COALITION AGAINST INSTITUTIONALIZED CHILD ABUSE
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Welcome to CAICA! 
CAICA is an informational and educational website that provides news articles, reports, etc.,
  regarding children and teens abused, neglected, and who have died in residential treatment settings

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CAICA PAGES

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     state? Click here
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LINK TO CAICA


 


WWASPS LAWSUIT

Motion to Amend - 133 plaintiffs

WWASPS NEWS

Message from CAICA UPDATE

Isabelle Zehnder


List of children who have died
"In the name of treatment"

DEATHS IN TREATMENT CENTERS:


Caleb Jensen


Wilderness program death
Alleged medical neglect

(
click here)
 


Brendan Blum

Brendan's Main Page
 



Jonathan Carey

Jonathan's Main page
 



Joey Aletriz

  
Justice for Joey

 



Angie Arndt

"Bubbles in my Milk"
 



Martin Lee Anderson

Beaten to death
Caught on video
(click here)
 



Isaiah Simmons


Restraint death
(click here)
 



Travis Parker


Appalachian Wilderness Camp
(click here)


In Memory of the Children


(Light a candle)

Lifetime memorial website
Prepared & sponsored by CAICA
 


Unregulated
Private pay / Parent choice
Programs for Children & Teens:

Residential Treatment Facilities
Therapeutic Boarding Schools
Wilderness Programs
Behavior Modification Programs
Christian Programs
Boot Camps
Positive Peer Culture Programs
Outdoor Therapeutic Environment

It is sad to think that in 2009
there exists in America an
industry where children are
locked up for years at a time
at the sole discretion of their
parents. These children and
teens are not given due process
nor is there any governing
agency monitoring who goes
into these programs, and most
importantly, who comes out.
There is no governing agency
that monitors the activity in
these programs, no governing
agency determining if these
programs are causing more
harm than good.


Founder & President
Isabelle Zehnder

Tags:
troubled teens
teen abuse
help for teens
GAO
help your teen
struggling teens
struggling teen
teen dating
ADD
ADHD
restraints
child abuse
parents
child abuse
deaths
restraints
residential treatment programs
therapeutic boarding schools
boot camps
human rights
Congressman George Miller
stop child abuse in residential treatment programs act of 2008


 PARENTS  І  STAFF І CAICA REPORTS І 
ALERTS І ALTERNATIVES   CAICA BLOGS  І  CAICA'S PURPOSE
                                                                                                                        
      (Stay informed - click here for news)        GAO - UPDATES      WWASPS


    HEADLINE NEWS: SPECIAL ON SECLUSIONS & RESTRAINTS

  

   May 19, 2009 - GAO - UPDATES  - Video  YouTube

   GAO Testimony: Seclusions and Restraints
   Selected cases of abuse and deaths in public and private schools

   Report: Discipline methods endanger disabled kids

   Palm Beach County mother cheers GAO report on dangers of child restraint in schools

   Report warns of student injuries, even deaths, at the hands of teachers

   Examining the Abusive and Deadly Use of Seclusion and Restraint in Schools

   Federal report paints grim picture of restraint techniques in schools

   GAO details abuse cases in schools

   CEDRIC NAPOLEON

   Full Committee Hearing
   10:00 AM, May 19, 2009
   2175 Rayburn H.O.B.
   Washington, DC

   Link to live webcast (10 a.m. EDT)

     NPR Audio

Seven-year-old Angellika Arndt died in 2006
when she suffocated while being restrained by
two adult staff at the Rice Lake Day Treatment
Center in Wisconsin.
Courtesy of the Coalition
Against Institutionalized Child Abuse
- article

   COPAA Report - Unsafe in the Schoolhouse

   Link to live webcast (10 a.m. EDT):
   http://edwork.edgeboss.net/wmedia-live/edwork/16137/300_edwork-2175stream_070124.asx

   Link to the hearing page that will provide written testimony as it is given:
   http://edlabor.house.gov/hearings/2009/05/examining-the-abusive-and-dead.shtml
  


            Keeping Kids Safe The Stop Child Abuse in Residential Programs for Teens Act of 2009

            National Disability Rights Network - "School is not Supposed to Hurt"
           
Report on Restraint and Seclusion in Schools - Press Release

            Click Here to learn what the GAO has uncovered


    ANGELIKA ARNDT UPDATE: Lawsuit filed in this case (more info, click here)

    School firm hired to run Philly schools has ties to centers where 5 kids have died
 


   Residential youth treatment programs:  Information for parents and researchers:                                  

 BAZELON: Fact Sheet opposing therapeutic boarding schools - click here
 
BAZELON: Inappropriateness of treatment - click here
 
GAO: Concerns about abuse and deaths in programs for troubled youth - click here 
 
GAO: Highlights of report re abuse and deaths in programs - click here
 
NY TIMES: Report recounts horrors of youth boot camps - click here
 
DISABILITY RIGHTS: School is not supposed to hurt - click here
 
NAT'L MENTAL HEALTH ASSOC: Are boot camps effective? - click here
 
FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION: Considering residential treatment? - click here

 NAMI: Resource for families considering residential treatment - click here
 APA PsychNet: Residential treatment - 50 yrs later, national crisis - click here

 
GAO: What the government has uncovered - click here
                          
 PROPOSED BILL: H.R. 6358 (formerly H.R. 5876)
                                   CAICA REPORT: Abuse and deaths in Florida Juvenile Justice - click here


PURPOSE OF CAICA WEBSITE:

  Parents considering placing their child or teen into any residential treatment
  program or facility away from home are urged to read CAICA's
Message to Parents.

  The CAICA website is dedicated to promoting awareness of injuries and deaths
  to children and youth in treatment programs, schools, the juvenile justice system,
  and other settings, and to increase our resolve to reform programs and promote
  safety for all children and youth. We welcome families, researchers, academics,
  media, attorneys, and advocates to use the information on this website.

  We hope that the information on this website will provide incentive to parents
  nationwide to carefully scrutinize programs offered to their children, to demand
  better accountability, and to work for systems reform so that we understand
  what is happening, why it is happening, and how we achieve positive change.

  The actual number of incidents of injuries and deaths due to restraints, seclusion,
  aversives, and coercive interventions to children and youth in treatment programs,
  schools, the juvenile justice system, and other settings, remains unknown. It is
  suspected that those reported to the media are only the tip of the iceberg and
  that the tip of the iceberg itself is not routinely archived.

  The Government Accounting Office (GAO) 1999 Report on Improper Restraint or
  Seclusion Use Places People at Risk
called for the creation of a national database
  for better data collection on the use of restraint and seclusion. To date one has
  not yet been created.

  The GAO’s Results in Brief stated: “Improper restraint and seclusion can be
  dangerous to both people receiving treatment and staff, but the full extent of
  related injuries and deaths is unknown. There is no comprehensive reporting
  system to track such injuries and deaths or the rates of restraint and seclusion
  use by facility. Because reporting is so fragmentary, we believe many more
  deaths related to restraint or seclusion may occur. Data on use of restraint and
  seclusion are also fragmentary because most facilities are not required to report
  these data to oversight agencies.”

  CAICA is responding to the GAO’s calls. Until we improve data collection and
  achieve a national database, this website is dedicated to beginning that process
  by archiving as much information as we can collect from a variety of sources.

  CAICA thanks its many volunteers for their hard work and dedication to helping
  to achieve our goals, and for its many supporters.


             RESTRAINTS & SECLUSION IN SCHOOLS - Click here


       Parents speak out about time-out rooms in public schools:

  Video  Mom and Dad tell the heart-wrenching story of how their son died in time-out room
        They thought "time out" was 5, 10, maybe 15 minutes - records revealed he was
        kept inside a cell-like seclusion room for hours at a time

       

       Read article: Children forced into cell-like school seclusion rooms

       "Seclusion rooms, sometimes called time-out rooms, are used across the nation,
       generally for special needs children. Critics say that along with the death of Jonathan,
       many mentally disabled and autistic children have been injured or traumatized..."


  Parents of young boy with special needs sue Florida school for allegedly abusing their son:

  Video  St. Lucie, Florida School Abuse Lawsuit

  Special needs student handcuffed to wheelchair Video  Video


                    
   PARENTS: Thinking about residential treatment? Here's one alternative ...

    COACHING FOR FAMILIES :
    Parent Coaching - Teen Coaching - Family Coaching

   Video  The truth revealed - watch this video!   

   RESIDENTIAL TREATMENT PROGRAMS: What the government has uncovered
  Proposed Bill H.R. 6358 (formerly H.R. 5876)

                         Overindulgence and Hyper-Parenting: How we could unintentionally be hurting our kids
                      
  Free Parent Checklist - Upcoming Teleclasses


A bill to protect children and teens has passed in the House!

BILL H.R. 6358 (formerly H.R. 5876)

"Stop Child Abuse in Residential Programs for Teens Act of 2008"

Congressman Miller - Press Release - Final Vote Results -

THERE IS HOPE - A BILL TO PROTECT CHILDREN LIKE THESE
 WHO LOST THEIR LIVES "IN THE NAME OF TREATMENT"
 


Why should we be concerned?

Research has uncovered, and families have reported:

 ▪ There are no laws to protect the children outside the US
  Many facilities are not licensed and there is no oversight
 ▪ Children often lose their basic human rights
 ▪ Many have no privacy to use the restroom or shower
 
Children lose contact with the outside world
 
Once phone calls with parents are finally allowed, usually
   3-6 months after the child enters the program, they are
   censored; children lose all other verbal contact with the
   outside world
 ▪ Children’s letters to extended family and friends are usually
   not delivered, and mail is censored
 
Many have spent months on their faces in isolation


NATIONAL CRISIS: For years we have been saying, "It's time to Wake Up America!"

CAICA REPORTS - What has CAICA done to help? Read what others have to say


   GAO INVESTIGATION UPDATES:

  Thursday, April 24, 2008

  Full Committee Meeting

  Hearing on "Child Abuse and Deceptive Marketing by Residential Programs for Teens,"
  scheduled at 10:00 a.m. in room 2175 Rayburn H.O.B. Witnesses to be announced.


  On October 10, 2007, The Committee of Education and Labor held a hearing on
  cases of child abuse and neglect at private Residential Treatment Facilities.
  Video 
 Click here to watch the Congressional hearing

  ABSTRACT OF GAO REPORT:
 
Click here for highlights of their report; Click here for full report of prelim findings.

  Residential treatment programs provide a range of services, including drug and
  alcohol treatment, confidence building, military-style discipline, and psychological
  counseling for troubled boys and girls with a variety of addiction, behavioral, and
  emotional problems. This testimony concerns programs across the country referring
  to themselves as wilderness therapy programs, boot camps, and academies, among
  other names. Many cite positive outcomes associated with specific types of
  residential treatment. There are also allegations regarding the abuse and death of
  youth enrolled in residential treatment programs. Given concerns about these
  allegations, particularly in reference to private programs, the Committee asked the
  General Accountability Office (GAO) to (1) verify whether allegations of abuse and
  death at residential treatment programs are widespread and (2) examine the facts
  and circumstances surrounding selected closed cases where a teenager died while
  enrolled in a private program. To achieve these objectives, GAO conducted numerous
  interviews and examined documents from closed cases dating as far back as 1990,
  including police reports, autopsy reports, and state agency oversight reviews and
  investigations. GAO did not attempt to evaluate the benefits of residential treatment
  programs or verify the facts regarding the thousands of allegations it reviewed.

  GAO found thousands of allegations of abuse, some of which involved death, at
  residential treatment programs across the country and in American-owned and
  American-operated facilities abroad between the years 1990 and 2007. Allegations
  included reports of abuse and death recorded by state agencies and the Department
  of Health and Human Services, allegations detailed in pending civil and criminal trials
  with hundreds of plaintiffs, and claims of abuse and death that were posted on the
  Internet. For example, during 2005 alone, 33 states reported 1,619 staff members
  involved in incidents of abuse in residential programs. GAO could not identify a more
  concrete number of allegations because it could not locate a single Web site, federal
  agency, or other entity that collects comprehensive nationwide data. GAO also
  examined, in greater detail, 10 closed civil or criminal cases from 1990 through 2004
  where a teenager died while enrolled in a private program. GAO found significant
  evidence of ineffective management in most of the 10 cases, with program leaders
  neglecting the needs of program participants and staff. This ineffective management
  compounded the negative consequences of (and sometimes directly resulted in) the
  hiring of untrained staff; a lack of adequate nourishment; and reckless or negligent
  operating practices, including a lack of adequate equipment. These factors played
  a significant role in the deaths GAO examined. 

  The GAO said it is planning to release a more comprehensive report Winter 2008 that
  will provide more detail on the scope of programs and the incidents of alleged abuse.


 MISSION: CAICA seeks to expose the abuse and distress of children and teens placed 
  in private and state-funded programs including but not limited to residential facilities,
  behavior modification programs, boot camps, wilderness programs, and boarding schools.
  CAICA believes that no child should be abducted, incarcerated, abused, neglected, or
  stripped of their basic human rights for the sake of profit.

  Let us be reminded, let us not forget ... no child deserves this treatment, or worse

   
  Click here for more ...


  Other organizations are concerned with these issues. CAICA recommends
   you visit their websites: 


Child Welfare League
of America
www.cwla.org

 
National Alliance on
Mental Illness
www.nami.org  
  
National Down Syndrome
Society
www.ndss.org
TASH
www.tash.org
National Disability Rights Network
www.ndrn.org
Federation of Families
For Children’s Mental Health
www.ffcmh.org
National Down Syndrome Congress
http://www.ndsccenter.org/

The RespectABILITY
Law Center
 
The Arc of the United States
www.thearc.org

Bazelon Center for
Mental Health Law
www.bazelon.org
National Association of
Councils on
Developmental Disabilities
www.nacdd.org

Autism National
Committee
www.autcom.org
The Family Alliance to Stop 
Abuse and Neglect
www.thefamilyalliance.net
A.P.R.A.I.S. The Alliance to
Prevent Restraint,
Aversive Interventions, and Seclusion
 www.aprais.org
Florida Justice4Kids
www.justice4kids.org
Wrights Law
www.wrightslaw.com

 

 


Attention Staff

 
Action Alerts

Video 
Watch it here

 

Find sex offenders within
five mile radius of your home

Watch this insightful
PBS documentary
by Anna Rau


Click here to watch
 




Knowledge is Power

Free child
safety DVD

 

Registered sex offender

Watch "Hidden in
Plain Sight"
 
Judge Rotenberg
Center

TREATMENT OR TORMENT?

(
click here)

Restraint Asphyxia
Silent Killer

 

Over the GW

Compelling film about
teen rehabs gone bad

Part 1   І   Part 2   І   Part 3

 

Texas Youth Commission
Abuse Scandal

 



  In the Name of Treatment
  A Parent's Guide to Protecting
  Your Child From the Use of
  Restraint, Aversive Interventions,
  and Seclusion
 


Abused/defrauded by WWASPS?
Contact:
www.wturley.com
Click here for Am. Complaint
Click here
for WWASPS News

 
 

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REFERRALS: CAICA is not a referral agency. CAICA does not refer to or promote facilities or transport companies for children or teens. CAICA warns parents that the parent pay / parent choice programs ie. Residential Treatment Centers, Therapeutic Boarding Schools, Behavior Modification Programs, Christian Programs, Positive Peer Culture Programs, etc., are not regulated by the Federal Government and that it is a "Buyer Beware" industry. CAICA provides the following for parents: Message to Parents, Help for Distraught and Desperate Parents, and Questions to Ask and Warning Signs.

© 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009