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Important Foundations Treatment Programs

Competency

Leadership: The program leaders and principals are qualified to operate the program and are well-rounded in their experience and training. The program leaders have or are pursuing management skills and training. The leadership has worked with children and demonstrates a passion to do so.

Methods: The methods used in the program are well tested and generally recognized as effective in addressing the problems children face. Evidence-based treatment, as well as methods that have weathered the test of time, are acceptable (structured environment, scriptural studies, emotional growth programs, etc.)

The staff members are well-adjusted, well-trained, and qualified to do their work. Each staff member is placed in the role for which they are trained and qualified.

2. Accountability

Oversight: The program is accountable to some form of oversight, whether a board of directors, a governing body, a strong accrediting body, or state licensing. If the program is exempt from state licensing, it should have a robust governing and oversight body that includes more than family members or relatives.

Character: The program operates under ethical or moral principles that guide its decisions. The program has an ethical mandate to do the most good it possibly can.

Purpose: The program is accountable to its mission and vision, and strives to maintain its operations within the confines of that mission and vision.

3. Communication

Availability: The program has staff who are either available 24 hours a day or available to return phone calls from parents within a reasonable timeframe.

Consistency: The program is consistent in its communication with parents about how the program works, its goals, what success looks like, what they can expect from their child, how problems are resolved, and how emergencies should be handled appropriately.

Clarity: The program is clear, to the point, and unambiguous in its communication with family members or case managers. The program works continuously to remove any inconsistencies or unnecessary verbosity in its communications.

Empathy: The program has a common language and methods that communicate empathy for the families who are a part of their program. The program recognizes the position these families are in and works to give hope to parents for the future, rather than criticizing parents for perceived failings.

4. Consistency

Method: The treatment methods used in the program are consistent with the measurable outcomes. Every student that enters the program goes through the same process and must reach specific goals in order to move forward in their program or treatment plan.

Results: The program is consistent and strives to maintain or improve its current performance. The program knows what "success" looks like at the end of a student’s stay.

Training: The program maintains a regular training schedule and operates on the expectation that staff must be consistently trained, to the point that they can become trainers themselves to maintain program consistency.

5. Unity

Leadership: The program’s leaders are unified in purpose, work well together, and are fully aligned with the program’s vision and mission.

Staff: The program’s staff are in sync with leadership, as well as the heartbeat of the program, its purpose, mission, and vision, while at the same time bringing their own unique qualities and strengths for the betterment of the program.

Parents: The parents understand the program, how it works, what to expect. Parents are unified with the program in providing a strong front for positive change in their child's life.

6. Planning

Acceptance Guidelines: The program has well-defined guidelines for the levels of care it does or does not offer.

Contingency: The program has contingency plans for issues or emergencies. The program has a communication plan for situations that require parental intervention. When a new problem arises without a contingency plan, a new plan is documented.

Policies & Procedures: The program has a comprehensive handbook of policies and procedures for leadership and staff, which is made available to parents upon request.

7. Collaboration

Open Inquiry: The program leaders and staff are willing to ask others how to improve the program and are willing to admit that their current approach may need to change.

Continual Improvement: The program operates on the assumption that it can continually improve, gain new knowledge, and learn from others’ experiences, successes, and failures.

Anti-Competitive: The program is willing to share methods and ideas and to collaborate with like-minded people to serve families. The program helps families find a more appropriate placement suggestions when needed.

As you set out on your journey to find a residential treatment center, therapeutic boarding school, or outdoor behavioral program, trust, but verify. Trust what the program says about itself, but verify it with reliable third-party sources, parent-feedback, state agencies, and online resources.

Licensing and Accountability

Ensure that the program you are researching is either licensed or has a governing body recognized by the state. Be aware that some states have fewer licensing requirements than others.
If you are considering a therapeutic program, understand the program's legal oversight or licensure in the state. Some states offer licensing exemptions.
Ask for the state agency that licenses the program. Contact the agency to make sure their license is current. (Yes, programs operate on a lapsed or revoked license all the time.
If the program can’t name the state agency under which it is licensed or refuses to provide the information, don't engage.
If the program is not licensed, operating in the state under an exemption, contact the state’s Attorney General and request information regarding any public complaints made against the program.

Accreditation

- Check to see if an independent accreditation body accredits the program. While not necessarily an indicator of ethical operation or therapeutic effectiveness, accreditation can nonetheless ensure a level of confidence for parents that the program will maintain a safe environment for their teenager.
- Mental and behavioral health accrediting bodies, such as Joint Commission, CARF, or COA, provide rigorous requirements for procedures, and policies.
- Teen Challenge may accredit their own locations. They act as a non-profit, religiously accredited organization with basic educational and operational requirements and a strong curriculum focused on emotional growth. They are not a safety, procedure, or policy accrediting body; they rely on state laws and regulations to ensure the safety of residents.
- Educational accrediting bodies such as AdvanceEd provide requirements for the educational methods and practices of a program that will allow high school credits to transfer in and out of the program properly.
  If the program claims accreditation from any of these organizations (or any organization not listed here), contact the accrediting body and make sure that they are still accredited.

Criteria for Admission

Ensure that the program you are considering can effectively address the problems your child is facing.
For neurodiverse children (ADHD, ASD, OCD, etc.), ask about the program's qualifications for treating neurodiverse needs.
Ask about the criteria for admission, what kinds of problems the program can address, and where it excels.
Ask what it will take for your teenager to be dismissed from the program.
Ask how many residents have been dismissed within the last six months.
Ask the program to describe the specific problems they had with the last resident they dismissed.
If the program will place your child without question or assessment, consider finding another program.

Discipline Policies

Ask how discipline is maintained and safety is considered. Ask if punishment of any kind is used, including corporal punishment, forced sitting in an uncomfortable position, extended isolation, withholding of food, or change in food intake in order to punish. If any of these methods are used, consider finding another program.
Ask about program policies for a child who refuses to eat food or drink water.
Ask whether staff have been trained in safe restraint, when restraint may be used, and how restraint is reported to the state and parents.
Ask if isolation is used, when isolation may be used, how it is used, and how reporting of isolation is handled with the state and parents.

What About the Staff, Owners, and Leadership? Are Staff Qualified?

Request verification that the program has conducted background checks on all its staff members.
Ask about staff qualifications, their degrees, credentials, licenses, and experiences with residential care.
Look for programs that hire more than close family members to staff the program. If close family members run the program, make sure they have the appropriate qualifications, training, and licensure in addition to their "boots on the ground" experiences.

Refund Policies

Many programs require a substantial upfront investment. Be clear on what refunds, if any, apply to your contract if your child is dismissed or unenrolled by either you or the program.

Are Online Reviews Helpful? Some Things to Consider...

The best way to validate your decision or gather genuine feedback is to speak directly with parents currently using the services. Ask the program for real-time parent references, seek professional insight into the program, and find testimonials from students who completed it.

Online reviews work both ways. They can sometimes be helpful, but they may also be unsubstantiated. Currently, there is a "victim movement" supporting incorrect narratives that proclaim all students placed into treatment are subjects of abuse, all parents who place children into treatment programs are uncaring and abusive, and all programs are horrible. See the article, The Radical Movement to Divest From Youth Residential Treatment, by the Manhattan Institute, at the following website:

https://manhattan.institute/article/the-radical-movement-to-divest-from-youth-residential-treatment

What would your child write about you if given the chance to vent without any pushback right now?

Negative online reviews by former students often sound like horror stories. Negative reviews may be truthful and are entirely heartbreaking. But they could also be from something that occurred three decades ago involving people who haven't worked in the program for a very long time. State oversight of residential care is at a very high, even extreme, level.

Consider calling a local law enforcement agency to ask how many visits they make to the program you are considering and how they view the program's handling of disruptions.

Be mindful of the fact that not every review is real. Some positive and negative reviews are placed as competition.

A student or parent complaint may prompt an investigation at a program, but the investigation may be dismissed for lack of a substantive, credible basis. Programs listed as "investigated" by a State are also allowed by the state to correct any licensure or policy inequities. However, states may not report successful completions or program compliance.

At the very least, allow a program to respond to any online reviews that give you pause. They may provide more details than an online reviewer chose to include. Ask good questions at the time of your admissions inquiry, and don't just assume that everything you see online is truthful.

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