HOW TO FIND A RESIDENTIAL PLACEMENT FOR YOUR YOUNG CHILD:

 DECIPHERING THE WORLD OF RESIDENTIAL THERAPEUTIC PROGRAMS FOR CHILDREN AND YOUNG TEENS  

Susan H. Shane 

For families with pre-teen to early teenage children who have severe emotional, behavioral and social difficulties and who have tried all types of therapeutic approaches without success over many years, this guide is for you.  You are the parents who have reached the end of your rope and have decided that your child must live away from home to get the help she or he needs.  It is important to realize that appropriate programs for your child will be the minority which are tailored to younger kids who have never had substance abuse issues.  

The standard recommendation to you will be to hire an educational consultant to help you find an appropriate program for your child.  The first caveat is to do a little homework before hiring an ed consultant.  Consultant fees range in the thousands of dollars and cover reviewing the child’s history (for the umpteenth time), interviewing parents and child, sometimes referring the child for additional assessments (at additional cost), and facilitating the child’s placement in a residential program the parents choose from a full range offered by the consultant. 

 
Choosing a consultant can be daunting. There are 4-5000 full-time educational consultants of all types in the U.S. plus another 10-15,000 who dabble in the field.  Most ed consultants work in the field of college placement, but about 20% handle therapeutic placements.  Only 150 of the 1000 or more therapeutic ed consultants are registered as professional members of the Independent Educational Consultants Association (IECA) (http://www.iecaonline.com/), the sole national organization that sets rigorous standards for them.  These 150 ed consultants are the most thoroughly vetted professionals in the industry, making them a good starting point for interviewing to find a good match for your family.  There is also a certifying organization, the American Institute of Certified Educational Planners (AICEP), with about 100 CEPs who specialize in therapeutic placements; some are also IECA members.

A rare parent may travel the road to finding a therapeutic placement on her/his own, using the Internet and personal recommendations from families who’ve been through the process.  Reliable resources are limited, but one can begin by looking at the list of 153 programs belonging to the National Association of Therapeutic Schools and Programs (NATSAP).  Importantly, there are just as many schools and programs that do not belong to NATSAP, so, while their list is not comprehensive, it is a good starting place. Family Light (www.familylight.com) is an informative, although not very up-to-date, resource which lists and evaluates many programs. Notably, this is the only site that offers reviews by an educational consultant that are free to the general public.  Another place to look is at www.strugglingteens.com.  

There are three main options for out-of-home therapeutic care: wilderness programs, therapeutic boarding schools and residential treatment centers.  Residential treatment centers (RTCs) are purported to provide the most therapy; also, they are the only institutions (aside from psychiatric hospitals) willing to take violent children.  In their bag of tricks is the capacity to physically restrain children which can, sometimes, look like a staff person sitting on top of an out-of-control child on the floor.  RTCs are the most expensive option, costing at least $10,000/month.  Kids stay an average of 18 months in an RTC, just as they do at a therapeutic boarding school (TBS), the next level down.   Therapeutic boarding schools can be slightly less expensive, and they exclude violent kids.  TBSs usually offer stronger academics than RTCs. It is important for parents to distinguish whether their child is violent only with them (possibly a boarding school candidate) versus being violent with outsiders (likely to be an RTC candidate).  A third residential option, usually a first step before an RTC or TBS, is a therapeutic wilderness program which can cost from $20-30,000 for six to twelve weeks. 

Once parents have narrowed the list of schools and programs down either on their own or via an ed consultant, a personal visit, or at least a Skype session, is crucial.  Meeting the staff, especially the therapist who will treat their child, and observing and talking with children in the program is the only certain way for a parent to know if the place is a good fit for her child and her family.  Responsible programs will always require a significant commitment on the part of parents to learn, self-reflect, and change along with their child throughout the child’s residence in the program. Parents should ask to speak with families whose kids currently attend or have graduated from those places.  Obviously, programs will likely only use satisfied customers as references. Parents should try to identify dissatisfied customers by reaching out to parent support groups or asking parents referred by the programs for any unhappy parents they may know.
 

See above for personal story of one family: When All Else Fails