Teach you child to behave and they won't need to be sent away for someone else to clean up your mess!!!

Hello,

No child deserves to die, especially tragically as these children have. The thing that bothers me the most is the parents are always looking to blame someone other than the person they wake up and see in the mirror every morning. It is NO ONES FAULT but their own. If they would have taken care, nurtured, diciplined and LOVED their children the way kids should be taken care of then they would NEVER HAVE BEEN IN A BOOT CAMP IN THE FIRST PLACE.

Thank you,

John

It appears to me that John either has never raised children or has been blessed by having had 'perfect' children. It never ceases to amaze me when individuals not a part of a problem familial situation inevitably turn and blame the parents. There are, by definition, right from the start a multiplicity of influences that impinge on the emotional maturation of a person from infancy on up. No matter what the very best of parental intentions might be, circumstances arise whereby a child grows into a very difficult person to deal with regardless of the amount of love he and/or she is showered with. Personality is very much a factor that leads to an individual's identity and parents or other loved one's have that as a given once the child is born (let alone the influences that impinge on that personality in the womb). In essence, there are children that are troubled and difficult to manage giving rise to the exponentially increasing need for outside professionals to facilitate ameliorating the situation. It is; however, imperative that these professionals be properly certified and that written references be examined and called prior to placing a loved one under their care. It serves no purpose whatsoever, in sum, to turn and blame the 'victims', so to speak. That is, blaming parents, and I've seen countless thousands over my decades in practice, is an exercise not only in futility but also indicates a complete and total lack of comprehension of the parent-child relationship.
Finally, these hearing are long overdue and it is my fervent hope that camps that are operated properly by individual's properly credentialed emerge from these hearings and soon as they're long overdue.

Even parents who do their best to teach their children right from wrong and "how to behave" can still hav a child/teen with behavior/emotional problems that are real and unmanageable. So, unless you have been in the shoes of such parents, SHUT UP. Find some compassion for things you don't understand. The families deserve all the help they can get. REgulate the help for us.

To blame the parents is ridiculous. The Bacons are warm, loving, conscientious parents who only wanted the best for their child. If you only knew, you would be ashamed by your comments. Judge not...

Jim sometimes the kids go through major traume and they need help. you look into a lot of these stories you see trouble with no help besides the parents.

Sounds so much like alot of pre-occupied American parents too.

I work at a boot camp and parents need to check to see how they are run. and what medical background they to have. i seen abuse going on and lack of common sence where i work at. i like to see the congress pass and law that regulate the camp and the workers that works in the camp.

Hello DrBehavior,

I to am in the medical field as well and to turn the blame on the child for being "troubled" is just another way of putting the blame on someone else. I have been blessed by three children, perfect in no way, and my live revolves around them not theirs around mine. I have seen troubled children in my life and in my practice and I can honestly say that over 90% of the time the parents are not involved (most of the time do not even show up) in that childs life. Yes, there are medical conditions out there that are beyond the parents reach but that does not mean give up and ship them away. That means take more time and attend counsling, medical treatments, rehab or what ever is most benificial for the CHILD. Not the parent, not the physician but the CHILD.

Thank you,

John

Those who profited from this should be charges with murder, by reason of depraved indifference.

Why aren't their pictures on ABC News?

They should be publicly identified and then run out of town.

Hang em high, hang em long, and hang em in the town square.

The people who profited from this industry need to be tried for murder.

Ten to one they are Republican.

I'm not a parent of a troubled child, but a sister of one and I saw what my brother went through and saw what my parents went through. They felt so lost, so guilty because he desperately needed help and they didn't know how to give it to him. You talk of self absorbed parents that neglect children, but you'd say the same thing if those same parents stayed home and couldn't buy them clothes and food or pay for the house they live in.

Some of the Boot Camps out there do everything in their power to help these troubled kids, they work with the parents to form a stronger bond and give them the tools they maybe didn't have before. Just because you have a child.. doesn't necessarily mean you're any more clued in about raising them than the next person. You simply do the best that you can.

But checking on these camps should be a parents first priority. Yes, you want help, you want it quickly, but accepting the first place that promises to turn your little hellion into a good little boy are girl should be viewed with suspicion. Common sense goes a long way in this.

Never mind the fact that the parents of these children couldn't take on the responsibility (that's right "responsibility") of raising their own children to become productive members of society. Instead it was easier to pawn them off on someone else for a price/job parents were unwilling to do. Then parents criticize the way in which it was done. What about those that benefitted from these programs. I suppose there will be want a lawsuit next to help pay for parent's SUV/cell phone/$7 cup of coffee while rolling though intersections. Maybe their kids should have stayed with them to slaughter some other kids in a drug deal instead of un"tough" love they could provdie. Let's have a look at these kids "histories". Oh yeah, that would be a violation of their JD's civil rights. Grow up parents and take responsibility for why your kid ended up there in the first place.

Scuzzz me.... but love starts at home. These parents are down to their last resort. A troubled teen in the house is not easy and why else would they pay the fees for these camps. If LOVE was all it takes, let LOVE be the answer. Parents take as much as they can and then hope that someone else has the answer. I guess we don't all have the "ANSWER" for every troubled teen, but let's not condem those who try to give us a solution.

My heart goes out to the young people. Parents are suppose to be their role models. The government isn't the one to blame - it stepped in only for prevention. If the parents weren't so abusive when disciplining their children the government wouldn't have stepped in. Now parents are not allow to spank, raise their voices, or hit. Parents are only allowed to negotiate while the child talks back, cuss them out, throw a rage, call 911, hit them and runaway. Boot camp is not the answer. Training them up in the fear/reverence of God is - the home will be so much better and peaceful.

I worked in an residential treatment facility that was run like a boot camp for several years. It is a rough environment, and it teaches kids to learn to appreciate what they had at home. They learn to value their families and their lives, and to take with them lessons in how to handle their feelings of anger and aggression. All of the youth I worked with were either adjudicated or delinquent, so they had all committed some form of a crime. The blame was put on THEM, not their parents. I think that all boot camps should be inspected regularly, and of course all staff be screened to determine if they are who they really say that they are. A boot camp run the right way really does have the ability and potential to reconstruct the lives of troubled kids.

Thank you ABC for airing this. Not only wilderness camps but also places that are run by big business and look like beautiful college campuses are also destroying young lives. I know this for a fact. Tried contacting my congressman, senator and past ones also without any help. When a child is sat on by five people and put on wires until they bleed and possibly gets pepper spray in eyes no one will help. I contacted the sheriffs office and their reply to me was "They have their own security"

These stories are heart breaking.

and so or those of the children.

Please, please don't waste time arguing over whether or not troubled, emotionally immature children are the product of poor parenting. As DrBehavior stated, many factors play into the psychological well-being and emotional maturity of any given child. To pigeon-hole behavior issues as being caused solely by poor parenting is an extreme reaction. I am a parent to a 16 year old emotionally troubled son. I've attempted multiple treatment programs and strategies (professionally and at home) for him over the past 14 years. The reality is that discipline does not work unless the recipient is cooperative. A parent can ground a child from leaving home, but if the child wants to leave he / she will find a way to make that happen. Computers and cell phones and televisions and video game systems can be removed from the home, but if the child doesn't want the parent to know that "hurts", he won't give you the satisfaction of letting it result in a behavior change. Again, if there is no cooperation on the other end - i.e. a willingness to exhibit hurt or shame, responsibility or accountability for the behavior that caused the repurcussion, the repurcussion will not be effective. In the alternative, a parent can make an infinite number of attempts to spend more time with the child in hopes that positive encounters between parent and child will alter the child's behavior. But if the child isn't open to engaging with the parent, the child simply has to refuse to engage. Until my son chooses to cooperate with either discipline or positive engagement, he will never admit to anyone that he's ashamed of himself and his behavior, by changing it - which, of course, is the objective. If I knew what was stopping him from being able to do either of those things, neither he or I would be experiencing the issues we are. With that understanding I truly believe parents who choose the residential treatment route, are holding out hope that another responsible and properly trained adult will be able to help their son / daughter move to a level of emotional maturity that will allow them to cooperate with traditional discipline strategies, and accept the love with which it is given.

MT - I'm sure that some people have benefitted from these camps, but surely not from the camps where kids were made to sit in a tub of their own urine or forced to eat their own vomit. These parents are not in it for the money - nor are they rich themselves. They didn't send their kids off to just any camp that would take them - some of the camps have been favorably profiled (one on ABC awhile back). Lastly, not all of them are "juvenile delinquents" - one of the cases in the GAO report is about a 15 year old date rape victim who attended a wilderness camp to boost her confidence. Even if they were a juvenile delinquent - does that make abusing them/starving them/beating them any less criminal? It's pretty depraved to think that this is all about a lawsuit.

I am so sorry for any parent who would lose their child. The pain must be immense with mix of guilt and anger. What could you have done differently? What could the government do? Is more government really the solution?