Bill could give federal oversight to private clinics for children and would require FDA inspections
In a move that could have implications for D.C.’s troubled special education system, a panel of lawmakers Wednesday passed sweeping legislation that gives federal authorities the right to inspect private children’s clinics and schools.
The bill would require the federal Department of Health and Human Services to inspect therapeutic schools, clinics, camps and ranches every two years and to fine or shut down any outfit that fails minimum standards for safety and care. It passed the House Education and Labor Committee by a vote of 27-16.
Proponents of the measure said it would protect children and their families from fly-by-night operators who promise miracle cures to mentally ill or disabled children and then warehouse the children with little regard to their safety or welfare.
Thousands of D.C. kids have been shipped to camps and clinics all over the country for decades. There have been repeated complaints of abuse and low standards, but as The Examiner has reported, D.C. officials were hardly aware of where the kids were, let alone what was happening to them.
It’s a program that will cost taxpayers nearly $210 million this year.
Tom Kiley, spokesman for health committee Chairman George Miller, D-Calif., told The Examiner that the bill was necessary to keep kids out of harm’s way.
“A number of children from the District, like thousands of children from all over the country, have been sent across state lines to residential programs where physical, sexual and emotional abuse has occurred,” he said in an e-mail. “We want to make sure that kids are safe no matter what state or setting they are in.”
The legislation has encountered resistance from trade associations linked to the lucrative private clinic and camp industry.
Opponents of the bill said it’s an unnecessary layer of government interference imposed on an industry that’s capable of policing itself.
Miller’s bill now moves on to the full House floor for passage.
As the article said, the bill passed committee and is now going to the full House. This bill is absolutely critical for the rights of youth and their health and safety as well. All NYRA members are strongly urged to support this bill. Typically NYRA is in a position where we are arguing for rights, equality and freedom against those who are too willing to strip away freedom and equality for the idea of health & safety.
This issue however is one of the rare ones where such interests align. Moreover the issue of abuse in teen residential treatment centers shows quite clearly that denying equal rights to youth does not keep them safe but instead exposes them to more danger, more harm, and more risk. These programs generally paid for by parents who just “want what’s best for their kids” are rife with physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse and mental abuse of all kinds.
It makes me sick to think that when the country is paranoid about sexual predators lying in wait for our children on MySpace there are dozens and dozens of well documented cases of sexual abuse and much worse at these camps that doesn’t get near that level of public fear and panic. Why? Why does the media focus all their fear mongering on “stranger-danger” and the Internet instead of on real threats like Tranquility Bay, Peninsula Village, Ivy Ridge and all the rest.
I can think of only two reasons: ignorance and control.
It is plausible, and for some time I assumed this was the chief reason, that most in the mainstream media simply hadn’t heard of these programs. Hadn’t heard of the abuse that regularly occurs there. Hadn’t heard of the death, abuse, and trauma that youth are subjected to.
This can no longer be assumed.
Thanks to the amazing work of Rep. George Miller the issue of abuse in the “troubled teen industry” has gotten national press exposure. Victims have had their day in the spotlight testifying in front of Congress. Several victims who I know personally were there to testify. And, to the media’s credit, they wrote stories about the bill and did pieces on the news about it. Yet compared to the coverage devoted to MySpace, video games and any other mythical dangers for our youth this coverage pales in comparison.
So my only thought left is that the main issue here is one of control. If kids are abused, killed, and traumatized for life under the watchful eye of parents or authority figures for their “own good” then society seems to be generally ok with that. Maybe the authority crossed a line, and maybe we should keep a closer eye on what goes on there, but generally nothing to get too upset over.
If, on the other hand, a young person is abused or kidnapped because of their own poor choices, well that’s simply the end of the world. They properly supervised. They weren’t properly controlled. This is the true crime and the true danger that society fears.
This isn’t to say that when left to their own devices youth don’t make bad decisions. They do. Sometimes those bad decisions have very serious consequences. But adults make many bad decisions themselves. Obviously responsible parents, teachers and mentors need to step in to avoid or mitigate the worst and most long lasting consequences that can befall their kids, but for everything else those mistakes and bad decisions are an important part of life. The beauty of bad decisions is that each and every one of them teaches an important lesson. An important lesson that leads to far more good decisions being made in the future.
When you are put in danger by someone else (as opposed to yourself) you don’t learn anything except fear and how to cope.
Misuse of authority is some how less threatening to people than misuse of freedom. While this is no doubt an issue that affects all levels of society and all institutions, it is particularly acute and troubling for youth. Thus we have hysteria over Grant Theft Auto 4 and a passing mention of teen torture camps.
But now is not the time for more doom & gloom worrying. Now is the time for action, now is the time for optomism. While the media and public at large may still be wandering in the wilderness, Congress at least has their head on straight. HR 5876 is the single best youth rights bill in Congress in years. NYRA activists, supporters, leaders and members must do absolutely everything in their power to pass this bill.
Why do we defend the rights of youth? Among the numerous reasons, we’ve had enough of the testimonials.
So many young people come to us with their accounts of their lives at home and school. To what many people would dismiss as dramatic teenage whining, we listen. Unlike everyone else in their lives, we take them seriously. Why would they be the liars, but their parents and teachers are necessarily telling the truth? Their ages? Obviously a poor factor there. What else? Oh, you mean age was the only reason? Well, in that case, your theory is faulty, so let’s go with that the young victims are truthful.
Each year, over 2,000 children and teens die at the hands of their parents, and 350,000 more are severely abused. Why don’t we hear about this? Because, God forbid, the media or politicians make any statements pointing out fault with the traditional family. Instead, they’d rather pretend the greatest dangers to a kid are that he watches Dragonball Z and plays Mortal Kombat, and conveniently ignore that his father beats him every night. And, of course, only the former will be called into blame when he shoots up his school someday.
Young guys get hauled off to spend the night in jail because they shoved their mothers, as the police have no interest in the abuse the mother was causing beforehand, and simply tell the young victim that she had every right to do it.
Girl is forced into a psychiatric ward because her parents insist she is crazy, and the ward takes their word for it rather than testing her. The reason she is having these issues, most likely the psychological torture her parents put her through for years, is unimportant to these people.
Corporal punishment remains a legal parenting tool, even for teens. People don’t want to believe parents would hit their kids for reasons other than discipline. They’ll pretend the girl getting brutal swats from a belt on a regular basis because she disagrees with her father’s political views doesn’t exist.
And the abuse only breeds more abuse. The abused grew up with this distorted idea of love, so this is what they give, as they become abusive spouses and parents themselves. They believe their children are theirs to do as they wish with, just as their own parents believed of them. And the casualties are numerous and societally overlooked.
Don’t forget the infamous behavior modification facilities. Parents can just ship their kids off to these places if they don’t like their behavior. The facilities institute “tough love” measures to “cure” teens of undesirable behavior, but most of these places are unregulated and utilize potentially deadly restraint practices, and brutal disciplinary measures. Dozens have died, and hundreds more come out psychologically damaged. Why must they endure this? They have no trial. Their parents merely signed a form, and off they went. But does the media care? No. They’re more interested in Barack Obama’s priest’s anti-American remarks than the suffering of innocent American teens.
So it’s up to us to make the change. Once we get the voting age lowered and empower youth to realize they are entitled to the same human rights as adults, that they do not have to live as oppressed children but as capable young citizens, then we can see some real change. Kids are abused because their abusers believe them to be inferior and subhuman, and no one cares enough to tell them otherwise. Kids are property, and they believe the extremely dangerous and lethal excuse that this is for their own good.
So next time you think youth don’t need rights or that their suffering is petty, you seriously need to take a closer look. Prepare to be appalled. Prepare to be unable to sleep at night knowing the prevalence, wondering what’s going on with the young voiceless residents in your neighbor’s house. This can’t continue.
Politicians and public interest groups are always looking to protect youth. They have a long list of so-called bad guys that they believe are a danger to young people. Even if in all this, they ignore the very many actual dangers youth face every day. Maybe there are things they find much more important than the well-being of young citizens. But then, who’s going to help young people? Who really cares about them? I’ll tell you who.
That’s us! We’re the National Youth Rights Association, or NYRA for short. I’m Katrina Moncure, secretary of NYRA and board member. There I am holding my cat, Midnight.
Anyway, NYRA has many goals. We want to lower the voting age to 16. We want to lower the drinking age to 18. We want all youth curfew laws abolished. Those are our major goals, but we have lots of others, too. (more…)
When the Government Accountability Office actually uses the word “nightmare” in a report about you.
It would appear that the Federal government is finally paying attention to something that’s so glaringly obvious that it would require a lobotomy not to take notice of; behavioral modification camps are both ineffective and potentially deadly. In a report released by the Government Accountability Office, (GAO) the group responsible for issuing reports on everything Congress looks at, there was documented a whole host of deaths from “behavioral modification camps” or, as our organization calls them rather succinctly, “Gulag Schools.”
These are the places where “problem children” are sent by their parents to be “straightened out” and made productive members of society. Sounds good so far right? I mean, who doesn’t think that there are a few kids who might do well with a slightly more authoritative method of discipline? While you can (and I certainly would) question who gives the parents the right to send their children to places that brag of being like military boot camp, you can’t question the disaster the can result. The GAO report actually spells it out far better than I could attempt to:
Roberto Reyes, 15, died of complications from a spider bite in November 2004 at Thayer Learning Center in Missouri, which describes itself as “a military based, Christian boarding school.” A state investigation concluded that the staff “did not provide adequate treatment,” the GAO said, but the state does not license such programs, and no criminal charges have been filed.
The staff tied a 20-pound sandbag around his neck when he was too sick to exercise, the GAO said. The family settled a civil lawsuit against Thayer for about $1 million. The facility’s owners denied wrongdoing. Messages left at the school and with its lawyer were not returned.
Ah yes, the ‘ole “Stop the spread of deadly spider toxin by tying a 20lb sandbag around the kid’s neck” trick! I must have skipped that day of first aid training back in Boy Scouts. But wait! There’s more!
At the American Buffalo Soldiers boot camp in Arizona where Anthony Haynes, 14, died in 2001, children were fed an apple for breakfast, a carrot for lunch and a bowl of beans for dinner, the GAO said.
Haynes became dehydrated in 113-degree heat and vomited up dirt, according to witnesses. The program closed, and the director, Charles Long, was sentenced in 2005 to six years in prison for manslaughter.
Must have missed a day in medical school when they talked about nutrition, because I’m pretty sure that an apple, a carrot and a bowl of beans don’t exactly fufill the FDA’s recommended daily amount of nutrients and calories. But hey, I’m no doctor, and apparently, neither are they. And since when is starving a kid to death only worth Manslaughter charges? What in the world was that DA thinking?
Thankfully, this report is part of a Congressional investigation led by Representative George Miller (D-CA). NYRA was actually at the hearing held Wednesday to listen to the various parents tell their horror stories. The hearing started inauspiciously enough, with Congressman Miller giving his views on the matter (the investigation was his idea) and then Congressman Howard McKeon (R-CA) the ranking Republican member of the committee put forth his own view on the matter. Unsurprisingly for a conservative, McKeon felt that this was a matter of the states and the industry itself to regulate. By about halfway through the hearing, he actually went back on what he said, claiming:
“It’s amazing to me, as the chairman said, if a parent just was recored abusing the child, the child would be taken away and the parents would go to jail. Then they’d have to prove their innocence. And yet here we have, just form the witnesses today, three deaths, and it looks to me that there’s no criminal action taken. Except for like a 5000 dollar penalty and maybe probation or something. What are the police doing about this?”
He pressed the GAO Investigator to provide answers, obviously unsatisfied with the facts being revealed to him:
“I’m sure that there are young people who have gone to these programs and benefited. I would imagine not that many people, but I think that is something we really need to look at. The concern I have is that there is apparently no law enforcement involvement in theses things. So you can have a bad actor, and no matter what field you’re in you can have a bad actor… my concern is if there is an incident where death and abuse occur, and there is some attention brought to them and there is some slight action brought to them as we’ve seen here, they might move to a new state and start all over again. While I’m generally opposed to government involvement, there are times where it has to happen. And if you have a case here where people can simply move to a different state to avoid prosecution, you need federal legislation.”
When testimony is so damning that it makes a Congressman immediately go back on what he said in under an hour, you know you’re onto something. The full video of the hearing (it’s somewhat dry procedural stuff, but the testimony from parents is both moving and tragic) can be found here.
I’m glad the issue is finally getting its proverbial day in court, not only that but that people are being moved by the tragic insanity of the situation. Hopefully, these investigations will lead to Congress finally passing laws to force these hell-holes to treat kids humanely, or at least hold themselve up to at least the minimum standards of treatment used by the United States Marine Corps that, while giving people the skills to fight wars, doesn’t seem fit to starve them to death or kill them through medical neglect.
First of all, let me say that it is ridiculous to have to defend a TV show that hasn’t even aired yet, but with the shrieking opposition to it (again from people who have never seen it) something needs to be said.
Kid Nation is a new show for CBS that is slated to begin airing on September 19. Yet a month before any episode has been seen, the show has attracted a fire storm of criticism. The premise of the show, as explained by Rob Capriccioso, is that
Forty children, aged between eight and 15, were to be chosen to run a New Mexico ghost town, learning through real-life experiences how to survive and make decisions with limited adult supervision. The young participants were to prepare their own food, design their own rules and create their own system of government.
Critics have sought out every possible angle from which to attack this show. Putting kids on TV like this is exploitation. Having cameras on them for 12 or 16 hours a day means they are working long hours and violating child labor laws. The show has exposed this children to neglect and abuse and there have been injuries on the set.
All of these are excuses and covers. The real issue here is that parents feel threatened over the very suggestion that young people can survive without them. No one has thus far discussed how successfully the kids were able to live in this town, I don’t think that really matters to anyone. The very fact that the question was asked is offensive to “Parent Nation”. Article I in Parent Nation’s constitution seems to be that young people will be controlled, sheltered, silenced, dictated to, and monitored in every conceivable way and at every possible opportunity. To suggest otherwise is high treason.
Newsweek says it best when it seeks out someone to blame for the obscenity that is Kid Nation:
“Kid Nation” is not the problem. The problem is parents. Not just the parents whose kids are on the show, but all parents who fuel an industry that has no respect for what it means to be a kid. The ones who will gather the family around the television to watch “Kid Nation” and reinforce the ridiculous notion that what is for adults—social responsibility, lawmaking, law enforcement, ribald jokes—should also be for kids.
Everyone who reinforces such a ridiculous notion that the artificial extension of childhood and the walled nursery youth are kept in until 18 are somehow wrong, or at best that there may be other options, is to blame. I am proud to be considered a part of such a problem. I hope I keep Joshua Alston up at night.
If the main issue here was exploitation or abuse or child labor then where was the outcry over Brat Camp? Brat Camp was another reality TV show that featured kids being filmed for long hours, so were they exploited or in violation of child labor laws? What about the abusive conditions and restraints the kids faced on that show? From the British version:
In last night’s episode a 15 year old English girl was shown being restrained by two adult staff members. This was done in both a sitting and in a face down, prone posture, whilst her wrists were held in a hyperflexed position, known colloquially as a “Gooseneck”, designed to promote compliance through the infliction of pain.
That is ok apparently since it was an injury inflicted by a “responsible adult” for “her own good”. As long as those two conditions are satisfied, Parent Nation is alright with it. The great tragedy with the “injury” on Kid Nation is that it wasn’t inflicted upon a young person by a responsible adult. Instead a girl was fixing dinner and a bit of grease splashed up from the pan and gave her minor burns. Predictably her mother is suing. There was also a report of a few individuals ingesting bleach, but it seems no one was hurt. If ingesting bleach was somehow an effective means to control kids, and it was administered for their own good by a responsible adult then I expect you wouldn’t see an outcry over that either.
Far worse injuries are seen in gym class or doing chores around the house but I don’t see any moral outrage about forcing kids to cut the lawn. Oh yea, a responsible adult forces them to cut the lawn, its ok.
The Newsweek article went so far as to compare this show to Lord of the Flies:
Obviously, somewhat by design, the premise of “Kid Nation” mirrors the book about kids forced to fashion a society on a deserted island. But Golding, the symbolist that he was, might look at the premiere of “Kid Nation” as the modern-day equivalent of the boulder that crushed poor Piggy: a hulking embodiment of how low popular culture can go, rolling toward unsuspecting children below.
Kinda a stark depiction of the show, ya think? Not to mention the fact that while crediting Golding with being a symbolist, Alston overlooks the fact that the book wasn’t an examination of the terrors that youth would devolve to if they weren’t under constant adult supervision and control, but the horrible nature that exists just below of the surface of all human beings regardless of age.
Of course Alston’s shallow interpretation of Lord of the Flies is all too common and I’ve heard it passed around often by youth rights opponents as an example of the danger posed by allowing youth to manage their own affairs. I guess the best way to see how many kids got crushed under boulders is to tune in and actually watch Kid Nation. I doubt it will be as scary as the critics think. But then again, could it really be any worse than the centuries of war, genocide, and oppression we’ve seen after letting adults manage their own affairs? Maybe a Kid Nation isn’t such a bad idea after all.
This is a message to desperate parents out there. Parents of young folks who’ve made some bad choices here and there. Parents with loved ones they fear are taking dangerous roads in life. Parents of the psychologically troubled who just don’t want to have to deal with it.
Don’t you love your children? Don’t you want them safe? Don’t you want them both physically and mentally healthy? I’m sure you do. In that case, quit making such rash choices.
I’m talking, of course, about the plethora of shortsighted caregivers who have sent their children to places like Academy of Ivy Ridge, Robert Land Academy, Eagle Point Christian Academy, Thayer Learning Center, Provo Canyon, Tranquility Bay, Casa by the Sea, and dozens of other such facilities whose existence makes me violently ill.
Think about something. How did you folks hear about these places? How much did you know about them before deciding to pay them thousands and thousands of dollars to permanently scar and abuse your children? That’s right. You heard me. Scar and abuse. That is what has happened in the past. That is what is happening now at these places. That is what will continue to happen until people learn to grow a brain. The places listed above have injured, raped, and killed their students. I’m not kidding. I concede you probably didn’t know these places have done that, but that is no excuse.
Think about it. When you decide to buy a car, do you just buy the first one you see from the first lot you visit? Don’t you go to some length to be sure the car and the dealer are somewhat reliable? I’m sure you do. Even if something turned out wrong, you can fix it somehow. But you still checked stuff out and that’s smart. Another question. When you visit a gynecologist, if you so much as heard an obscure rumor that this doctor has sexually abused patients before, wouldn’t you find another doctor? You would. I mean, the rumor could be wrong, but who wants to take the risk? If you heard a restaurant near you was serving spoiled food, you sure as hell wouldn’t eat there, right?
So, tell me. Why on earth would you send someone whom you apparently love more than anything in the world to some place you’ve barely heard of and know little to nothing about and have never even seen, and seriously expect everything will turn out fine? Even if you did at least do a thorough search about these places, did you seriously miss all the websites of organizations and memorials warning people that these places are dangerous and have killed their students? Did you really believe that was all a crock and the facility’s own website had to be true? When your child’s well-being and even life are on the line, you still even took that chance?
Seriously. Look these places up! Don’t just read their own sales pitch. You know better than that. Read everything and anything you can get your hands on about these places. Keep an eye on the sources of information as well. You’ll learn everything you need to know.
Yes, NYRA is very much against these places for obvious youth rights reasons, but even so, if you follow everything I just said, I don’t need to give the whole “you should never send your kid to places like this” spiel. You will have figured that out on your own. Well, I should think anyway.
If you’ve done all this and you STILL think these behavior mod facilities, particularly ones whose programs have had students die in them, are what your child needs, here’s a better idea. Don’t contact these schools or camps. Contact your local family services office and let them know you are not a proper caregiver for these young people and that they need to remove your children from your custody and into foster care. You know why? Because it would be win-win. You’re too dumb or too clouded with irrational urges to be a safe parent to these youth, so they’d be away from you. Also, if you’re so desperate to send them away to a behavior mod facility, it looks more and more like what you really want is to not be burdened with their problems (however understandably emotional), and you just want your kids out of sight so you don’t need to think about it. This accomplishes that, too. Why not? You’re giving up your child either way. If you want to stay this person’s parent, then BE a parent. Don’t bury your head in sand as soon as things look difficult. There is NO excuse for that. Ever.
Age of Reason is a group blog for the National Youth Rights Association, maintained by our members to help educate and inform the public about youth rights.
Children do not constitute anyone's property: they are neither the property of their parents nor even of society. They belong only to their own future freedom. - Mikhail Bakunin
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