Aspen Education Group in the United States has announced that they want to restructure.
In reality it means that they are closing down residential treatment facilities because years of critical coverage has questioned whether the residents would have been better served receiving counseling and therapy at their home for a fraction of the price residential care costs.
The following programs are annouced to close:
Bromley Brook School (Manchester Center, VT)
New Leaf Academy of Oregon
NorthStar Center (Bend, Oregon)
Aspen Ranch (Loa, Utah)
SunHawk Adolescent Recovery Center (St. George, Utah)
But also Elan School is about to close. They claim that the decision was made due to a campain against them on the Internet. Did they realize that once the former residents turned 18 they would start to talk openly about what did happen?
We are living in year 2011. The Internet enables the former students to find old classmates and for them to create community groups so they can work the trauma they experienced during their stay at residential programs.
Last but least we have published the story about yet another raid down in Costa Rica.
We hope that these closures are a start where focus on treatment of problems among minors are on treatment at home and in the local community so the minors can maintain their social network while they are cured.
Sources:
Elan School closing after Web campaign to shut it down (By Judith Meyer, Sun Journal, March 23, 2011)
Aspen Education Group To Restructure Programs (Strugglingteens.com - industry marketing firm, March 24, 2011)
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Yet another raid of a boarding school in Costa Rica
Years ago the authorities in Costa Rica shut a boarding school named Academy at Dundee Ranch down. While the boarding school continues to be in operation under another name a new boarding school also located in Costa Rica became headline news when it was raided and the students rescued from possible abuse.
The school is called Mentor School. It is located in a former hotel.
The police was alerted by people in the neighborhood and the students are now safe.
For more information, please see the sources below:
PANI Rescues 20 Young Americans Who Suffered Various Attacks, Inside Costa Rica, March 22, 2011
Mentor School, Fornits Wiki Datasheet
Academy at Dundee Ranch, Fornits Wiki Datasheet
The school is called Mentor School. It is located in a former hotel.
The police was alerted by people in the neighborhood and the students are now safe.
For more information, please see the sources below:
PANI Rescues 20 Young Americans Who Suffered Various Attacks, Inside Costa Rica, March 22, 2011
Mentor School, Fornits Wiki Datasheet
Academy at Dundee Ranch, Fornits Wiki Datasheet
Monday, January 10, 2011
Residential treatment - not promising for any child
In a long article the Washington City Paper does reveal how damaging intensive use of residential treatment can be.
When you remove minors from their home and their personal network, they feel it like a punishment. Humans are social beings and their emotional well-being is very depended of the resources in the local community.
Still some states and countries remove a higher number of children from the care of their families without exploring the full extent of these resources. They don't ask whether grandparents or the extended family could aid the parents in the process of parenting. They write their reports so they can create more work for their department and colleges.
The department of social services operates in many aspects just as private firm. They are looking for work and income.
It is hard for the local politicians to supervise this area as it is a specialized area demanding a high level of knowledge and education.
So often the department of social service is out of control where they demand a growing percentage of the limited budget the public sector can use for the good of the entire population.
Especially during these times where the economy is under pressure and the residential treatment facilies as well as group homes cuts in staff expenses the time has come for a dramatic review of the procedures used in the public sector both in the United States as well as in other countries using residential treatment options.
The money is better spent utilize the use of the network around the individual child. Just because some parts of the family dynamics are broken it should not end up in throwing the entire network away.
We can only urge the politicians to set up an analyse of the expenses in this sector. There are consultant firms which can improve the possibilities the politicians makes the decisions based upon but also the conditions for the children involved in the system.
Reference:
Outsourcing Troubled Kids, Washington City Paper, By Jason Cherkis, January 7, 2011
When you remove minors from their home and their personal network, they feel it like a punishment. Humans are social beings and their emotional well-being is very depended of the resources in the local community.
Still some states and countries remove a higher number of children from the care of their families without exploring the full extent of these resources. They don't ask whether grandparents or the extended family could aid the parents in the process of parenting. They write their reports so they can create more work for their department and colleges.
The department of social services operates in many aspects just as private firm. They are looking for work and income.
It is hard for the local politicians to supervise this area as it is a specialized area demanding a high level of knowledge and education.
So often the department of social service is out of control where they demand a growing percentage of the limited budget the public sector can use for the good of the entire population.
Especially during these times where the economy is under pressure and the residential treatment facilies as well as group homes cuts in staff expenses the time has come for a dramatic review of the procedures used in the public sector both in the United States as well as in other countries using residential treatment options.
The money is better spent utilize the use of the network around the individual child. Just because some parts of the family dynamics are broken it should not end up in throwing the entire network away.
We can only urge the politicians to set up an analyse of the expenses in this sector. There are consultant firms which can improve the possibilities the politicians makes the decisions based upon but also the conditions for the children involved in the system.
Reference:
Outsourcing Troubled Kids, Washington City Paper, By Jason Cherkis, January 7, 2011
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