An American GULAG : Secret P.O.W. Camps for Teens
Dear Alexia,I am a Registered Nurse in NJ who has a 14 year old son who is "difficult to handle."  "An American Gulag" is the most valuable info I've encountered in over 2 years of exploring alternatives for dealing with him.  I too have been pressured by family members to "send him away" at any cost to "prevent" legal problems with him in the future.Unfortunately, there's a lot of faulty logic operating in the people who promote, operate, and are consumers of these schools.Clearly, no reputable studies have measured the relationship between the schools' methodologies and their outcomes.  Further, if these schools were truly conducting "treatment," they would be willing to have their methods observed without the children being aware of it - e.g., by using two-way mirrors.If your efforts should lead to some type of organized support group for parents confronting issues with adolescent problems, I would be happy to assist you in any way possible.  I'll be following the Postings.  Again, many thanks.  --Registered Nurse in NJMy dear Angel.... Some higher power put me in touch with your story!Last year and early this year, my daughter and I were searching for a boarding school to put my granddaughter in for a year to catch up on all the school she has missed and get her away from the crowd she has been running with.At the moment, she has left her home and is seeing this boy who is from another planet! We are at our wits end with this child. But I have to tell you, she is a very sweet girl (when she chooses to be) but very manipulative.My granddaughter has ADD and has been on Ritalin for the last year. She does fine as long as she stays on it but the moment she decides that she doesnt want or need it... she gets crazy!! Her mother has done everything possible for this child. Counseling, sports, you name it, she has done it. But my granddaughter is at that awful and wonderful 16 yr. old stage. One moment you love her to death and the next, you want to just nail her.May the good Lord bless you and little Katie... I just hope she will be able to cope with life soon and that her mother finally sees the break of dawn. She must be suffering in her own private hell for unknowingly putting her daughter through this horrible nightmare. Dont look back. You have done a wonderful service to many, many people.... Walk in peace, dear one.  --Forever Grateful in CaliforniaThe GULAG schools that Alexia Parks discovered, and her story about her attempt to save a young child, confined like a prisoner-of-war, is shocking. It should shock the conscious of every parent when children, teenagers, are interned in private concentration camps, abused, tortured, and worse. Shocking is not enough. Insane, perverted, and crazy are more appropriate words that come to mind. Teens, children just learning how to spread their wings and fly, are entitled to the protection of their parents, their schools, their communities, and their country, our country, the United States of America.Please read this story and take it to heart. Freedom to be different, to try our wings, to rebel, to learn and grow in our own way, that is liberty. That is the symbol of our Statue of Liberty. That is our birthright and each of our own Declaration's of Independence. In this country, the United States of America, each of us has an inalienable right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. -  --Excerpt from forward by Steve Anderson, Executive Director, TeenLiberty Defense Fund.