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If Benchmark is as bad as you claim, Why hasn't it been sued or shut down? Benchmark's enrollment contract seems to be fairly effective at deterring suits until this point with it's lengthy "Liability Release, Waiver, Discharge and Covenant Not to Sue" which even includes a severability clause (should any other part of the contract be deemed void, the covenant not to sue remains intact). See this question for information as to your situation if you signed such a document. Why hasn't it been shut down? I have wondered the same many times. Many schools like Benchmark such as the CEDU schools, one of which Jayne was a director of, stay open for over thirty years. Stories of abuse and mistreatment are dismissed as "manipulations" of drug addled program kids despite the similrities in their stories over such and extended period of time. Suits against such schools are rare, and usually settled out of court quietly. For the most part, the human evidence is destroyed and discreditied. Programs such as Benchmark almost guarantee failure and most students end up struggling from day to day to survive, most of the time on the streets. After two years, the statute of limitations on civil suits expires and few legal dream teams would take on such cases pro-bono (although Erin Brocovitch of Masry and Vititoe has recently offered to investigate, for the purpose of suing, Fraudulent and Abusive 'Treatment' Centers for Children and Young Adults, in all states). Parents could also be used to testify against thier own children in many cases after being told lies for years about thier kids behavior in program. See this question for a detailed explanation of why parents rarely if ever find out the truth. Aren't you just a f***ed up program failure with a grudge? Oh I wouldn't classify a 3.5+ GPA, a college degree, and a job paying 45k a year "failure" although "failure" was predicted by several staff members during their efforts of trying to convince my parents not to take me back into the house. Grudge? Not anymore. Several years ago i was angry about Benchmark and wanted to "get back at them" but revenge only motivates for so long and cannot bring a long term project to fruition. Revenge poisons the thoughts and i needed a clear mind for this project (website, etc.). I am doing this for several reasons:
If the students are over 18, what's keeping them there? Why don't they just leave if it's so bad? They don't necessarily prevent students from leaving program. They do, however prevent students from being successful at emancipating themselves if they decide to leave. Students in Benchmark are denied their property, any money, and in many cases, even their identification if they choose to leave. If the above is true, that would be theft. Why don't the students just call the police? Students are told a few things to keep themselves from doing that. They are told they signed away their constitutional rights when they came to program. Since few have law degrees, and any method of verifying such a claim is impossible, most students simply give up. Only once, to my knowledge, has a student actually called the police and had his identification and property returned (allegedly minus a few hundred dollars). As a result of this action, he was banned permanently from school property. Keep in mind, also, all phones are controlled by the staff and in order to make a phone call to the police (or anybody), one must walk off property. Such an action guarantees at least one night on the streets and is unlikely to bear fruit. Students often attempt to call their parents only to find out they had already been contacted by Benchmark staff and told not to talk to them (for their own good). Staff tell the parents they will be manipulative and lie as much as they need to in order to get the aid of their parents. They are lectured on "tough love" and how a student must "hit rock bottom" in order to be able to be helped by program. Benchmark claims a 97% graduation rate. Doesn't that signify a sucessful program? Prospective students and their parents are usually told this statistic on the tour of Benchmark by Richard Brimhall. It is not provided in writing for several reasons. Such a statistic does not signify a successful program, rather only the rate at which they classify students as "graduated". Students are graduated after they AWOL and never return, or after they are dropped on the streets after their parents run out of money. Since most educational consultants, and organizations shy away from outright "enrollment bonusus" (to provide an appearance of neutrality) most allow, instead, "graduation bonusus", which sounds relatively benign. In order to be able to compensate educational consultants for referring to benchmark, and for statistical purposes, Benchmark classifies nearly 97% of it's students as successful graduates. My son/daughter is at Benchmark and tells me all the time how much he loves it. What do you have to say to that mister? With parental contact severed or monitored, either directly or by interrogation of parents after conversations or visits, the program's word is the truth as far as most parents are concerned. Severe consequences are handed out to students who complain about program to thier parents. It is considered to be evidence of a negative attitude and is a severe enough crime to lose a level (or be have the granting of level 2 postponed). Positive comments about program yield praise from the staff and a glimpse of a chance of success. When the students realize that chance of sucess is only a mirage, and they will be kept there as long as their parents still have money, they quickly develop a "negative attitude" and are isolated from the rest of the population on either "Sink or Swim" or "Time Out" which is really the same thing. I know of no person who was on "Time Out" and was later allowed to return to the apartments at State St. "Sink or Swim" is a euphemism describing the brief period of time before the parents run out of money and Redland's homeless population increases by one. Why can't I contact my son/daughter for the first thirty days? Becuase the refund period expires after 5 days. When I signed the enrollment aggreement, i signed a covenant not to sue or hold benchmark responsable for damages. Will that hold in court? No. Reasons:
My son/daughter has horrible stories from his experiences at Benchmark. Is there a place abuse can be reported? Yes. ISAC - International Survivors Action Comittee The Law Firm of Masry and Vititoe (with Erin Brockovitch) heal-online.org Fornits Discussion forum Benchmark section. Isn't Benchmark accredited? It says so on it's NATSAP listing. Doesn't being a NATSAP member entitle students to rights and protection from abuse. No. Benchmark is not accredited or licensed, as a school or a treatment facility. Benchmark has a California private school affadavit which qualifies as neither. A California Private School affidavit is simply a statement made to the state, registering the school which California does not require to be accredited or licensed. Incidentally, to use a California Private School affidavit to imply as such is illegal under california law:
It is interesting that NATSAP continues to list benchmark as follows when it is clearly illegal to do so and has been personally reported to them as such:
By refusing to investigate, as is their policy, however, they can claim oversight and be able to say: "oops, we didn't know, programs are supposed to be on the honor system". NATSAP claims, that in order for a program to become a "full member" of it's trade organization, a program must be licensed. However, it also says that in some states, a "private school" may be the closest legal definition of a program. This is rarely true. In California, for instance, it is not. licensed facilities are required to give patients rights and have methods for clients to report abuse. licensed facilities do not have "supervised phone calls" with which to manipulate your parents. licensed facilities are required to have qualified staff. In order to practice therapy, or behavior modification, as they claim on their website, licensed facilities must have licensed psychologists. NATSAP is not an accrediting organization and is careful not to claim to be, it is a trade organization, and as long as it's members pay it's dues, and promise to comply with certain "Principles of Good Practice", and other membership requirements, anybody can be a member. NATSAP does not investigate the validity of the claimed accreditations of schools and does not investigate complaints of abuse or non-compliance with it's ethical principles. In the words of NATSAP, Programs are on the "honor system". NATSAP expects programs to report themselves if they are in violation of their aggreements. Since NATSAP does not investigate their programs, one can only guess what it would take for NATSAP to eject a member program. NATSAP functions as a PAC for programs, attempting to influence the political process to affect legislation favorable to the unmonitored, unregulated operation of programs. NATSAP argues for industry "self regulation". NATSAP, incidentally, was also started and is funded by Len Buccellato, director of Hidden Lake Academy, a CEDU clone paradise like Benchmark. A fellow researcher has commented here on a NATSAP press release from Dr. Santa detailing how the industry. More threads with discussion and links to information regarding natsap can be found: here, and here, My son / daughter isn't allowed to tell me what goes on in "Friendship Workshop" I'm somewhat concerned. What goes no in there? Friendship workshop is derived from CEDU's propheets. See this section of the website for details of what goes on behind the closed doors. What exactly is Benchmark. A program or a school? It depends on who you ask. To the state of Califorina, Benchmark claims to be a private school, with 10 full time teachers and granting High School diplomas (all false claims). If a prospective parent expresses an interst in education, Benchmark becomes a "school". If a prospective parent is looking for a program to deal with a host of behavioral / drug issues, Benchmark becomes a "program". Benchmark's NATSAP listing defines it as a "Transitional Independent Living Program and Young Adult Program" despite the fact that such institutions are required to be licensed with the state of California. What Issues does Benchmark cator to? According to thier NATSAP listing and their website:
According to the keywords Benchmark uses to advertise to search engines in the source of their website:
These things sound like psychological issues. Isn't a license required to perform therapy? Not federally, although the state of California does require this. Most other states only forbid the practice of psychology without a license only if it is advertised as "psychology" or "therapy". California legislation is a bit more broad:
Where can i find more information on the Troubled Teen industry? ISAC (International Survivors Action Comittee) Fornits discussion forum If your question is not listed here, Mail me and i will answer.
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