Children Abused in Unregulated 'Boot Camps,' Critic Charges
Congress sets hearing on 'tough love' camps
April 22, 2008
“Your dog has more protection than your children,” says Maia Szalavitz, a journalist who has investigated so-called "tough love" camps and residential programs supposedly aimed at helping troubled teens.
Congress will hold a second round of hearings Thursday on problems highlighted by Szalavitz and others. Rep. George Miller (D-CA), chair of the House Education and Labor Committee, is chairing the probe of widespread abuse in the programs.
There have been at least 10 deaths of children held in teen “wilderness programs,” “boot camps,” “emotional growth boarding schools,” and other residential facilities. The first round of hearings last October prompted bipartisan outrage at industry abuses that committee members compared to “human right abuses in third world countries.”
Read more from the article here.
A lot of this stuff hadn't come out when I wrote Shock Point. If you think the American schools can be bad - imagine the ones for American kids actually based in third world countries.