager, who has been campaigning for reform of residential treatment programs since 1989 when his son was abused in one. His site includes his book and information about other books on the subject.

Personal testimonials from survivors and their families can be found at Fornits.com/wwf

The Independent Educational Consultants Association (IECA) has a "find a consultant" feature on their web site, as well as some general information about working with a consultant.

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