Most parents and guardians have tough times with their teens. My daughter was a very troubled teen and put me and the rest of the family through hell for years. I sought help but it did not occur to me to give up and pass her off to strangers to try and sort her problems out.

We continued to love, support, encourage and attempt to discipline her, regardless of what she did, she knew she could always count on us to be there for her, even though most of the time she professed to hate us.

She is now in her first year at university facing a bright future, a credit to the family. I would bet a lot of money that this would never have happened if we had sent her away. She even has regrets and understands some of some of the trauma she put her family through and the damage this caused.

Why not spend the money on getting professional help to try to sort out the problems she has within the family. Rather than thinking a cheap of even expensive school and group of strangers can supply the care and help she needs.

Well, let’s see.

Straight-derived (and don’t expect a facility to tell you that it is)? Straight was shut down for abuse.

CEDU-derived (and don’t expect a facility to tell you that it is)? CEDU was shut down for abuse.

Aspen Education Group? Their Youth Care facility DIDN’T care when some kid died, screaming, of a bowel infarction. They said he died in his sleep (impossible- bowel infarctions are extremely painful and take hours to kill you).

WWASPS-derived (again, don’t expect a facility to tell you..)? Four words: High Impact Dog Cages. Don’t google that unless you want nightmares.

Thayer Learning Center? Kills kids and is being sued for it.

Yeah, these prices look pretty steep to me. You might want to find something a little cheaper…

Even if there was a good one out there, how would you know? Shutting the abusive hellholes down is like playing whack-a-mole. Care to play five-bullet Russian Roulette with your kid? You’re gambling with a hell of a lot more than money here.

It’s a simple flaw in the paradigm. You CAN NOT send your kid somewhere to “be cured”, especially not to people who don’t have any credentials, and hope to get an actual good kid back. It simply does not work that way.

Now if your question had been “How do I deal with a defiant or drug-using teen” I would redirect you to Functional Family Therapy or some other proven, systemic model used by actual psychologists that doesn’t promise absolute cures. Try again with a question like that and you’ll probably get answers less horrifying than this one.

(Oh, and bring your kid in and have her read THIS ANSWER. See how it goes!)

I’m afraid i don’t know about California but i do know in the UK, they have programs for teenagers with Behavioral problems in government school. there are also special schools, the PRU, it’s usually when teenagers are violent.

if insurance or child wlefare or teh school district won’t pay for it-you are out of luck-

if there are problems in school-ask fro a special ed eval-with a foucs on locating a residential palcement

also call child services–all states have programs for mentally ill children that might include residnetail placemnt