Pathway Family Center Protest
Posted by Media Release
Wednesday, October 15th 2008
Guest article by WD Tony
On Friday, September 26th a group of people gathered outside of a nondescript building in Miami Township to protest Pathway Family Center. Some of the protesters are local but some drove from out of town to demonstrate their concerns.
Pathway Family Center has a sordid past, started by a former STRAIGHT Incorporated parent and reported by recent clients to be using techniques that were once used in that facility. A reasonable effort has been made on several occasions to create a dialogue with program executives to no avail. We are repeatedly told to “go home and get a life”.
This has been the 14th protest in a row at this program over the course of a year and there is always some type of interaction by those in support of the program and those opposing Institutionalized child abuse. So far, I would estimate that the police have been called five times and not one time was anyone arrested, charged or convicted of anything. In fact, I don’t recall anyone committing any crime or breaking any law. It would seem that those calling the police are trying to intimidate our group by using the local police as hired guns.
Bill HR 6358 is a bill directly concerning our efforts to raise awareness about the dangers of privately-owned, residential treatment programs. Its title, “Stop Child Abuse in Residential Programs for Teens Act of 2008” speaks for itself and adds critical facts of confirmed abuse and deaths in these programs, according to Greg Kutz of the Government Accountability Office. What is most troubling to me is that there have been two hearings on this subject and the bill has passed the committee and the house of Representatives without any major media attention about the content of the findings. American teenagers are confirmedly abused and dying in these programs due to neglect and a façade of regulatory oversight. What some have been alleging for years is finally proven and it is not reported to the American people.
Unfortunately this seems to be a partisan issue. After checking to see the status of the bill and voting record of each Representative I noticed an alarming pattern. One Hundred and Three Republicans voted against this bill and Zero Democrats voted against it. Yes, that is correct, more than half of the Republican House voted against a bill to stop child abuse. I immediately went to the courthouse and changed my party registration which just happened to be Republican prior to this fascinating find.
There is big money to be made according to recent reports that suggest, it costs parents Sixty Five thousand dollars to enroll their child into the Pathway program. What’s more is that the kids stay in host homes overnight which begs the question, “where is all of the money going”? I can’t say with any certainty but I might theorize that some of that money is making its way to the Republicans in the House of Representatives. This could very well turn into a very large scandal for some in high positions of authority.
One of the biggest problems with the abuse in the program in the past has been that parents are forbidden to communicate with their child until the executive program staff decide that the child has earned the privilege to do so. While I was being psychologically tortured as a teenager, this was the single most damaging aspect to my being abused. If I had been able to complain to anyone in the outside world, I would have had a chance to convey the tragedy occurring. I have received several reports by both program staff and recent clients that this restriction of communication is still being implemented. This is very troubling to me.
As I study programs for teens and the similarities between them, I realize that what was done to me was nothing unique or isolated. This type of Institutionalized abuse is a widespread problem in this country. I also have been studying the phenomenon of cults. The strange thing about this is, I was never interested in studying cults but little did I know, I had been entered into one against my will as a teenager. Once I recognized all of the methods that cults use and that all of those techniques were used when I was in the program, something began to emerge for me. I can now clearly see that the program I was entered into was a damaging mind control cult.
Kids Helping Kids, Pathway Family Center, SAFE, Possibilities Unlimited and several other (self proclaimed) drug rehabilitation programs for teens can be linked to individuals who were involved directly with STRAIGHT Incorporated.
When former program parents are asked their opinion, they state that the parents don’t really see all that goes on inside of the program and that anything questionable is explained away in some form or another. The parents seem to be bullied by the program as well as the parents around them to just relax and that everything is taken care of. If anyone starts to ask too many questions, the group of parents turns on them and uses a mob mentality to stop that parent from asking questions. The immense social force in the program is said to be enough to silence most and intimidate all.
After this last protest it is evident to me that victims who were abused in programs and parents alike must come together to speak out about this mistreatment. In the last year we have seen a large increase in those willing to communicate what happened with their program experience and I believe it is only a matter of time before these programs will be forced to answer for their actions or be closed down completely.