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Posted September
19, 2002
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MARION HALPERT
Michigan
struglingteen@yahoo.com
In November of 99 I started looking for a way to help my
14-year-old daughter. I began to search the Internet for
a solution for my family to save my daughter from
herself. This brought me to WWASP.
Before utilizing the school I contacted other parents
and watched the videotape that Teen Help had sent me. I
also attended a local family support group of parents
that had their teens in one of the WWASP programs. After
that we decided to send my daughter to CCM.
In December of 1999 we took my daughter to Utah to get
the help we believed she needed. At CCM we believed she
would build up her low self- esteem, work on her issues,
learn about positive relationships, and rebuild her
broken family relationships.
For the first 10 months my daughter sat on level one
with zero points. I was told this was normal for real
stubborn kids and that they would move her around to
shake things up when they felt she was getting too
comfortable. I was not able to talk to her or see her
during this time, as she needed to earn it. I accepted
that as part of the rules and was willing to do what
ever it took to get through to her that I loved her no
matter what and that she was worth it.
Then I was asked to come see her in a special group
session since it had been so long. At this visit I was
able to sit in on a session with her and her therapist.
I was biting my tongue because I really wanted to tell
him what I thought of his approach. I felt he was be-littling
her and I watched her shut down and not speak to him and
had her whatever attitude. I realized at this time that
they had a non-working relationship and that keeping her
in this group would not motivate her to make changes or
open up about what was going on within her.
When I returned home I had her changed to a different
group. I never had the warm fuzzies with this therapist
and seeing a session in person closed the deal on how I
felt about him. The family rep admitted that she knew my
daughter and this therapist had a non-working
relationship yet did nothing and said nothing.
I was always assured during this 10 months by program
staff that they would not allow a child to become
comfortable. I was told they would move her to different
groups. This did not happen until I asked for it. For 10
months I trusted they knew what they were doing and said
nothing until the day of the session. This mistake cost
me 10 months of idol tuition.
After moving to a new group and therapist she began to
move in the program. Finally it seemed to be paying off.
My daughter was building her self-esteem, working on her
issues, and our relationship was blooming.
I continued to support the program and did everything I
could to encourage my daughter from home. I had
completed all the seminars successfully and went to
visit her whenever I was allowed and was committed to
see her graduate.
Twenty months and Sixty thousand dollars later I was out
of money. She still had at least 6 months to go before
graduation. I had already taken a loan, cashed in my
retirement account and begged her biological father for
money. I was not willing to sell my home to pay for more
tuition. So I brought her home.
During her stay at CCM I also had to send her an
allowance of 20 dollars a week. This money was to be
used for necessities (bath needs and such) and was also
utilized as a savings account for when she earned school
trips. Since she had not earned any trips in her
20-month stay there should have been at least 1,500
dollars in the account. After bringing her home it was
difficult to get any of this money back since no one
seemed to know who was in charge of the account. When I
finally did get the money back after several calls to
Utah all that was left was 500 dollars. I was told the
rest was used up in fines for breaking rules. Must be
this is where you get nickeled and dimed to death.
The first five months were great. The next six months
were hell. She continued to make the same choices as
before. She is a better manipulator than before and
continues to raise the stakes in the game.
My daughter came home in July 2001, broke the law and
was put on probation in May 2002. In August she violated
probation and has been sentenced to the Residential
Treatment Program at the juvenile center in my county.
The cost of this program is 150.00 per day on top of the
bills for CCM that I am still paying.
The choices she has made is not the fault of the program
or WWASP, however I do not believe they delivered what
they promised. They took 10 months of tuition and didn’t
shake things up until I asked them to move her. She
still has the same issues and still suffers from low
self-esteem.
Although my daughter did not graduate the program I
certainly think there should be some changes in behavior
after paying the high tuition for 20 months. There are
many people in my situation with graduates and non-
grads.
It is from my experience of this program that I feel it
has a large area open for improvement. Many of the staff
do not have the experience to work with these kids and
are not required to attend any of their seminars yet
they are the ones that preach it to our kids. If the
child doesn’t see it by example then why would it be
expected they would utilize it.
Sincerely,
Marion Haupert
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