BANISHED TO BOOT CAMP

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Jill Thompson
I was in casa by the sea for 18 months,and graduated in 2002.I was there with suzie,and watched her progress really stong through the program.my life has finally picked up and has dramatically changed unlike before my program when i was out of control. i would never send my child to this program, a lot of traumatic events made it more stressful than a real life change. Suzie if you ever read this ... I hope you are doing well.

Jade from Ohio
I was sent to Casa and it was a horrible experience. Not only is it a discriminating place, but also a lonley place to be when any teenager there really needed to talk to people. People who can speak your own language also. I will never send my child there. I don't want a "program" to raise my child for me, and be the parent when the parent needs to take responsibility for their own child.

Michala
Its comments like what Kate Ash made with regards to Suzies mum being an abuser that has made our society what it is today. How can that be classed as child abuse? Maybe Kate thinks that the child should have been left to mug old ladies and take part in activities such as joyriding. Suzies mum obviously tried all avenues before sending her off. People now a days are so quick to scream abuse thats why the kids are the way they are. I am a parent of two teenagers 14 and 16 if they were disrespectful and broke laws I would certainly send them to boot camp for their own good as well as others.

Lara
i think todays society leaves our children with no respect and if this is the way to teach them respect then i see no problems. i am a parent of a teenage boy who has no respect,ive tried all paths even all authoritys for help ,this has not worked and he will not cooperate to the extent of having no education, i want my son and my family life back and i would certainly be willing to send him to a "boot camp" if there was something like this available in the uk.

Whitney
I'm speaking as a 15 year old American, and I have to say that this whole bootcamp thing seems like the best idea for many of the problem teens around here. My cousin was sent to one of these, was an absolutely rebeleous, immature, cocky little thing before going, after graduating, he was an absolute gentleman, and had plans for his life, including going to college. Boot camps shouldn't be used liberally of course, only for extreme problem cases. It's human nature to push the envelope as a teenager, but when you get out of line and start charging your parents to go to school and whatnot, it's time for a little old fasioned punishment. I don't believe any of this deep emotional problems trash, some teens just need a good punch in the face to realise they're not the big animals they thought they were. If I had a daughter or son who was just an arrogant little thing, who had no direction and was making decisions that could train wreck him or her, I wouldn't hesitate to send them to a teen boot camp.

Marsh
These camps are now needed in the UK and will in the future be more needed because of the namby pamby liberal attitudes which stop parents and schools doing what needs to be done to save this country from moral and social decline.

Matt
i believe this program ruined my life i went in only a cannabis user, and came out curiouse about all the other drugs i havent encountered, ive been out for 3 years and i am stuggling with cocaine addictions as well as other drugs, i believe the program made me mentally unstable, i have devoloped skitzsofrenia from going days without being allowed to talk in there, i attempted suicides many times, they told me i needed this program because i was in a suicidle state, b4 i went in i had never had once thought about taking my own life. that just put me into a even bigger depressed state of mind they told me my parents didnt want me and that i wasnt good anuf of person to live in the real world back. overall teenagers cant be forced to change they have to want to change.

Helen Wolfenden
Kids need to rebel, it is part of growing up. The more restictive the upbringing, the less extreme their rebellions need to be.

Also for centuries kids have received a strict upbringing, and society as a whole has thrived. The last few decades, a more relaxed approach has been prevalent and society is suffering. History stands witness to the best approach.

Sue
I too have a 14-year-old doing all the same things as Suzie.. her behaviour is very worrying. Smoking Cannabis, drinking, underage sex, contacting people off the internet, now apparently seeing the dealer, who I suppose might now try and get her on the "game".

She is receiving no education, although all the Authorities are involved. She refuses to co-operate. Her father has given up his job to be available for her during this roller coaster ride.

We want our daughter back and might well be interested in trying out this approach... Feeling very isolated and frustrated by everything.

Keith Duffy
My 16-year-old daughter wanted to live with her boy freind I naturally said "NO". She went to social services who helped her to move out and pay her and allowance!

When she turns up wiyh a baby I have no doubt that she will be reported by social services as a casualty of a poo upbringing.

Mercedes Hyde
I have a problem daughter ,she is 15 now, since she started junior school we have had an assortment of problems with her the worst is happening now. She is a bully at home, if she cannot get her own way in any matter, she will lose her temper with almost everyone around at that time, she wont go to school unless it is on her terms, i.e. going to her friends in another town, money etc.

I am learning to a certain extent how to deal with her, but she is splitting the family up, ...

It is a shame that boot camps are not available for us families in this country and have the help we need to get our kids on the right track in life. I for one and my husband would not hesitate to send her.

Katie Humphries
What a great idea! This is exactly what we need in the UK. Our daughter has been very difficult (to say the least) for many years - drugs, drink, under-age sex, running away, violence etc - and would benefit from such a camp as this.

We have asked for help in England and all they say is, 'We don't have facilities for teenagers such as this.' Our child has an attachment disorder, which most authorities do not recognise. There are plenty of psychiatrists etc for young children with ADHD, but Norfolk, especially, has absolutely nothing.

Leora
Brain washing teenagers is not the answer to social problems. It's never right to try and attempt to break someone's character and is even more unexceptable at such an early age.

True change in a person (and that includes teenagers!) can not be achieved by joining a boot camp, everyone has a reason for their behavior even if it may not seem logical to those parents of whom are in my opinion extremly narrow minded and unforgiving!

The way to go about attacking a problem is to find its source - which is in many teenager's case a pressure of some sort - and do the best you can at trying to heal that problem without forcing your child into a situation in which he or she will be under even more pressure which could lead to more drastic actions!

Ian Johnstone
The concept and practicalities of so-called boot camps is appalling. This camp was deliberately located in mexico to avoid the usual rules and regulations applied to setting up a school in the USA and UK.

Other avenues should have been explored for this girl and I would be interested in how she is coping a year or two after attending such a camp rather than months.

Mahesh Patel
We should have these boot camps HERE! That will teach respect to all these yobs in this country.

Kate Ash
I am a single parent with two children, one of whom is 18 now. I can't say that it has all been plain sailing, but the idea of sending them to 'boot camp' is appalling.

What that mother did to her daughter was truly disgusting. Where were the British Social Services whilst this child was being lied to, tricked and held against her will?

Maybe that particular mother should have made a friend of her child and not resorted to lies and subterfuge if she wanted her to improve. The sad thing is that the cycle of abuse is repeated in future generations, and when this girl has her own children, she may think that these methods are acceptable.

I cannot tell you how enraged I feel at this woman's actions... She should be prosecuted, and made to spend time in prison herself to see how it feels.

Nick Rata
Whereas I think that maybe this sort of treatment for behavioral problems has its place, I think it should be made clear that similar types of behaviour can be symptoms of sometimes serious underlying psycological problems.

Parents should think extremely carefully before subjecting their children to this type of environment as it could just make things worse.

I really think that the way it has been portrayed by your program could lead parents who are fed up with dealing with problems themselves to maybe use this type of place as an easy way out.

I'm not saying it can't work, but please think very carefully before resorting to sending children to these 'boot camps' as it could just exasperate the problem.

Unique Child
I think that these schools should have never been invented... Why should parents be allowed to trick their own teenagers into going somewhere they don't want to? I bet some people who go to these things commit suicide because of these things...!

Owen
This seems wrong, from what I can see, this seems like a system of opression and forcing students to comply to the system.

It may work but it is a cruel and heartless way to fix problem kids. It just remindes me of 1984, do as I say, not as i do; it doesn't work.

Tim
Sending children to a boot camp is shuch a good idea that I think I will do it. It is perfect for a power crazed parent, or one who can't handle a child, or one who just wants to get their kid out of the way for a bit. Well I'm loving that, especally since mentally messed-up kids is just what the world needs!

Oh yeah, and if the parent can't raise decent kids why do they become parents? These are not the only isses surounding this argument, but I hope someone considered them, as it seems the show didn't.

Shaznay
Interesting programme but isn't it very reactionary to believe difficult behaviour can only be addressed by forcing the young person out of their environment?

Carly
This is great. The children are well looked after and disciplined well. Something like this should be oppend up in the United Kingdom.

Moggy
We should have more of that type of school here in the UK. When a 15-year-old shows no respect for her parents or anyone else, then she needs the discipline to help show her the way into adulthood.