For nearly a decade absent parents in the Californian town of Pasadena used private boot camps to straighten up their kids so they could avoid the burden of leaving the TV and miss out of their favorite show.

Needless to say the parents must have known the extend of abuse the private boot camps put their children through. The Boot Camp operators and employees have posted a lot of videos online where they boast about their treatment of the so-called unruly children.

Children were shouted at and they were forced to drink water in such a huge amount that they were vomiting in the videos.

Once side of this case is the police investigation of the acts committed by the boot camp employees. Another side is the permit these parents gave the boot camp operators to mistreat their children. Should parents which grant such permits be allowed to keep their children at home or should the DCFS start their investigation and if possible remove not only the children but also their siblings from the parents?

Of course they should research this matter to its full extend and if the result is that some of the children should go to the foster care system, then it should be so.

The boot camp operations in Pasadena are far from a single incident. It is a worldwide problem!

• In Mexico did the authorities shut down a boot camp where parents from all over the states sent their children so they could be placed in dog cages tied up.
  
• In Spain did the authorities shut down a private treatment facility where children were placed in small cages built for pigs. The parents came from Germany and Switzerland.
  
• In Texas a girl was tied and dragged after a van because she refused to walk while she participated in a boot camp organized by a church. The parents had provided the boot camp with permission to use force.
  
• A lot of private residential treatments centers and boarding schools have been subjected to investigations by the authorities and several have been shut down due to child abuse investigations.
  
• More than 100 children from the United States have lost their lives in private programs according to a GAO investigation back in 2007.
  

Parents must step up and investigate the options they choose if they want to continue their absent role in the lives of their children or they must choose to be a part of the lives of their children.

Either way they must be held accountable.

If some of these parents related to the Pasadena boot camp scandal are brought to justice this could be the very step forwards fewer deaths and less institutional child abuse.

Never have a DCFS investigation counted as much.

Source:
Cops turn to DCFS in Pasadena youth boot camp investigation (Whittier Daily News)

When a child is placed in any residential setting in Denmark - foster care or in a residential treatment facility the risk of being victim of sexual abuse increases a lot.

Of course the best choice would be if sexual abuse could be avoided, but even the strictest facility cannot supervise all children 24/7. The economy will suffer. The clients whether it is parents or the public sector will not pay tor full staffing 24/7 seven days per week.

So sexual abuse will happen at some point, in fact surveys made after year 2000 show that it happens twice per month on average in Danish foster families, group homes or residential treatment centers.

Knowing that it is inevitable the next thing is to handle it correctly. Left untreated the molested child could grow up and be a molester later in life. A survey from 2006 did show that most of the residential treatment centers had no knowledge of the strategy and guidelines the government had made to deal with this issue. The result could be that the molested children were not cared properly for. A tragedy not only for the child victimized by the abuse but also possible for the family of the molested child later in life.

Now here in 2011 there are no signs that the situation back in 2006 are changed. However With a new government in charge there is hope that changes are possible.

A number of changes are required:

• The number of children who are removed from their families need to be lowered as a lot of the problem is based in the number of placements. Denmark has 25 percent more placements than countries like Norway or Sweden. A lower number of placements will reduce sexual abuse as a lower number are easier to monitor.
  
• All staff member of foster parents should be taught how to observe the signs of sexual abuse happening during the placement of the child. It is very easy to assume that changes in behavior are rooted in experiences before the placement. However a number of cases show that there is a need to change the pattern of the thinking among the staff so they become aware that the abuse can take place during the placement.
  
• The staff should be taught how to help and treat a molested child so the victimized child doesn't have to be moved to a new facility and by this move experience what only can be seen as a defeat and a punishment.
  

Let’s hope that the new government in Denmark will be able to do that.



Source (In Danish)
Seksuelle overgreb på børn og unge på døgninstitution - omfang og indsats</a> (Anvendt Kommunal Forskning - 2006)