HR 911 Please introduce and pass in Senate

Sign the Petition : 108 Letters and Emails Sent So Far

Private residential facilities for problem youths have become a lucrative industry in the past few decades. The industry is poorly and unevenly regulated. Some facilities escape regulation by being called boarding schools even though their real focus is behavior modification rather than education. Some are unregulated because they are wilderness camps. Some are unregulated because youths choose to go there “voluntarily” rather than being kidnapped from their homes by hired escorts. And some are unregulated because they are owned and operated by churches.

The 2009 bill, HR911, outlaws many of the abuses that have caused deaths in these programs. It prohibits disciplinary practices that withhold “essential food, water, clothing, shelter, or medical care.”

It sets limits on the use of physical and mechanical restraints and seclusion.

It requires all staff to be familiar with the signs of and appropriate responses to heatstroke, dehydration, and hypothermia. It requires the program to have policies for the provision of emergency medical care. It requires that youths be allowed to make and receive phone calls with “as much privacy as possible” and be allowed to call the state hotline to report abuses.

HR911 does not exempt church-run facilities from its requirements. It will greatly improve protection for young people in residential care, especially in Missouri, which allows church-run facilities to operate without even sanitation or food safety inspections and which has been a giant magnet for operators of abusive programs who get in trouble elsewhere.

Please consider sponsoring or co-sponsoring HR911 in the Senate; we must protect the rights and lives of all our citizens, even those too young to vote.		HR 911 Please introduce and pass in Senate

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People signing the "HR 911 Please introduce and pass in Senate" petition!

  1. Thu., Feb. 4, 2010 12:08 AM    link Lisa T. | Lancaster, PA

  2. Thu., Jan. 14, 2010 7:52 PM    link Isaac S. | Knoxville, TN

  3. Thu., Jan. 14, 2010 1:46 AM    link James G. | San Bernardino, CA

  4. Wed., Jan. 13, 2010 9:44 PM    link Angie J. | Riverview, FL

  5. Tue., Jan. 5, 2010 1:14 PM    link Scott S. | Schenectady, NY

  6. Mon., Dec. 28, 2009 3:43 PM    link Name not displayed | Davis, CA

  7. Sat., Dec. 19, 2009 4:39 PM    link Name not displayed | Cleveland, OH

  8. Sat., Dec. 5, 2009 9:43 PM    link Mesila T. | San Francisco, CA

    I remember reading about these scary places a few years back. Some of them will con the parents into sending kids there on the grounds of "being possibly at risk for drug use" - this is before they've ever done anything! It's a nightmare. These places just let the inmates torture each other, they don't even have to hire counselors that way. These places ought to be outlawed. At the very least, they need to be regulated.

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  10. Sat., Nov. 21, 2009 6:44 PM    link Elaine W. | Chattanooga, TN

  11. Sun., Nov. 15, 2009 7:06 PM    link Carrie B. | Northridge, CA

    I have a niece in Turning Winds in Montana. I have found out that children have died and tortured at the hands of these people. At 13, I was put into a reform school run by nuns -- and that was just the beginning of my being dragged through the system, abused, raped, beaten up -- for 7 consecutive years. I wish I could just pick up my niece and take her away from this hellhole. This bill is well overdue and should have been passed decades ago. Don't wait any longer!!!

  12. This comment has been reported to the site manager. It will be reviewed and removed if inappropriate. Thank you!

  13. Thu., Nov. 12, 2009 1:14 PM    link Name not displayed | Hastings, MN

    Was a resident at a Mercy Ministries home in St. Louis - this organization and others like it NEED to be regulated. Too many people have been hurt...we need to do something about this.

  14. This comment has been reported to the site manager. It will be reviewed and removed if inappropriate. Thank you!

  15. Sun., Nov. 8, 2009 1:54 AM    link Ruby K. | Grand Rapids, MI

  16. Sun., Nov. 8, 2009 1:53 AM    link Ruby K. | Grand Rapids, MI

  17. Fri., Nov. 6, 2009 2:19 AM    link Name not displayed | Grand Rapids, MI

    If we don't take all necessary safeguards to protect youth in "reform" schools, boot camps and the like, abuse is going to occur and we as a society will be responsible for "letting" this happen. Abuse and neglect don't reform; instead it breeds more anger, frustration, and ultimately hopelessness and rage that will be vented on society.

  18. This comment has been reported to the site manager. It will be reviewed and removed if inappropriate. Thank you!

  19. Thu., Oct. 29, 2009 9:09 AM    link Name not displayed | Roscoe, IL

  20. Thu., Oct. 15, 2009 5:08 PM    link Name not displayed | Pocatello, ID

  21. Wed., Oct. 14, 2009 11:02 AM    link Shane W. | Middle River, MD

  22. Tue., Oct. 13, 2009 2:22 PM    link Bailey S. | Findlay, OH

  23. Mon., Oct. 12, 2009 9:29 AM    link Donna H. | Guilderland, NY

    It's about time that religion stopped being exempt from abuse/neglect regulation. Religous freedom does not extend to human sacrifice!

  24. This comment has been reported to the site manager. It will be reviewed and removed if inappropriate. Thank you!

  25. Mon., Oct. 12, 2009 9:03 AM    link Barbara A. | Westlake, OH

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