"military school" troubled teen ??????

[pigpokey]

Anyone have any advise I could pass on to a friend? Child 15yo is currently in detention. Looking for middle-income possible options after release.

[heartmama]

Impossible to say what is best when there are many different reasons why the boy is in crisis.

[HollyBearsMom]

A teen relative is bi-polar and has spent time in transitional facilities for "troubled" teens. Can you give more specifics? W/O specifics it is hard to advise since "troubled" can run the gamut of late night carousing to hard core assault/intent/DUI/DWI/ etc

[SusanElizabeth]

Kids have been killed in these "tough-love" facilities. Read Help at Any Cost by Maia Szalavitz. Or google "Aaron Bacon". I'm not sure if I can provide links here about all of the teens who have been horribly damaged by military schools, boot camps, etch.

[joyluc]

There are wilderness programs that can work with some teens. It all depends on what kind of environment they need - if safety is an issue than the wilderness programs aren't right. You need to do a lot of research to find the right fit and feel comfortable that the program is good. Good luck I found this website

http://www.natsap.org/

to be helpful when I thought we needed to find a place

[SusanElizabeth]

Here's another link:

http://www.teenadvocatesusa.org/

"Every day in America, a child is at risk of placement into a privately owned and operated locked (meaning institutionalized-style) so-called "specialty" school or program whose conditions, policies and practices may expose them to standards of care and treatment that are inhumane, unethical and unsafe.

Denied due-process or even an independent evaluation by a behavioral healthcare professional who does NOT work for the institution - it can be many months and even years before these children are "recommended home" or turn 18 - the age of majority in most states when children, like adults, can not be forced into an institutionalized environment nor held in one against their will -- without a court order.

NO MINOR MATTER

Institutionalization without due process and other children's rights abuses,
exploitation, fraud and even deaths under the invisible hand of free-market capitalism


B Y B A R B E S T A M P S
Founder and Director of Teen Advocates USA


This practice of institutionalizing minors without legal authority has led to the involuntary commitment of tens
of thousands of America's youth in private for-profit residential programming facilities located in and outside the United States and opened the floodgates to an unregulated multi-billion-dollar industry that thrives on children
as a commodity - a veritable cash crop. "

[mtiger]

Originally Posted by heartmama

Impossible to say what is best when there are many different reasons why the boy is in crisis.

How do you know it's a boy? Girls also get into crises, and military school is an option for them, too.