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Shay Bilchik's Letter to the Editor of the Boston Globe on "brat camps"
August 11, 2005
Letters to the Editor
The Boston Globe
P.O. Box 55819
Boston, MA 02205-5819
Dear Editor:
In the recent article "These Kids Face Harsh Reality" reporter Joanna Weiss inaccurately characterized the Child Welfare League of America's call for a U.S General Accounting Office study of unlicensed and unregulated residential programs often referred to as therapeutic boarding schools or boot camps. While I applaud her overall coverage of this issue, our call to action in no way questions the safety or therapeutic effectiveness of hundreds of topnotch programs that abide by state licensing and accreditation standards guiding residential and therapeutic services for children.
These programs serve in stark contrast to the "brat camp" style programs that we are calling into question. To be clear, CWLA is requesting that we better understand whether these boarding schools and boot camps meet key criteria for safety and treatment that are embedded in our standards and accepted best-practices by hundreds of CWLA members and other licensed residential programs. We believe that this examination can save lives and save futures for deeply troubled youth in need of high quality therapeutic residential intervention.
Sincerely,
Shay Bilchik
President and CEO
Child Welfare League of America
440 First Street NW
Washington, DC 20001
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