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Statement by WWASP President, Ken Kay
Ken Kay
WWASP President
"We could be leading these kids to long-term
problems that we don't have a clue about because we're
not going about
it in the proper way," he said. "How in the hell can you call yourself a
behavior-modification program — and that's
one of the ways it's marketed — when nobody has the
experience to determine: Is this good, is this bad?"
___________________
The following were taken from
Desperate Measures
Teen Help's
corporate structure changed in 1997 when the organization formed a
series of limited liability companies and limited partnerships. Kay
earlier this year said that Lichfield remains the controlling power. But Lichfield said, "I no longer own, control or direct any of the
programs."
* * *
But Kay, who ran
Brightway and is now president of the World Wide Association of
Specialty Programs, a Teen Help umbrella organization, earlier this
year acknowledged the controversy about the qualifications of Teen
Help's staff.
"They are not
clinicians," he said. "So their job is very important to them
because the option a lot of times is a minimum-wage job someplace.
And so it's very hard to get them to talk or to talk bad about the
program or tell the truth about the program, actually."
Kay said there
isn't enough clinical staff to ensure that the program is "headed in
the right direction."
Despite the harsh
criticism, Kay rejoined Teen Help in March -- this time as a vice
president. He said he would work to change the organization from the
inside. "I don't remember having a lot of doubts about the program,"
he said last month. "I've always thought that the program served a
great purpose."
Kay became
president of the World Wide Association of Specialty Programs June
1.
* * *
Lichfield controls
the flow of money to the various compounds, according to Kay.
* * *
According to an
internal Teen Help document, one-way transportation of a youth to
Paradise Cove in Samoa -- from "escort service" to airline tickets
-- costs $2,999. Paradise Cove then charges each teen $80 a day --
or $29,200 a year. Teen Help's expenses per teen, as authorized by
Lichfield, are $20 a day -- or $7,300 a year, Kay said earlier this
year. He said Teen Help's overhead in the United States is financed
by the up-front fees, leaving the company's return per teen in Samoa
at $21,900 a year -- almost 200 percent.
______________________
The following was taken from Fox News
article "Tough
Love Schools are Both Loved, Hated"
At about $50,000, they're not
cheap — although Ken Kay, director of Utah-based Worldwide
Association of Specialty Programs and Schools (search), or WWASPS,
which maintains six tough-love facilities including Cross Creek,
says the cost is well worth it.
It's "barely the cost of a G35
Infinity — the cost of a new car," Kay says.
* * *
Terry Cameron said her son,
Layne, was abused at Tranquility Bay, a WWASPS center in Jamaica.
Layne says he was duct-taped and
forced to sleep with his hands behind his back and says he was
abused for minor infractions; pepper spray was often used on him.
”They had both of my ankles and
... they dragged me across the floor and it split my chin and
knocked my tooth," Layne said.
The Camerons are among dozens of
families planning a direct action lawsuit against WWASPS that
includes allegations of fraud, assault and battery and false
imprisonment. Kay said to be wary of abuse allegations, since they
often come from troubled teens with a history of lying.
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