Dear Colleague,
Over the last fifteen years, privately run,
for-profit programs aimed at youth with mental health
needs—advertised as "therapeutic boarding schools"—have
proliferated. Some programs market aggressively over
the Internet, taking advantage of vulnerable families
who seek help for their troubled children. Behavioral
healthcare licensing requirements for these programs are
minimal to nonexistent in most states.
There is significant evidence, detailed in
newspaper accounts across the country, that substandard
care, rights violations, and abuses occur within many of
these programs. These reports illustrate that:
§
Excessive use of seclusion and restraint has resulted in
serious physical injuries in these facilities.
§
Medical neglect and physical and sexual abuse are all
too common occurrences within these program.
§
Children are often prohibited from speaking with their
own families for up to six months.
§
Unqualified staff is charged with implementing treatment
plans for children with extremely complicated needs.
A multi-disciplinary taskforce—coordinated by
the Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute,
University of South Florida, in Tampa, and the Bazelon
Center for Mental Health Law, in Washington, DC—has met
for the past several months to study this problem. This
taskforce is convinced that unlicensed and unregulated
facilities pose a serious risk to children.
We write to ask you—as mental health
professionals—to SIGN ON to the
attached open letter
that aims to spur Members of Congress to pass
legislation to protect children and to provide safer and
more effective alternative treatment to youth. Please
do so by Friday, July 1st.
To sign on, email or call Allison Pinto, Ph.D.,
of the Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health
Institute, University of South Florida, APinto@fmhi.usf.edu,
813-974-9179 by 5:00 pm on Friday, July 15th. After
signatures are collected, we will hold a press
conference at the U.S. Capitol. More details about the
press conference will follow.
We hope that you will lend your voice to protect
the thousands of children receiving treatment in these
unlicensed and unregulated residential programs. With
your help, we can push U.S. Congress to enact
legislation to regulate this industry, protect children,
and make more effective services available. Please
forward freely to other mental health professionals.
Sincerely,
Lenore Behar, Ph.D.
Director
Child & Family Program Strategies
Durham, NC
Robert Friedman, Ph.D.
Professor / Chair
Department of Child and Family Studies
Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute
University of South Florida
Barbara Huff
Former Executive Director
Federation of Families for Children’s Mental Health
Charley Huffine, M.D.
Child Psychiatrist
Former President American Association of Community
Psychiatrists
Christina Kloker Young
Consultant & Advocate
C. K. Young & Associates
Wanda Mohr, Ph.D., A.P.R.N., F.A.A.N.
Associate Professor of Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing
School of Nursing
University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey
Allison Pinto, Ph.D.
Research Assistant Professor
Department of Child and Family Studies
Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute
University of South Florida
Tammy Seltzer
Senior Staff Attorney
Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law
Christine Vaughn
Skadden Fellow/Staff Attorney
Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law