Congress is investigating brutal and lucrative fringe "treatments" for troubled youth, Maia Szalavitz reports:
"Last time this country witnessed somebody with a bag over his head and a noose around his neck, the world was horrified and the nation was embarrassed," thundered Rep. George Miller, on hearing testimony this April regarding abusive treatment of troubled teens in unregulated residential programs. "To be told [by these witnesses] that this is considered a valid therapy by someone in the care of someone else's child…It's hard to believe." [MoJo]Last year, the GAO reported that untold numbers of American youth are interned in unregulated "therapeutic" schools, "wilderness programs," and other residential treatment centers that dispense physical and psychological abuse under the guise of treatment for disorders real and imagined.
Szalavitz is the author of a book on the industry, entitled "Help at Any Cost" She estimates that tens of thousands of kids are in the custody of these programs. Alarmingly, these "tough love" outfits have no legal obligation to demonstrate the safety or efficacy of their homespun regimens.
Maia has also put together a post at HuffPo explaining what you can do to help straighten out the troubled teen industry.