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Originally Posted by Irishsean
A lot of the allegations made in this thread are complete horse-shit. Yes, bad stuff does happen, but not every program is a gulag that beats children, and not all the people that work there are evil.
I swear to god, if this turns into Irish is satan because he works in a program like the last thread of this type, I'm gonna be so pissed. I work in a program to help kids, and I do help them, there is no beating, no torture, no brainwashing, the only time hands are put on a kid is to stop them from hurting themselves or others, and then you have to fill out pages and pages of paperwork. I have to be licensed by the DHS to even work there. The kids that leave, for the most part, are better than when they come in. I won't say it works for every kid, but the majority leave better than they came.
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My brother and I have both worked with troubled kids for years. the program we worked for had both judicated and private placed kids. The kids first go to a group home, it is inspected on a regular basis by social services and kids parents. After they prove that they can be trusted to attend school without running they are placed in homes with proctor parents (much like foster care)
I have had 6 different kids live with my wife and I. My brother and his wife have had 13. I am still in contact with two of the kids that lived with me and my brother is in contact with 7. Unfortunatly some of the boys have reverted to their old ways, these are the ones that don't want to keep in touch. I place a great deal of blame on thier parents, who use their kids to ferry their drugs, or encourage them to join gangs or can't stay out of prison themselves for more than a few months at a time.
Yesterday I ran into one of the boys who went back to his old ways. I teach classes at the county prison, and he walked into my class. We were both surprised to see each other. As soon as I saw him I got a pit in my stomach. It really physicaly hurt to see him there, I felt like my own son had just been put in prison. I questioned myself, wondering where I had gone wrong with him. Working with him for as long as I did, I got to love him like he was my own son. Many of my associates are the same way, we're not all monsters like the group that the article talks about.
There are horrible programs out their, I fight to get the ones I know about shut down by working with case workers and letting them know about the abuses. Most case workers I know, pull kids out of a program at the very first sign of trouble. Public awareness when stories like this come out helps to. When these monsters can't get any money they will shut down.
The second way to shut these places down is to get parents to do more than throw money at their kids problems. Realize that when you become a parent your might need to be less selfish with your time. Turn of the TV and talk to your kids, be involved with their schooling etc.