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Parents call for greater oversight
of boot camps: Congress is told poor training is a factor in deaths
Bob Bacon displayed photos of
his son Aaron yesterday while testifying before
the House Education and Labor Committee. Aaron died while enrolled
in a
wilderness program in Utah. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images)
News about Aaron's death
October 11, 2007
By Nancy Zuckerbrod
WASHINGTON - A federal investigator
and parents whose children died at youth boot camps urged other
families yesterday to avoid enrolling teens in such programs until
there is more oversight of them.
"Buyer beware," said Greg Kutz, who
led a congressional investigation into the camps. "You really don't
know what you're getting."
The Government Accountability
Office, the investigative arm of Congress, found thousands of
allegations of abuse, some of which involved death, at boot camps,
also referred to as residential treatment programs, since the early
1990s.
Kutz said the GAO closely examined
10 closed cases where a teenager died while enrolled in one of the
programs.
"Ineffective program management
played a key role in most of these deaths," Kutz testified before
the House Education and Labor Committee.
He said the staff at the facilities
was often poorly trained, and children weren't properly fed and were
exposed to dangerous conditions. He said teenagers' cries for
medical assistance or help were ignored.
Kutz said in only 1 of the 10 cases
studied closely was anyone found criminally liable and sentenced to
serve prison time.
Residential treatment programs are
slickly marketed to parents who are at a loss as to how to help an
emotionally troubled teen, Kutz said.
Bob Bacon of Phoenix, whose son
Aaron died while enrolled in a wilderness program in Utah, said he
was fooled by the owners of that facility into believing his son
would be well cared for.
"We were conned by their fraudulent
claims and will go to our graves regretting our gullibility," he
said.
Bacon said his son was forced to
hike 8 to 10 miles a day with inadequate nutrition and was not given
protective gear to withstand freezing temperatures. When Aaron
complained of severe stomach pains and asked for a doctor, his pleas
were ignored even though he had dramatically lost weight and
suffered from other serious symptoms, his father testified. Aaron
died of an acute infection related to a perforated ulcer.
Congressional lawmakers said
yesterday that federal legislation may now be necessary to better
ensure the safety of children enrolled in such programs.
Jan Moss, executive director of the
National Association of Therapeutic Schools and Programs, a trade
group, said many children have been helped by residential treatment
programs.
She said the industry was taking
steps to improve, but "clearly we still have a very long way to go."
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