TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE(S), VISIT AZCENTRAL.COM. THE ARIZONA REPUBLIC NEWSPAPER WILL HAVE A FULL UDPATE EACH DAY OF THIS WEEK.
UPDATE: Indeed, the Arizona Republic published not five, but six days of feature reporting specific this investigation, which concluded this weekend with the following article information. At this time, all of the articles are available in full and on-line at:
azcentral.com
Troubled Teens:At Risk and Overlooked
DAY 6F E B R U A R Y 23, 2012
By Rob O’Dell and Craig Harris The Republic | azcentral.com
Sat Feb 23, 2013 11:42 PM
Arizona spends tens of millions of dollars each year to temporarily institutionalize troubled youths while a growing number of states get better results at a lower cost by leaving children in their homes and bringing the services to them, experts say.
An Arizona Republic investigation has found that allegations of abuse and other problems inside juvenile residential treatment centers are common, but the reports go largely unaddressed by state regulators. Given these issues, and the high cost of such care, experts say it might be time for Arizona to look at a different approach to treating youths with emotional, behavioral or addiction problems — one that’s shown promise elsewhere.
Known as wraparound services, this approach to intensive treatment sends only the most problematic children to institutional treatment centers for short-term stabilization in crisis situations. Otherwise they remain at home, where they see counselors who can provide a variety of services ranging from therapy and crisis intervention to respite care for parents.
Arizona children, meanwhile, can spend years in treatment centers, sent there either by family members or by court orders intended to get them treatment for emotional, behavioral or substance-abuse problems.
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THIS IS ONLY A PARTIAL ASPECT OF THIS ARTICLE. I HIGHLY ENCOURAGE ALL OF MY READERS TO READ THESE ARTICLES IN FULL. THEY CAN BE VIEWED AT:Sat Feb 23, 2013 11:42 PM
Arizona spends tens of millions of dollars each year to temporarily institutionalize troubled youths while a growing number of states get better results at a lower cost by leaving children in their homes and bringing the services to them, experts say.
An Arizona Republic investigation has found that allegations of abuse and other problems inside juvenile residential treatment centers are common, but the reports go largely unaddressed by state regulators. Given these issues, and the high cost of such care, experts say it might be time for Arizona to look at a different approach to treating youths with emotional, behavioral or addiction problems — one that’s shown promise elsewhere.
Known as wraparound services, this approach to intensive treatment sends only the most problematic children to institutional treatment centers for short-term stabilization in crisis situations. Otherwise they remain at home, where they see counselors who can provide a variety of services ranging from therapy and crisis intervention to respite care for parents.
Arizona children, meanwhile, can spend years in treatment centers, sent there either by family members or by court orders intended to get them treatment for emotional, behavioral or substance-abuse problems.
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AZCENTRAL.COM
This article, which is only a segment of the full article, goes farther than the entire history of the Arizona Department of Health Services has under the leadership of director Will Humble. It offers an alternative, suggesting nothing more than a need for change on the basis of well founded and undeniable evidence that proves the fact that Arizona's highly vulnerable and mentally or behaviorally ill juveniles are being subject to a range of criminally depraved treatment. Will Humble, on the other, offers nothing than knee jerk denials founded upon no such evidence, while simultaneously declaring that there is no evidence in support of the full range of issues presented by two very well qualified investigative journalists, Rob O'Dell and Craig Harris. In other words, Humble's only willing to debate these matters, rather than admit on any level at all that irrefutable evidence in conflict with his position has any merit. This is precisely how my work specific to The Arizona State Hospital has been handled by Humble and his staff, patent denials and utter refusals to consider evidence to the contrary. It's goddamn ridiculous, it really is, and either this man is as thick skinned and unscrupulous a state official as the entire history of Arizona has ever seen (and that's a deeply grave history, too, as anyone conscientious Arizonan knows), or he is just plain stupid. Really stupid. I have already alluded to his status as a sold down the river bureaucrat, but as these last details from the AZ Republic investigation play out, it is clear that the problem goes far behind that basic characteristic. But for any highly ranked and far more than reasonably paid state official to snub the implications of such reporting, wherein the most seriously mentally ill and disabled juveniles and adults are begin subject to highly criminal forms of emotional, psychological, physical and sexual abuse, is simply beyond understanding. I could hardly care, of course, why these people are so miserably below par in terms of their obligations specific to their job descriptions. All I care about are the patients, and seeing to it that these people no longer get away with this shit. It has to stop now.
The significance of this situation cannot be overstated at this time. The relationship of the issues arising via these media reports and the issues specific to my reporting about the substandard conditions at The Arizona State Hospital is one and the same. As such, the work of the Arizona Republic's reporters in this case has immediate bearing on the evolution of my work specific to ASH, enough so that I see great potential in terms of this process as it stands today. I have always been very aware of the fact that the presence of graphic patient abuse at ASH, and administrative failings of ASH's executive officers and senior clinicians to do anything about it, has everything to do with related problems in the state agency (ADHS) obligated to oversee the practices at ASH, and I have, in fact, personally experienced grossly substandard responses from various officials in the ADHS Office of Grievances and Appeals ever since I first turned to them not long after my admission to ASH in January, 2011. And thanks to these articles in Republic, I somewhat get the feeling that it is only a matter of time before these rat bastards go down, at all levels of authority at ASH and in the Arizona Department of Health Services/Behavioral Health Services.
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I would really love input of any kind from anybody with any interest whatsoever in the issues that I am sharing in this blog. I mean it, anybody, for I will be the first one to admit that I may be inaccurately depicting certain aspects of the conditions
at ASH, and anonymous comments are fine. In any case, I am more than willing to value anybody's feelings about my writing, and I assure you that I will not intentionally exploit or otherwise abuse your right to express yourself as you deem fit. This topic is far, far too important for anything less. Thank you, whoever you are. Peace and Frogs.