Troubled Teens Resources

 Free Boot Camps  

Many people are looking for free boot camps.  The only free boot camps we are familiar with are associated with state correctional facilities.  The correctional boot camps used to be much more popular than they are today.  The decline in popularity is due in part to the abuse that has gone on in a handful of state run boot camps.  This is not to say that private boot camps have not had their problems as well.  The most famous boot camp problem took place in a boot camp in Panama City Florida.  There is actual footage of guards beating a youth into submission.  Even though the abuse was horrific the “The coroner has suggested that the death was caused by this child’s unique illness … that … the force itself did not cause the death”.  This does not excuse the abuse that was inflicted on the young man.  But needless to say it did cast a negative light on the entire boot camp type of program. 

Private Boot Camps 

Free boot camps are not found in the private sector.  Why would a business person take a child that is uncontrollable and want to deal with him for free.  Many people ask if there are any special scholarships for troubled teens needing a structured environment.  This raises the question, “who would be motivated to set money aside for a defiant teen?”  There are some scholarships offered by some troubled teen boarding schools that come in the way of a price reduction.   Even with the help of this type scholarship the program is still unaffordable to many families.  We are not familiar with any type of private funding set aside to assist a family dealing with a troubled teen.  

Religious Boot Camps

The closest thing to free boot camps would be those run by religious organizations.  Because they have a tax exempt status some churches offer reduced price boot camps.  They are usually around$2,000 per month.  The downside of this type of camp is that in many states Christian Boot Camps or Christian Boarding Schools do not require the same licensure that other facilities are required to obtain.  This is not to say that they are not as good as a private boarding school just that they are not under the same scrutiny. 
 

Government Boot Camps

Some frustrated parents ask the question, “are there any government funded programs or free boot camps for troubled and defiant teens”?  As mentioned earlier the only government programs and free boot camps we know of are associated with the correctional system.  One question we get quite often is, “what I am supposed to do with my defiant teen?”  It is frustrating for a parent with no financial resources that is dealing with a teenager in need a placement outside of the home.  If caught early enough a troubled and defiant teen can usually be helped, especially if the parents are willing to make changes also.  The sad part of the equation is that this type of help is not cheap.  Parents with no financial means to place their teen are often times forced to watch as their child slips further and further into trouble and eventually the legal system. 

My nephew lives in Montana where officials are in a battle against the worst infestation of meth production and addiction in the country. It turns out that teen boarding schools are growing in popularity there. Teen age drug abuse takes on an entirely different and menacing complexion when the drug is meth.

My nephew reported that two neighbors have opted to send their teens to a private boarding school because of the overwhelming prevalence of meth and meth culture in their community.

His neighbor made a very sad observation: “It began to seem like I was sending my daughter off to war every time she drove off to school. These meth addicts are dangerous, violent and they are everywhere.”

“Karen, whose parents were both addicts, grew up around drugs. She recalls as a child picking her father’s used needles off the floor.

She started shooting and smoking cocaine before progressing to methamphetamines.

The first time she shot up she was 16.

As she speaks, she rubs blotches of facial acne.

“This is the drug coming out of my system,” she says, noting meth has also started to burn holes through her nose.

Despite developing pockets of infection throughout her body, she still craved the drug, she says.
[…]
“I’ve been raped numerous times. You’re bought and sold but nobody cares,” she says. “I was sold by boyfriends to support their habits.”

She says she willingly gave up custody of her children because she knew her drug habit was hurting them.

Though not yet 30, she says she felt “too old to change.”

(Source)

That is what has become so unnerving. Addiction is now becoming two and three generations deep, each disintegrating family perpetuating the poison of drugs from one generation to the next, weakening, inch by inch, the social fabrics of entire communities.