Teen escort company

Teen escort company, also called a youth transport firm, is a term used in the United States to describe a business that specializes in forcibly transporting teenagers from their homes to various facilities.

United States

As a transport option, parents in the United States are able to hire teen escort companies to transport their children from their homes to residential treatment centers (RTCs). Private Residential Programs go by many names, and include private religious re-education facilities,[1] teen residential programs, wilderness therapy programs, therapeutic boarding schools, boot camps, or behavior modification programs.[2]

Parents may use this type of service when they believe their child needs treatment outside the home, but are not willing to travel there. In 2004 it was estimated that there were more than twenty teen escort companies operating in the United States.[3][2]

Often teens to be transported are picked up during the night to take advantage of their initial disorientation and to minimize confrontation and flight risk.

The use of such services is controversial, because the services are subject to little or no government regulation[3][4][5] and because they are associated with treatment services which are themselves controversial. For teenagers seized in the middle of the night by strangers, being abducted by a teen escort company may result in permanent trauma.[5]

References
  2. The Exploitation of Youth and Families in the Name of “Specialty Schooling:” What Counts as Sufficient Data? What are Psychologists to Do? by Allison Pinto, Robert M. Friedman, and Monica Epstein, Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute, University of South Florida. American Psychological Association, CYF Newsletter, Summer 2005 (file dated 9/28/2005). Page 3.
  3. "Residential Treatment Programs for Teens Consumer Information". www.consumer.ftc.gov. Retrieved 2016-03-15.
  4. Want your kid to disappear? by Nadya Labi, Legal Affairs, July–August 2004 and Journalism Center Awards: Nadya Labi Archived 2008-03-19 at the Wayback Machine
  5. "Dangers of teen escort transport ASTART for Teens". www.astartforteens.org. Retrieved 2016-03-15.
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