Archive | August 2022
28/08/2022  

907. Morris Small Family Home

The authorities – Riverside County District Attorney’s Office -filed a number of charges against the couple who ran the Morris Small Family Home. Among those charges were 14-count involving neglect result in the death of 17-year-old Diane Ramirez as well as very indecent behavior against some of the children.

Also relatives to the children placed in the home claim that the children when they reached adulthood was tricked into legally binding relationships. The worst part of this story is that parts of the social services seem to have been tipped off before the tragic death but did not react in time.

If the accusations are true it is safe to say that it could not have been fun to be there as a teenager.

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21/08/2022  

906. Piney Ridge Treatment Center

The Piney Ridge Treatment Center located in Fayetteville is controlled by the Acadia Healthcare inc. In 2019 reports of neglect, sex and dirt was reported in the media.

Disability Rights Arkansas claimed that the facility did not take the medical issues of the children placed at the facility enough into consideration and also supervised them too little so some of the children were hurt.

The report together with reports from other facilities controlled by the Acadia Healthcare Inc. paint a picture of a system where the consideration for profit endanger the welfare of the children.

It cannot be fun to be there as a child.

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14/08/2022  

905. Dock Mennonite Academy

Dock Mennonite Academy is a private school located in Pennsylvania. Earliest records of the schools date back to 1952 and it opened in 1953. It is affiliated with the Mennonite movement. Some years back they hired a teacher who had worked at the infamous CEDU chain of school mentioned on this block. They closed in 2005 after the lawsuits piled up.

At Dock Mennonite Academy the teacher was allowed to include some elements of the curriculum at CEDU. Especially a part called “smushing” where students and teacher lie close together so they can feel each others bodies.

Some years later the teacher – now a assistant principal made the choice to resign and later charges of misconduct was brought up.

Students who were forced through this process which took place after the marathon sessions involving attack therapy felt violated at CEDU. Some felt that the feeling of their bodies focused on private parts. Now students at the Dock Mennonite Academy who were subjected to the smushing part also felt violated.

Some might wonder why the management allowed these methods to be allowed and are the use limited to this one person? Did they not know about the lawsuits against CEDU? They were very public. As result the Dock Mennonite Academy became a not so fun a place to be as a teenager regardless of the outcome of the trial.

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07/08/2022  

904. ViewPoint Center

The ViewPoint Center is located in Syracuse, Utah. On the address a facility mentioned in this block named Island View RTC was located. Bad feedback from patients and parents made the operation of this facility difficult so it shut down and this new facility was started employing many of the employees who worked at the previous facility.

Was it all an effort to escape the poor reviews on the Internet and the newspaper articles about the suicide of one of the teenagers? Many believe so.

The treatment approach seem to have been changed very little.

Also the poor reviews and bad feedback continues to this day. One of these sounded:

I flew my daughter from the East Coast to participate in ViewPoint’s program with a belief they would compassionately and expertly assess her mental health in order to make recommendations for optimal future care. I do not recommend their program.

I withdrew her from ViewPoint during the third week, though wish she had never been admitted.

We hired a consultant in an effort to match her to a residential program, one that would address depression, anxiety and suicidal ideation in a gentle and structured manner. Having a short deadline as she was coming from an emergency department, we had little time to locate a solid program who had space and was not constricted by covid regulations.

Pre-admission, I was advised by our consultant that ViewPoint typically did not have “behavior kids” and that most patients were depressed, anxious with suicidal ideation. His perception fell far from reality, as confirmed by physical fights that erupted among patients as well as counselors confirming to me that they often DO have “behavior kids” and that the consultant was misinformed.

My daughter has panic attacks, feeling unable to breathe, terrified. She felt trapped at ViewPoint and began hitting her forehead on the walls when the emotions consumed her, choosing this release over panic attacks – which were more frightening to her. She chose pain and anger over fearfulness and temporary suffocation of a panic attack. Several of these episodes occurred and no one advised me. I was also not advised that she was physically carried into a concrete isolation room and left for hours so that she could “cool off”.

During the three weeks of admission, she was never once allowed outside. At ViewPoint, it is a “privilege” the kids must earn. Under whose directorship are children deprived of sunshine and outside air? Even inmates are allowed the basic right of being human.

It is not an exaggeration that children for whom safety is a concern are put on a cot in the hallway, saturated in typical fluorescent lights of a hallway, to sleep because “they do not have the staff to otherwise watch them.” Again, this treatment was imposed on my daughter without informing me of their actions.

The longer she was there, the more worried she became that her attacks of being overwhelmed would create a negative stigma of her being a “bad kid” and her question was, “Then, how will they treat me?”.

My daughter continues her journey with medication, DBT therapy, psychiatric care, social support and academic structure from the safety of home. In addition to the challenges of depression and anxiety, her therapy now also includes a focus on PTSD of her residential psychiatric experience. She has nightmares and flashbacks.

ViewPoint likely falls within their legal rights of behaving in this manner. Or do they? Where is the line? Their actions would rightly precipitate removal of children from their program if their actions were shared with parents. I can tell you that I received only a trickle of information during the supervised 15 minute video call that I had with her once a week.

ViewPoint crossed the line of primum non nocere. First do no harm.

It does sound like a review which could have been written when the facility was named Island View. It does not sound like a fun place to be as a teenager.

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