SafePassage Adolescent Services ® announces the opening of new offices in Tampa, Florida and Huntsville, Alabama.
 
Karen Tisdell, formerly a front line counselor with Three Springs Paint Rock Valley Girls Program has joined SafePassage as a transport agent. Tisdell is also joining the parent company, Hunter Investigations LLC, as a private investigator.
 
"I'm very excited to be part of the SafePassage family and I'm looking forward to be, once again, working with at-risk adolescents," Tisdell said.
 
“SafePassage is fortunate to have Karen on board, said Holly D. Hunter, Owner of SafePassage, adding, "Karen has been serving families in crisis through her work with Three Springs for more than twelve years.  She will be an integral part of our work in serving the needs of families with at-risk teens.”
 
SafePassage has continued steady growth since Hunter acquired the company in 2007.
 
For more information please contact Holly Hunter: 770.667.7467 or visit the website at: www.safepassagetransport.com 

The National Association of Therapeutic Schools and Programs has been working hard to keep everyone in the industry apprised of the developments of the Miller Bill and work to bring about a better legislative resolution to take to Congress. The following summary of NATSAP's position on the Miller Bill is for your review:

While NATSAP strongly supports the intent of this Bill – to prevent child abuse and neglect in residential programs – NATSAP believes the Bill is flawed and will not be effective or efficient in fulfilling this intent. The Bill is flawed because it fails to protect children in state-run programs and because it creates an entirely new federal bureaucracy that will duplicate current state-led child abuse and neglect enforcement programs and state licensing programs. The Bill sponsors litigation against programs because it has no limits on attorney’s fees and punitive damage awards, and creates strict liability for standards that have not yet been drafted.

In addition to their summation NATSAP has made a call to action throughout the industry and needs the help of everyone.

NATSAP is asking everyone to please contact their Congressman immediately regarding your concerns on HR 5876, the Stop Child Abuse in Residential Programs for Teens Act of 2008. Don't wait do it now.

Ask your representative to add language supporting the application of this Bill to all programs, including state operated ones. Ask your representative to maintain state responsibility for licensing and enforcement. Any federal law should be limited to supporting, not duplicating, these existing state enforcement and licensing programs. Ask your representative to strike sections of the Bill allowing new access to federal courts and unlimited attorney’s fees and punitive damage awards.You can contact your Representative or call their staff in Washington, D.C., using the Capital Hill switchboard at (202) 224-3121. Or go to https://forms.house.gov/wyr/welcome.shtml to find contact information for your Representative.

Jan Moss Courtney, Executive Director of NATSAP has requested that the following letter be shared with you:

May 2008

Dear Families, Friends & Alumni of Residential Treatment Programs,

In the last weeks you may have received letters or emails asking you to call and write your Representative regarding HR 5876* which was approved by the House Education Committee and will be going before the House as early as this week. Many of you have already done so, and we want to thank you for your support and endorsement of the programs which have helped to change so many of our lives. These requests have provided guidelines and talking points regarding the potential impact of this legislation on therapeutic programs, but how this Bill could impact parents, families and the treatment we’ve sought for our children may still be confusing to some of you. Our intent is to provide talking points regarding this Bill and the potential impact on us!

*CLARIFICATION: There has been confusion with HR 5876 because the title of the bill is “Stop Abuse in Residential Programs for Teens Act of 2008”. While we all support stopping child abuse, the title is somewhat deceptive and doesn’t necessarily reflect the content of the actual bill. Please see the talking points below which outline parent’s concerns with this bill.

TALKING POINTS

• The Miller hearings provided a biased and distorted picture of what many, many families experience with private residential treatment programs, as Miller refused to include alumni and family witnesses for whom these programs were the catalyst for healing. Basing federal legislation on such distortion has potential to seriously damage and compromise this critical level of care.
• Many families have children in state-run or government-run programs. This bill does not protect these children. The Government Accountability Office found significant oversight lapses and exemptions from licensing in these programs which include state run correctional facilities such as military and boot camp style programs, foster care, group homes, and publicly run programs where evidence suggests the incidence of abuse and neglect is higher.
• This Bill gives telephone access to children who have already demonstrated an inability to make healthy, appropriate choices. Allowing this creates great potential to corrupt treatment and allow communication with unsafe contacts. 
• This Bill allows new access to federal courts in the form of unlimited punitive damages and unlimited attorney’s fees and costs. While access to courts should be allowed, this drastic increase of liability may cause liability insurance to be either unobtainable or prohibitively expensive, which could effectively eliminate the residential treatment option of care for our children. 
• This Bill provides authority for Health and Human Services to make any new standards they deem appropriate for the general health and safety of our children. Well intentioned, but ill-thought through legislation has already thrown the parent out with the bath water in many laws effecting our ability as parents to make decisions in the best interest of our children. All standards and regulations should be very clearly thought through, spelled out, and our input given significant regard. 
• This Bill creates a massive federal bureaucracy which duplicates and possibly intrudes upon the state. Not only would this be an enormous expense and confusing in regards to primary jurisdiction over specific allegations, but as a parent it could confuse and impact our ability to seek out and implement the help we need for our children. 

We support efforts to provide unbiased, informed, responsibly researched, well thought through and constructed legislation to protect children from abuse and neglect in EVERY residential setting. However, as written we oppose HR 5876. 

Be a part of our phone campaign!

PLEASE PUT IN MULTIPLE CALLS TO YOUR REPRESENTATIVES!
You can call many times, even daily and they will log all of your calls.

CALL YOUR REPRESENTATIVE OR THEIR STAFF
Use the Capitol Hill switchboard at (202) 224-3121 or go to https://forms.house.gov/wyr/welcome.shtmlto find contact information for your representative in the House.  

FOLLOW UP BY WRITING A LETTER
The phone campaign is the first priority, however, if you can, following up with a letter would be extremely valuable.You can write your House Representative and/or U.S. Senators expressing your opinion of HR 5876 and sharing your family's positive personal experience with residential programs (wilderness and aftercare). 

Thank you for making your voice heard in Washington!

Sincerely,

Donelyn Gamble
Alumni Parent

In the case of a missing or runaway adolescent each moment of time that is wasted on assembling information results in more of a head start for your adolescent. According to Promise House, a long standing not-for-profit agency in Dallas, Texas, more than 1.5 million teenagers go missing in the United States every year; more girls than boys run away; and of those that runaway ten per cent will not return home. If your teenager goes missing, your PACK will jump start an investigation with local law enforcement or a licensed private investigations agency.

The process to assemble a PACK for each child may take a couple of hours, but in the long run it will be well worth the time spent. SafePassage recommends that parents use a standard size plain manila envelope so that you are able to make a check list on the front of the envelope and supporting documents will be contained inside. This way in a crisis situation anyone can look at the front of the envelope and at a glance know exactly what are the contents in your PACK.

The three most important things that should appear first on the top of each PACK is the name of your child, their cell phone number and the name and cell phone number of the friend they are closest to and spend the most time with. From there SafePassage recommends the following information be contained in each PACK:

• Names of parents, siblings and current address;
• Copy of birth certificate; Drivers License or Permit; Passport; School ID;
• Recent photograph not more than six months old;
• Photographs and description of the vehicles they are permitted to drive;
• Vehicle tag numbers; VIN numbers;
• Copy of vehicle registration, tracking devices or remote locating service associated with the vehicle;
• Medical and automotive insurance;
• Names and phone numbers of doctors; dentist, orthodontist, chiropractor;  
• Blood type, height and weight;
• Current medications, allergies, diseases or conditions;
• Therapist, Educational Consultant and a brief therapeutic history if any;
• Hospitalization history;
• Cell phones – print a copy of the pages your teenagers monthly cell phone statement;
• Names, addresses and cell phone numbers of, close friends, the person your teenager is dating and photographs of them;
• Names, addresses and cell phone numbers of friends parents;
• Names and addresses of relatives that your child has a close relationship with;
• My Space and Facebook account information;
• Name and address of their Schools, guidance counselor, coach or teacher and parent volunteers who are affiliated with your         child’s activities;
• Extra-curricular activities and the locations and times of the activities;
• Local hangouts such as coffee shops, shopping malls or teen centers;
• Job – if your teenager has a job list the address, phone number and manager;
• Credit Card, Bank Card, Check Card account numbers and photocopies of these cards front and back;
• Finger prints – some parents have these from school safe kids programs.

If you have adopted children include:

• Adoption information, final adoption papers and the name and addresses of biological parents if known.

If you are divorced include:

• Divorce custody documents;
• Addresses of custodial and non-custodial parents;
• Address of child if different;
• Custodial Arrangement;
• Pending Custodial Changes;
• Siblings and their respective addresses.

Some of our Clients have duplicate PACKs for each of their children because their life situation demands it. Decide what is appropriate for your family, assemble what you need and set aside time to keep the PACKs current.

Remember to update each PACK once a month with copies of cell phone records and any new friends or hangouts. From there, any time your child has a change in their personal appearance such as they get piercings or tattoos, change their hair color or personal appearance make a note of it on the PACK and if you are able to obtain a photo include it in the pack.

At least once a year, even if you don’t think anything has changed with your child pull out the PACK and go through it. A SafePassage Client told us that they had missed some pertinent information on one child and that if they had not set aside a time to review their PACK they may have left it incomplete. Be smart; make a PACK.

But don’t fool yourself – that “tradition” is most often a “right of passage”. 

You remember.  Think back – Prom Night.  Remember?  Yep!  That’s right, and now your little angel is about to leave her warm, cozy and protected nest to go to the Prom with “what’s his name”. 

Now are you worried?  You should be.  But I may have a few ideas that will ease the tension in your neck and keep you from making that white-knuckle fist when you see “what’s his name” begin to salivate at the sight of your sweet, innocent little girl playing “dress-up” in grown up ladies’ clothes.

First, be direct.  You can still be polite (although, who cares at this point, right?).  When the boy walks in the door, as your little angel is putting the final touches on her make up for the evening back in her room, just grip his hand like a vice and smile.  Then in a low, soft tone look him directly in the eye and say, “I’m so glad you’ll be escorting my daughter tonight.  She means the world to her mother and me and I would do anything to protect her.  So, I can rest assured that nothing…nothing will happen to her, right?”

At this point, casually lead him over to your collection of firearms in the gun case and show him your favorite weapon, making sure to point out its stopping power.

“I find the Glock Model G36 Compact .45 ACP with a Single Stack Magazine, like the one I’m holding here, (pull back the slide and let it slam shut for full psychological effect) performs most effectively, especially when using 230-grain Hydra-Shok rounds.   Traveling at 900 feet  per second, it’s just a bit slower than say, my 9mm, but, WOW!  What stopping power…unbelievable.  It’ll drop a full grown man…like one your size…dead in his tracks.”  Be sure to chuckle so he thinks you’re really crazy enough to pull the trigger.

Then, just before your little angel makes her grand entrance, tell him you’ll need to make a photocopy of his driver’s license…just to have on file.  I usually let them know that, as a private investigator, I’ll be running a background check on them when they leave – just routine, ya’ know – and if it’s clear then there won’t be any problems. 

Finally, look at them both and say, “No drugs.  No drinking.  And no sex.  Got it?  Now, you two have a nice time.”

She’ll be embarrassed that you were so brazen.  He’ll just be in shock.  And the likelihood of them sneaking off somewhere to have sex will drop dramatically…because all he’ll be able to think about is that Glock and your cold as steel eyes.

Do you think I’m joking?  Not hardly.  Nothing is more precious than that little girl who is suddenly all grown up – or so she thinks.