The past fifteen years has seen a major change in parents being able to find an effective, ethical and safe
source of information when needing a treatment program or wilderness camp for their at-risk youth.
Searching on the Internet is definitely a challenge. Many parents and even professionals are turning to the Internet to find solutions and support for struggling and troubled teens as well as young adults.
Advertising and marketing practices have created real challenges for a family when searching for information on the Web. There are hundreds if not thousands of return link sites to various websites that link to each other for the mutual benefit and FREE advertising with no oversight of the actual advertiser. They just list everyone that links to them. This is having an effect on parents and their children, giving them many more resources in which to turn when their struggling or troubled child needs help. These thousands of websites all promise to help with the crisis at hand. With all this information, and what many times ends up being mass mailings of brochures and countless telephone calls from a call center, parents are faced with the responsibility of not making a mistake when choosing what is in the best interest of their child. Listed below are ten of the most common questions I ask you to consider. I present this with the hope that parents and professionals who are making such a serious and perhaps life changing search will carefully and slowly look at whom they have connected with before making any choices that will affect them and their child.
1.) Who runs the site? Any reputable Web site will make it easy for you to see who is
responsible for the site and its content. Most will have a Contact, Privacy Policy, Site
Map and/or Services link.
2.) Who pays for the site? The source of a Web site’s funding can influence its content.
Sites ending in .gov represent a government-funded site. Sites with the .edu endings are
affiliated with schools. Sites with .org are run by nonprofit organizations. Other sites
may be sponsored by drug companies or financed through the sale of advertisements or
products. Many are independently owned by the person or a person providing services
and this does need to be stated.
3.) What is the purpose of the site? A site’s mission statement is often found under the
Contact or Services link or may even have its own Mission Statement menu link.
4.) Where does the information come from? Many struggling teen and troubled teen
help Web sites post information collected from other Web sites. The original source
needs to always be clearly labeled and referenced.
5.) What is the basis of the information? The site needs to describe the evidence
supporting the contents. Facts and figures need to have references, as do articles and
other references. Advice or opinions need to be clearly separated from information based
on evidence.
6.) How is the information selected? Do people with ethical and strong qualifications
review everything before it is posted?
7.) How current is the information? Web sites need to be reviewed and updated on a
regular basis. Somewhere on the site should be a statement about how often the site is
updated or when the last update took place. Check the Mission Statement.
8.) What information about you does the site collect and why? Any credible site that
asks you to become a member or register needs to tell you how it will use your data that
it collects. Beware of sites that will take your address and browsing history and sell it to
companies that want to contact you about all sorts of things.
9.) Does the information sound too good to be true? Web sites offering a guaranteed
miracle fix for a struggling or troubled teen, or suggesting they know how to work with
every child no matter what their struggles or diagnosis, and offer to have your child
back to the way you remember them before the crisis, are unlikely to hold valid
information. We do not recommend Boot Camps. There are no quick fixes that are long
lasting. Look for a staff page, contact page with address and phone number.
When these are missing, more than likely this is a telemarketing web site that is
connected to a call center looking for parents in crisis to make an immediate decision.
This is dangerous for you and your child.
10.) Is the site asking you to do something? Be careful of any site that wants you to take
immediate action. No matter how reasonable the advice sounds, no matter how quickly
they can get you a loan, no matter how fast they can come pick up your child. Do not
make any quick decisions about your child’s needs without checking references and even
speaking to another person you trust to make sure you are not over reacting or acting
too quickly and making a rushed decision.
Reputable web sites can provide instant access to high-quality information. However, please remember,
search engines are not designed to be applicable just to you and whatever it is you typed in while
searching for help. Google, for example, uses a complex formula with more than 100 factors, including
the popularity of a site, to determine the order of search results. The needs of your child and your family
must always be a priority, even during a crisis.
Our Mission and Our Vision
