Smack by Melvin Burgess
Skin Game: A Memoir
Lisa, Bright and Dark (Novel)
Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen

these are some good one.

books by ellen hopkins and chris crutcher have troubled teens in them.

The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton
Looking for Alaska by John Green

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.

I have 15 years experience working at a private school and I have also escorted many troubled teens to boot camps including other countries. Though I may not recommend some of these boot camps, you need to send the problematic teen to the right place for that particular teens issues. There is another program but far from Colorado I can recommend. Please feel free to contact me for any questions you may have. I will be more than happy to help.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Harry is thirteen in it and has to deal with a God father who might be the murderer of his parents.

a thousand splendid sun

dangerous minds by louanne johnson .

that is a really good book about troubled teens who are very disrespectful to their teacher, and she’s tries to help them change into better people :]

that was then, this is now by s.e. hinton is amazing too XD

It sounds like things are pretty severe if you are considering a behavior boot camp for your troubled teen, but I would urge you to not take that option lightly – they intefere so much with a child’s education and it can cause a massive rift within the family unit which is definitely best avoided. Please think hard before you do this; these boot camps can help certain cases but really aren’t the miracle cure-all their promoters make them out to be – healing has to be family-lead, and putting 100% of the blame onto the child (which in my experience of talking to these kids is what happens) isn’t always the best strategy for dealing with the situation.

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!)