Runnymede?

[Mercer]

2 hours ago, Imagine20 said:

For some reason this school reminds me of this story:

http://www.opb.org/news/series/burns-oregon-standoff-bundy-militia-news-updates/militant-says-foster-children-were-pulled-from-his-home-lavoy-finicum-burns-oregon/

I am baffled.

...They really thought they were going to get to continue to be foster parents to children who are wards of the state while he's involved in a prolonged armed standoff with the government? 

Of course the children were pulled. What exactly did he think was going to happen? 

[ViolaSebastian]

Quote

That was my main source of income,” Finicum said. “My ranch, well, the cows just cover the costs of the ranch. If this means rice and beans for the next few years, so be it. We’re going to stay the course.”

He straight up says he's using those kids as a meal ticket.  Ice cold.

Quote

“I hope people are seeing the sacrifices we’re making here,” Finicum said. “I want to show what my government is doing. You need to understand the cost being paid by many people.”        

The only people I see making sacrifices are those foster kids.  And they sure as hell didn't ask to be brought into any of this nonsense.  

[SledCat]

18 hours ago, ladyamylynn said:

Honestly this place looks like a real shit show. I get the creepiest vibe off every single staff member. Has anybody else here read Jesus Land by Julia Scheeres? That's the impression I'm getting. 

Yes. My mind went to the documentary Kidnapped for Christ, which is based on this school.

[ck29_2000]

20 minutes ago, ViolaSebastian said:

He straight up says he's using those kids as a meal ticket.  Ice cold.

Yeah that was the only thing I could think of reading the article.  Oh poor us it'll be rice and beans because we can't foster.  I just have no words, foster because of the kids not the $$ attached to them.

[martian]

37 minutes ago, Mercer said:

I am baffled.

...They really thought they were going to get to continue to be foster parents to children who are wards of the state while he's involved in a prolonged armed standoff with the government? 

Of course the children were pulled. What exactly did he think was going to happen? 

Well, in Finicum's defense, (Hey, didn't there used to be a vomiting emoticon? Anyway...) it's not like Y'all Qaeda has been suffering much in the way of consequences, have they?  Can't hardly blame the patriot for feelin' a bit singled out.

[FormerlyFundyLite]

I wanted to quote @Mercer about the limited family contact point, but my phone can't handle trimming quotes. Regardless, my sister was sent to a residential rehab "school" like this at 17, but more along the lines of IHOP than fundy/quiverful. It pretty much destroyed our family because my parents and sister were being brainwashed with all kinds of teachings that my parents would come home and try to enforce on their adult (30 & 28) and almost-adult (17 & 16) children. Suddenly, PG movies and any secular music were off limits and my parents were trying to have family devotions, which we had never done before. I was expected to participate, even though I no longer lived at home. We were encouraged to write to my sister, but my first letter got sent back, because I (30) wrote to my sister (almost 18) that I had gone to see a movie that happened to be PG-13, was reading a Stephen King book (that I advised her not to read) and had been kissed by our pastor's very much available adult son. The staff, it turned out, read and censored all incoming mail, even though it was addressed directly to my sister and not "in care of" the facility. Not only could we not write about anything against the rules for her, but when she came home for visits, we weren't allowed to speak of the past (good or bad) or any stresses or struggles that we were dealing with. This place partnered with an accredited Christian school to provide education, and my sister completed all her coursework. However, two weeks before formally completing the rehab program, the staff told her she had somehow regressed and was showing a bad attitude, so she needed to stay an extra month to officially finish. My sister chose not to go back, and as a result, the facility held her diploma hostage. She wound up having to get her GED instead, even though she met all the requirements for graduation. It's been two years, and my family still hasn't recovered from the damage this place did to all of us.

[Rubaiyat]

1 hour ago, FormerlyFundyLite said:

 It's been two years, and my family still hasn't recovered from the damage this place did to all of us.

I wish I could do more than say how deeply sorry I am that this happened to your family.  I have a close friend with a sort-of-similar story about how their church, and christian "counselors" helped their family into near ruin.  It's been 15 years and the parents still have a very dysfunctional relationship with their younger daughter...who is probably irreparably damaged.  

Shit like this shouldn't be just illegal, it should be violently, horribly, inescapably illegal!  

[FormerlyFundyLite]

6 minutes ago, Rubaiyat said:

Shit like this shouldn't be just illegal, it should be violently, horribly, inescapably illegal!  

My sincere sympathy to your friends' family. Ours will probably never be what we used to be. It helps to be believed and understood, though

Some of this stuff IS illegal--tampering with/opening mail not addressed to you (or in your care) is a felony. Pretty sure there are legal issues with withholding an earned high school diploma too.

[Grimalkin]

11 hours ago, Mercer said:

In my experience, kids will tend to get into more trouble if they're bored, so keeping them busy will generally result in more positive behavior than just leaving them at loose ends. (Though they should be kept busy with activities related to their interests as well as age-appropriate chores and/or a job, not used as constant unpaid labor.) Kids who have been lacking in positive adult attention will generally benefit from having a stable role model, even if that role model isn't providing anything specifically geared toward mental health. 

That said, I don't personally believe that a child with serious mental health problems will show true long-term improvement without intervention from a mental health professional using evidence-based practices. Negative behavior may diminish for a time, but if the underlying issues aren't addressed, the problems will tend to cycle back around or manifest in different but still damaging ways.

I would never, ever, ever recommend sending a child to one of these programs with no mental health accreditation, untrained staff, and little accountability to the state. Even if the people are well intentioned, to me it is not worth the risk. These programs can do way more harm than good if the staff don't know what they're doing.

I can't imagine in this day and age sending a troubled kid there. A friend had to send her son to a LTC facility. He is bipolar and she was terrified to leave him home alone or with his sister. But this place has staff with real degrees in silly things like Psycology. Weird.

       I am very sorry for your cousin and family. I hope it gets sorted out, for the best for everybody.

[Howl]

This "school" sounds exactly like the Scientology rehab model, except it's Jesus instead of L. Ron.  

I can't imagine any struggling child/teenager receiving benefit from this experience. If there are links to Doug Wilson/Christ Church, you can be certain that intense physical "discipline" (otherwise known as child beating) will figure prominently in the lived experience of the unfortunate kids sent to this hell hole. 

[Mercer]

9 hours ago, Grimalkin said:

I can't imagine in this day and age sending a troubled kid there. A friend had to send her son to a LTC facility. He is bipolar and she was terrified to leave him home alone or with his sister. But this place has staff with real degrees in silly things like Psycology. Weird.

Exactly. I'm not at all against residential care. I work in residential care.  It's just not something to screw around with. It takes a lot of knowledge, safety planning, and networking between professionals to run a positive program. From the way the Runnymede people present themselves, it seems like the just don't have a clue... and kids deserve better than that.

I'm very sorry to all those who were harmed, or whose families were harmed, by programs claiming to help that did more harm than good.

[moodygirl86]

That's not a school, that's a prison for children. Don't do it CousinTurnip!

[PsyD2013]

OMG.  Weaning off certain psych meds has got to be done under a physician's direction.  Even then there are horrible side effects, like Effexor.  Work and prayer, sounds like such an effective treatment for mental health conditions.

[Jingerbread]

6 hours ago, PsyD2013 said:

Work and prayer, sounds like such an effective treatment for mental health conditions.

The only way it'll work is if someone's so miserable that they learn to pretend away what's happening in their minds and bodies just to get out of the hellhole facility until such a day comes that they stage an "accident" so that they won't disappoint their families with blatant suicide.

[nelliebelle1197]

I hate that this country values "religious freedom over the wellbeing of children.

[Tim-Tom Biblethumper]

On 1/23/2016 at 0:47 PM, Black Aliss said:

For an idea of just how wrong something like this can go, http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/01/21/463846093/in-final-report-experts-identify-remains-at-notorious-reform-school

Dozier was run by the state of FL, and all placements were done by the state.

[Imagine20]

Their medical staff consist of an optometrist and a physician's assistant. Neither seem to have any specialized knowledge of psychiatric disorders.  You can't cure things lines Bipolar with exercise and farm work. 

[Iokaste]

This reeks of the same purity-patriarchal brand that the Purity Ball Wilsons subscribe to: pompous, self-rigtheous, discriminating and self-aggrandzing.

Seriuosly a crest? With swords? Yeah, if your school actually goes back to a time when such thing were used.
And don't even get me started on gender segregated education in general...

[ArmchairTurnip]

Quote

Their medical staff consist of an optometrist and a physician's assistant. Neither seem to have any specialized knowledge of psychiatric disorders.  You can't cure things lines Bipolar with exercise and farm work

My admittedly cynical thought when I saw those credentials on their "advisory board members" is that they've taken steps to keep emergency medical treatment in-house; even if a kid gets hurt, they won't see anyone who could be a mandated reporter, but rather just get patched up via house call. 

Quote

Limiting family contact is considered a rights violation in my state. The child must be free to call their parents as often as they want/need to. It may not be a violation in Missouri, I have no idea of their regs, but basically: it's a problem. Once a week phone conversations and having to earn visits does not seem to me to be adequate to reinforce the family bond and to work on the transition home

It's worse than you think; now that my cousin has filled out the paperwork, they've discovered that there is to be no parental contact beyond letters for the first 90 days.  And yes, the letters are screened for content that would be "discouraging" to the child.  Also, they have to sign a contract promising not to tell their kid how long he'll have to be there.

 

[Dandruff]

Their website says "there will be difficult, physical labor on the farm in the form of chores and work projects each day" and "comfort limits and fear boundaries will be regularly tested to widen their horizons and to help them develop a healthy level of self-assurance" (Our Program).  It also says that they accept students with autism and autism-related behaviors (Admissions, Step 1).

[Black Aliss]

13 minutes ago, Dandruff said:

. . .comfort limits and fear boundaries will be regularly tested to widen their horizons and to help them develop a healthy level of self-assurance. . .

Does anyone else read this as emotional abuse if not outright psychological torture?

[hoipolloi]

5 hours ago, ArmchairTurnip said:

It's worse than you think; now that my cousin has filled out the paperwork, they've discovered that there is to be no parental contact beyond letters for the first 90 days.  And yes, the letters are screened for content that would be "discouraging" to the child.  Also, they have to sign a contract promising not to tell their kid how long he'll have to be there.

And your cousin still thinks this place is OK for his/her child? 

Please understand -- I'm NOT blaming you here or even your cousin since desperation makes people do awful things, but OMG, this is scary.

[sawasdee]

Sometimes, the balance between the rights of the adult and the rights of the child seems really out of kilter. The right of the child to a proper and non abusive education is weaker than the right  of the parent to deprive the child of meaningful education, and to subject the child to schools such as this seems to be. And not one national politician appears to have the slightest interest in correcting this imbalance, to even the slightest degree.

[clueliss]

This thread brought back memories of a friend who scraped money together to send her son here:  http://teenchallengeranch.com/  Located in Arkansas.  Son was in trouble, doing drugs I think.  (This happened after I moved almost 6 years ago - friend is Evangelical).  She complained that the school district and police wouldn't help.  That's about all I know.  

Anyway I'm tossing this here so that ya'll can have at it with this program.  The whole thing seemed rather creepy to me even then (and more so now).  

[Dandruff]

I noticed that Runnymede offers their graduates the option of becoming Junior Mentors, then Mentors.  I can't help but wonder how many stay because their parents don't want them back home.