FamilyLight^sm is breaking new ground by providing an on-line support service for people who want to do a school search or program search using the Internet.  For parents who are not experts on this, getting it right is a formidable task.  Some have said it is impossible for parents to get it right from the Internet without professional guidance. Our goal is to make that possible.  We can't make it easy to do it well.  We hope to make it possible to do it well. 

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We will gradually expand this resource indefinitely.  We currently have significant guidance for families doing their own search, but we acknowledge that there are many gaps.  We expect to develop this sufficiently by the end of 2008 that it will be recognized as an essential resource for families doing their own search. By the end of 2009, we hope to have expanded to the point that inexperienced people can, with sufficient effort, do a very competent school or program search organized according to the guidance only on this website and websites web our links point to. 

A quality job of selecting a school or treatment center involves three steps:

1. Determining the needs of the person to attend the school or treatment center ("person of concern").

2. Determining criteria for what would be a good school or treatment center for that person, based upon the needs of that person, and general criteria or guidelines for what constitutes a quality school or treatment center. 

3. Locating the school or treatment center that most closely meets the criteria determined in #2 above.

The usual approach to this by people who are inexperienced is to  start examining specific schools and programs and listening to marketing pitches from their admission people.  You do need to do that but you are not ready to do that until you have carefully gone through steps 1 and 2.

Parents who have tried to search from the Internet often say that the all the web sites of the schools and programs look alike.  We plan to clarify the differences. 

FamilyLight^sm resources that are currently available on this website are in our sections on Program Reviews, and Guidelines.  We are beginning to develop sections on Determining Need and Topics of Interest.  Stay tuned for further developments.

It bears repeating that these three steps are crucial steps and they are too often overlooked by parents doing their own search, and even by some professionals.

Only after you have taken steps #1 and #2, it is constructive to begin step #3.  When you do that, remember that many schools and therapeutic programs are marketed by websites that claim to be neutral referral sources but are acting in exchange for some valuable consideration.  Admission people simply sales people of a specific kind.  Many are highly ethical and are concerned for your interest, but too many are simply working for a quota or a commission.  Many of the parents and  professionals recommending and giving testimonials are plants on the payroll of the schools and programs they recommend.  That may be a direct payment, or it may simply consist in lavish entertainment of referring professionals -- or many ploys in between.  Our experience suggests that many if not most referrals are influenced by some concealed conflict of interest.  Be very careful about your sources of information.  

Especially public sector referrals are too often based simply on who has space available, rather than on a criterion of who can best meet the needs.  Even worse, it can be based upon political connection. 

At this point we want to identify some of the pitfalls of trying to do this on your own, so that you might avoid them.

• Make sure you consider our guidelines.  No school or program will meet all guidelines. But think carefully about whether or not the program you are considering meets each guideline and how important that you consider each guideline to be.

• When schools or programs make a promise to you (whether or not it involves our guidelines) make sure that promise is incorporated into your written contract with that facility. 

• Don't assume a specific school or program is right for you just because it did a good job with someone else.  The best programs do not try to be all things to all people and do an excellent job with a specifically targeted group.

• Most parents searching off the Internet end up being guided by paid marketers who masquerade as neutral referral sources.

  • Know the website that guides you.  Most (not all) of the websites that appear to be  "impartial" directories and recommendations are actually marketing fronts for specific programs.  Find out why a website recommending programs is on the the web and making those recommendations.  (In our case, this website is a promotional device to attract paid clients to our individual service -- and we anticipated to making access to parts of the website subject to user payment.) 

  • Most parents searching for programs on the web ultimately reach people paid "per admission" who deny that is the situation, but they guide people only to programs who pay them.

  • One "foundation" that recommends programs to parents makes a few free referrals to a program it wants to work with, then solicits as "contribution."  They then refer to programs that make regular "contributions."  They claim to be a not for profit foundation but court documents in a lawsuit allege that it is a for profit corporation. The programs that rely on this system (not all) tend to be inferior programs.  (See below for some other web resources that are helpful)

  • One chain of programs gives a parent a free month of tuition for each new enrollment brought in by that parent.  They are rumored to provide a web site to parents who are attempting to do that kind of recruiting. Normally the fact that the parent recommending the program has a financial incentive is concealed.

  • One very large corporation that operates facilities is lavish in entertaining referral sources as an explicit "thank you" for referrals.  A surprisingly number of clinicians speak of this company as the "only" reliable company offering treatment.  We wonder what incentives have been provided to these people. We don't think this corporation makes actual cash payments to referral sources, but they do put on lavish entertainment at "educational" programming at posh resorts and describe these junkets as a "thank you" for referral. 

  • Look at the publicly available legal papers in a lawsuit to see how this works.  We do not affirm that the allegations of the lawsuit are true as applied to the people and facilities named. Our concern here is only to point out that this sort of thing is common when parents search on the web. We have no personal  or direct knowledge of this particular case. 

  • When schools, programs, and conglomerates rely on this kind of marketing, we assume they lack the confidence that they can succeed in business on the strength of the quality of their facilities. 

• Make sure you understand the biases of the people advising you. All of us have biases.  We have tried to make ours transparent.  (In our case, this website is a promotional device to attract paid clients to our individual service -- and we anticipated to making access to parts of the website subject to user payment. Our Guidelines tell you what characteristics we favor. We are also more likely to favor programs where we know well the people who operate those programs) 

• Unless you are working with a highly trusted and highly competent professional, get input from multiple sources  -- and even then second opinions have a value.  The best professionals respect the choice of clients to seek second opinions.  So far as web searches are concerned, we hope you will take our input seriously but not rely on it alone.  See what others also have to say. 

• Be careful of websites and other information sources that simply attack any program or school they can.  Frankly, there are people who appear to be attempting to get the entire industry shut down by imposing regulation that would make quality programs for kids not viable.  Some of the attack purports to be research based. But in general these attacks mislead by taking the worst examples and making them seem like across the board problems. 

  • In fairness, this attack has resulted in higher standards for everyone.   However, the studies that I am aware of that purport to show that residential intervention is less effective than home treatment do not separate the programs that serve private families on a competitive basis, and do not distinguish the children that all would agree would be better served at home.  No one is suggesting that residential intervention is for everyone. 

Some of the criticisms from some of these sources is appropriate and has led to improvements. Some is not. You need to discriminate.

Some helpful resources on the web include

1. Struggling Teens is  a website and array publications offered by an educational consultant of high integrity, Lon Woodbury. This website includes a wealth of information.  The website is supported by advertising, and does not include a great deal of information that is highly critical of schools and programs.  It does include some information that we don't particularly agree with -- and I am sure Lon Woodbury would not agree with all that I have on this website.  But it is a conscientious source. 

2. The National Association of Therapeutic Schools and Programs (NATSAP)  is an organization special schools and treatment and intervention programs. Most of the students that we refer to are members of this organization.  FamilyLight^sm does not recommend or endorse all members of NATSAP and does recommend some that are not members of NATSAP.  But this is information from a credible organization.

3. The Independent Educational Consultants Association (IECA), of which Tom Croke is a member, is the professional association of Educational Consultants.  This includes a directory that lists Tom and most of his competitors.  It also includes the ethical standards binding on its members.  We have explained elsewhere on this website why we believe our methods are better than others, but we also want to say that members of IECA are worthy competitors. 

4. The National Association of Wilderness Camps is the professional association of Outdoor programs.  Again, we do not endorse all of these, but believe this website is a credible resource.

5. The Association of Mediation and Transport Services is a very newly formed association of the larger escort/transport services about which we have mixed feelings. This is more a promotional and marketing organization on behalf of its members than anything else. We hope that they sincerely aspire to become a true professional organization that represents their profession, but we do not believe they represent enough of the best organizations in this business to qualify as a professional group that speaks for a profession.  So far none of the small "one transport team" companies have joined, and we think these tend to be the better providers. We hope it was not formed for the purpose of squeezing the "little guys" out.  This is not for transport organizations what the American Psychological Association is for psychologists.  But it does help you to connect with the larger transport organizations.

In order to do a proper search, you need first to understand what the specific needs of your son or daughter are. We will be developing suggestions for learning to understand that on our page Determining Need (not yet developed at this time).   Far too many parents do not give sufficient attention to this step. 

Once you understand the need, your next step is to outline the characteristics you need to see in a school or treatment center that will meet your son's or daughter's needs.  Only when you have identified that are you ready to start looking at specific schools and other resources. 

In addition,  our Guidelines section suggests guidelines we would like schools, treatment centers, and other resources to meet.  We acknowledge that our guidelines are far more exacting than schools, treatment centers, and other resources are likely to meet at this time.  But we think parents searching for themselves should be aware of the issues involved. 

Our Directory might be of some help to you. Initially, this will be an Excel file you can download, but we plan over time to create a searchable data base.  When Developed, we will have commentary on many schools and programs and on topics of Interest.  We hope these and other areas of our web site will be of help.  Currently, what we have is without charge.  At some point we will begin to charge for access. 

Happy hunting!  We hope what we offer here on the web will be of value to you. 

Last revised August 23, 2008.