Who’s watching the kids?
September 14, 2006
by John S. Adams
One year ago, the Montana Board of Private Alternative Adolescent
Residential or Outdoor Programs (PAARP) had their first meeting in
Helena, whereupon members began considering the future of regulation
of Montana’s lucrative teen-help industry. Created during the 2005
legislative session, the board set forth to “examine the benefit of
licensing private adolescent residential or outdoor programs,” of
which there are about 30 in Montana.
Around the time the board was beginning its work, Montana PBS
producer Anna Rau began her own investigation of the state’s
$40-million-a-year industry. What she found will be the subject of
an upcoming Montana PBS documentary, Who’s Watching the Kids?, set
to premiere locally Thursday, Sept. 14, at 7 p.m.
Montana is one of the last states in the country with no
oversight of the controversial teen-help industry, and according to
the 64-page report the PAARP board delivered to the state Economic
Affairs Interim Committee on Sept. 12, it looks like it will be at
least another two years before any substantial oversight legislation
may be considered. The only current PAARP recommendation requiring
legislative action would be to give the five-member board—which
includes three industry representatives—authority to require
programs to register with the board.
“We’ve got some more work to do to determine the regulatory
structure and we’ve asked for some more time to do that,” says Trout
Creek Rep. Paul Clark, who operates Galena Ridge Wilderness Program
for Teens (and authored the legislation creating the PAARP board).
Meanwhile, Rau’s documentary, which the Independent screened
earlier this week, paints a grim picture of a booming industry
shrouded in controversy and allegations of abuse in a state where no
one—to answer the question of the title—is watching the kids.
Great Falls Sen. Trudy Schmidt, chair of the Children, Families,
Health, and Human Services Interim Committee, says she’s not
satisfied the board has done enough to protect children in such
programs. She says she doesn’t believe a labor department board
stacked with industry representatives will get the job done.
“I still have concerns,” says Schmidt, who adds, “there’s a good
possibility” she’ll introduce new regulatory legislation in the next
session.
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