this post was submitted on 11 Jun 2025
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A Boring Dystopia

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Pretty sure they blocked me after I commented, so no screenshot.

The US essentially has no restrictions on what parents can do to their children, or pay to have done to them. These companies will show up at night, and take a child out of their bed at night. They explicitly tell parents not to warn the kid what will happen.

Imagine being woken up in the middle of the night, maybe forced to quickly pack, and then be loaded in a van. You have no idea where you are going or why or who or what is going on. You get taken to a facility which is basically a cult. You might be dumped out in rural Utah, with people that have zero training in wilderness safety, who might punish you by denying you food and water.

Children die in these places all the fucking time. There generally is no state or federal oversight of these facilities - so there aren’t really investigations. These places are havens for child predators.

When I was sexually abused at a similar facility and tried to report it - I was placed on heavy doses of antipsychotics in retaliation. They drugged me unconscious, and then punished me for sleeping during “class.” As an adult, I have involuntary shakes and movements associated with the medical malpractice enacted on me.

These places don’t get investigated, they don’t get shut down. I think Utah is one of the only states with any form of agency that watches over these places. Child protective services won’t go in, health care agencies won’t go in.

Children have no rights in the US. They are the property of their parents, to be disposed of as they wish. And fuckers like this agency are delighted to kidnap children that their parents can’t be assed to parent.

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[–] undeffeined@lemmy.ml 10 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Thank you for taking the time to write that. I can understand those circumstances, what I can't wrap my head around is the methods described. Children need acceptance and love, on top of discipline; not punishement.

[–] captainlezbian@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago

American culture fetishizes "tough love" often at the expense of empathy. Its why our culture bounces between "beat children and make them work" and "we've tried nothing and we're all out of ideas". These institutions peddle the idea that parents are too soft on bad kids and since it fits our cultural narratives parents and judges often fall for it. This leads to overcorrection ("just talk it through with kids without punishment or consequences") that reinforces the narrative.

There's also this idea that teenagers arent really people with rights yet. Like, its insane to me that one can force a 16 year old into such a place against their will. They aren't adults yet, but they're close and deserve basic rights. But we have a strong cultural feeling of pater potestas when it comes to underage people.

[–] LandedGentry@lemmy.zip 9 points 2 days ago

That’s the other twisted side of all of this. Most of the time, it’s parents who think they are doing what is best for theirchildren. They truly want them to be happy and are just doing the best they can. These horrible organizations suck up their money and prey on their hope