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A Troubling Solution for Teens in Trouble

By Peter Carlson
Washington Post
 

Psssst! Hey, buddy, wanna get rid of your kid?

Go ahead, admit it: The kid's a big disappointment. He was so cute when he was born but now that he's a teenager, he's a snotty little creep. His grades stink, his room is a toxic waste dump, his hair is purple, his friends are losers and he sneaks out at night and comes home high. So, why not get rid of him?

You can make the kid disappear. It's easy. The whole process is explained in an excellent article in the July-August issue of Legal Affairs, America's most interesting legal magazine for people who aren't lawyers.

The article focuses on an ex-cop named Rick Strawn, who will come and take your kid -- in handcuffs if necessary -- to a place that will whip him into shape. Nadya Labi, a senior editor at Legal Affairs, followed Strawn as he snatched Louis, a 16-year-old, out of his bed in Tampa and took him to Casa by the Sea, a school in Mexico that specializes in American teens who are, Labi writes, "talking back, getting poor grades, staying out late, drinking, having sex too soon, or taking drugs."

Louis's parents hired Strawn -- for $1,800 -- because their son's grades had plummeted, he kept sneaking out after his 9 p.m. curfew, and they suspected he was smoking pot.

When Strawn arrived, at about 2 in the morning, Louis was fast asleep, clueless about his parents' plans. His father popped open Louis's locked bedroom door with a dinner knife and Strawn stepped into the room, where the boy's teddy bear sat in an armchair. Louis woke up, his face swabbed with acne cream, and he fumbled for his glasses, utterly baffled.

His parents kissed Louis goodbye and left. Then Strawn and an assistant handcuffed the boy, flew with him to San Diego, then drove him to Mexico.

After he dropped Louis off at Casa by the Sea, Strawn ignited his traditional victory cigar and blew out a celebratory smoke ring. Another job well done.

Or maybe not. Labi, a dogged investigative reporter, reveals some disturbing facts about the foreign "schools" that cater to troubled American kids, and about the unregulated "teen transporter industry" that includes Strawn's company and about 20 others around the country.

For instance, Casa by the Sea, which costs $30,000 a year, offers, Labi writes, "no traditional academic instruction." Instead, the students watch self-help tapes and attend behavior modification seminars. Kids who break the rules are punished with solitary confinement. "I had to sit with crossed legs in a closet for three days," one Casa alumna told Labi.

Labi also uncovered that, in 1997, Strawn pleaded guilty to reckless conduct and DUI after an incident in which he was accused of kicking his stepdaughter, choking his wife and firing his gun in a drunken rage. A judge sent Strawn to an alcohol treatment program for six months, and he was permitted to retire from the Atlanta police force the day before he would have been fired.

Strawn is sober now, a religious man who never takes off his "What Would Jesus Do?" bracelet and likes to pray with the kids he transports. Still, there are problems sometimes. Three years ago he took a 17-year-old Alabama girl to a school in Jamaica that is run by the company that owns Casa by the Sea. The next day, the girl ran out of a classroom and committed suicide by leaping off a cliff.

Wanna get rid of your kid? Believe me, I understand the feeling. But don't do it before you read this very disturbing story.