Why was sexual abuse mentioned in the opening paragraph but no examples cited in the body of the story? You cited examples of the other allegations. It seems to me that emotional and physical abuse isn't juicy enough so you just toss in sexual abuse.

There have been reports of thousands of deaths and abuse in group facilities which we call "schools". At one particular "school" in Virginia, a student was so abused and humiliated that he killed 32 of his fellow "school" attenders. At one particular Colorado "school", a teacher engaged in sex with a student there. At one particular Beverly Hills school, a girl was taunted so much by other girls about her sartorial choices that she had "the worst day EVER!". We should close all these "schools" and "universities". That should solve the problem. :)

camps for delinquents run by delinquents. who do the children have to turn to if not the adults?

Unfortunately, this is nothing new. Since the 1970's, there have been many documented cases of these tough "love" groups abusing children and teenagers. Some warning signs that a camp or rehab is abusive: If they encourage you to lie to get your kids to one of these programs; if your kid is not free to communicate with you regularly; if any permitted communication between your child and you is screened or monitored by the staff; if the goals of the program are not clearly understandable; or if your son or daughter does not see a licensed therapist regularly while in the program. Most importantly, if you love your son or daughter, and you have a bad feeling about a group: listen to your instincts. No number of warning signs is going to be enough if you allow the staff of a group to convince you to ignore your instincts.

Yes, I have a comment. How about these parents try PARENTING, instead of paying someone else to supposedly straighten out the child that they failed at? They allowed their child to become out of control, then expect these crackpot tough love camp people to fix it. Typical. Throw money at it and wash your hands, let someone else fix it. I'm disgusted. If your child is suicidal, they need psychological therapy...not boot camp.

Brian, I just had my son sent to a Wilderness program in Utah. How can I find out if they have had any reports against them?

Jayson,
To get more info on sex abuse of teens in these "tough love" places, check out Maia Szalavitz's book "Help at Any Cost: How the Troubled Teen Industry Cons Parents and Hurts Kids." This important issue needs to be reported on much more, and this industry regulated. Nail salons have more gov't oversight than these places where people just dump their difficult teens.

Why is there not more oversight by the states regarding these so-called camps even if they are privately owned? Surely they need licensed by the states. They sound like traps to me, run by sadistic personnel who found the perfect outlet for their perversions. Either they should be strictly supervised or shut down. How is this country allowing these places to abuse and murder our young people? Isn't there enough of that going on without those parents being duped into paying for their kids to be abused and murdered? What is this country coming to when we can't even protect our young people?

I can't believe these parents are blaming everyone else???? Yes, I agree try being a PARENT and not a friend to your children. A lot of these kids had medical issues before going to these camps and then they close the schools down. My opinion is these type of schools should NOT even exist. They should be called I failed as a parent and now it is someone else turn.....Oh and don't blame me if something goes wrong..

I have a few things to say. I have been working in this industry since 88. there are bad programs and good programs. I worked for a bad program early on and they were shut down. I worked for them because someone sane had to. it started out good and as the good people left it got bad.

Our daughter completed 2 sessions (6 weeks this summer) in a wilderness program and is now enrolled in a therapeutic boarding school and doing well. It was a wonderful experience for her and for us. We didn't want to send her and, of course, she didn't want to go. We had no choice and neither do hundreds of parents who have tried everything else (yes, even parenting) and just want their child to stay alive. It's a tough subject; a tough decision.

Don't send your kids to these places. Raise them yourself and quit expecting other to do your job. If you don't know how to raise kids, don't have them.

I am the mother of one these boys and for someone like Sharon who has not had
to deal with this they should not be so judgemental. My son's father and myself have tried everything to get him help and yes he has had difficulty from the time he was 2 years old to 16. There were peaks were he was well behaved then there were times were he was a holy terror. We love our son and want what is best for him and I would rather see my son who seems to be at a great facility then at prison or jail. WE have tried to be good parents to him and love him dearly yes I would rather have home with us. It easy to say what you would do when you do not have to make that choice.

I never have had good feelings about these camps. There is just something wrong with the idea that if you take a misbehaving kid and bully him enough, that will somehow make him into a "man" (or a "woman", for that matter.) Bully a bully, and you simply train him or her how to be a more successful bully. But let full-grown adults bully a mis-diagnosed, actually compliant but deeply insecure child, and you may well kill him. Actual military boot camps involve concerted bullying for the specific purpose of forging a cohesive military force: the ultimate bullying machine. But any way you look at it, it is all still bullying.

My daughter was diagnosed w/depression at age 11. We began therapy and medications and never stopped trying to help her. We contiuned to do our very best even after a suicide attempt. When she began self-medicating w/illegal drugs, alcohol and 2 episodes of running away overnight, we found out about the Catherine Freer Wilderness Progam in Oregon.(she was 16) After 6 weeks in the progam she is now in a wonderful theraputic prepatory school in Idaho. A few weeks ago we recieved a letter from her thanking us for sending her to the wilderness and to the school she is at now. She said she is finally happy and cannot imagine where she would be now had we not done what we did. I am so sorry for the families who lost their children, but must give hope to others who may be saved like our daughter has been thanks to these programs.
One note to "Skeptical" and "Ron": I would love to hear your recipe for "perfect parenting".May you never have to walk in the shoes my husband and I had to walk in this past year.

Even the best of these programs are in it to make money. Making money and taking care of kids is antithetical. They wind up merely being warehouses for kids. And, to warehouse them at the cheapest price, they use brainwashing techniques reminiscent of the Korean War era to make the kids docile and more easily warehoused. They pitch a good story to the parents so they can suck the money out of their pockets. Most of the people operating therapeutic boarding schools should be put in jail for physical and emotional child abuse.

These stories are so sad. There is an alternative. I was sent to a wilderness program at the age of 14. It was not a boot camp, but a 3 week wilderness survival program. Things I learned there I still use in my life today at 36 years old. Anyone considering a boot camp or a tough love program might consider the program I went through. Many years ago when I was there, it was called School of Urban and Wilderness Survival. The instructors were wonderful, patients "teachers" who truly wanted to help. I checked out the

is anyone accredited in anything at these things? like license psychiatrists? doctors? educators? counselors? it seems like a group of adults looking for a lucrative business with no supervision from anyone has found it. open up one of these, build cabins, have few accomodations (to build character), the most basic food staples..nothing expensive, the kids do all the chores (to build character) and make a killing in "tuition" and scream at the kids into submission and ignore them when they are really in pain or ill health.

Why is this just comming out. I was a ward of the state for 6 years and have witnessed things to make any human hair stand that goes on in the boot camps and the State run himes. The thing they do is hush it right up and close down the facility. I was a troubled rebellious teenage who really just needed some positive people in my life and went a little wild and was turned into the custody of DFY what a joke I know girls who have deep mental and physical scars that to this day have never healed. I have seen childrn being kicked in their heads, hit, humilated, tortured, spit on, made to sit in a corner for months on end, handcuffed, starved, not taken to the doctors, you name it I saw it and it will be with me the rest of my life as if it was yesterday. This is sad and the sad thing is everyone can read about it everyone can be angry but IT NEVER CHANGES. I was lucky in the fact I had parents who cared I just did not did I mention I went in as a young juvenile pins and left a convict? I got my life back on track and went on the right path that the state could of easily put me on but failed as my care taker. What a joke but the joke is on them I remember everything names places incidents you name it I remember. They would send in investigators and we were to scared to talk and the investigators later told us they knew. Your tax money is helping abuse these children who will one day be your neighbor, friend, son in law, daughter in law, you all should be ashames we are running a system like a 3rd world country!Parent I knwo there is tough love but be really careful and listen to your children and for the children who do not have parents write, write to everyone and anyone and then come back on them and point your finger becuase they knew and did not care!

I have to agree with those who say raise your children yourself. Good parenting starts at Day One, and if that does not actually work on your child, then it is likely they have a problem that "boot camp" can't solve. There's nothing they can do for your child that you cannot. Children are not "one size fits all" and half the time, if you notice, the deaths and incidents resulted from the counselors at these camps thinking they knew it all, that the kid was just lying/sandbagging/etc. They were not, in other words, listening. If you truly did the right thing as a parent, then the only condition that should cause your child to be uncontrollable is something chemical or deeply psychological, in which case you need a psychiatrist or a doctor, not some nutter who never achieved his dream of becoming a marine drill sergeant.