Military Schools and Boot Camps in Mississippi
From peer pressure to parental conflict, at-risk teens simply don’t have the tools they need to cope with the challenges they face. If your teen is depressed, rebelling against authority, abusing alcohol or drugs or engaged in risky behavior, consider an immersion program designed to help. Many parents feel that military school or boot camps are a fast solution to their teen’s behavior problems. At HelpYourTeenNow, we can point you in the right direction when it comes to finding programs, evaluating them, looking at their references and ultimately making the decision to enroll your teen. Call us for a free consultation on programs that can give your teen the structure, therapy and second chance he or she deserves.
Military Schools and Boot Camps Aren’t the Best Option for Troubled Teens
Troubled teens need structure and discipline, it’s true, but military schools and boot camps are simply not designed to give the therapy and motivation to really change the course of their lives. Many boot camps are privately run, under no state regulatory agency and engage in a hard-core, ultra physical atmosphere that can sometimes harm kids more than help them. True military schools aren’t the answer either—they are prestigious academic institutions that focus on college prep and officer training for military service. Even though military schools and boot camps are not the answer for your troubled teen, there are plenty of other options that produce lasting results.
Mississippi Regulatory Laws
The Child Residential Home Notification Act 43-16-1 (Miss. Code of 1972) gives the Mississippi State Department of Health the authority to regulate and license all care facilities for children and youth.
Private schools in Mississippi do not need licensing or accreditation to operate. They can request approval from the state Board of Education, however (Miss. Code Ann. 37-17-7). Standards for private schools in Mississippi are set out in the state’s Nonpublic Schools Accountability Standards 2004. Any approved private school must hire only state certified teachers, while non-approved schools are not required to (Nonpublic Schools Accountability Standards 2004). If a school is run by a church, it is exempt from many of the regulatory standards of secular private schools (Miss. Code Ann. 41-3-15).
(U.S. Department of Education, State Regulation of Private Schools, 2009)
Reference: http://www2.ed.gov/admins/comm/choice/regprivschl/regprivschl.pdf
Mississippi children between the ages of 4-17 diagnosed each year with ADD/ADHD: 9.9 % (2007 study, Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 2007 Study).http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/adhd/prevalence.html
For Mississippi women between 15-19 years old: 50.6 and 64.2 per 1,000 women (Center for Disease Control and Prevention 2009 Study). http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6006a6.htm?s_cid=mm6006a6_e%0d%0a
National suicide ranking: 39th. Number of deaths: 39 (crude rate of 9.0). (CDC’s WISQARS website “Fatal Injury Reports, 2010” http://www.cdc.gov/injury/wisqars/index.html;) http://www.suicidology.org/c/document_library/get_file?folderId=262&name=DLFE-629.pdf
A 2009 report showed that 13.9% of Mississippi teens abuse alcohol and 7.9% are binge drinking. Marijuana use in Mississippi teens was 4.5% and illicit drug use was at 5.3. (State Report, 2009, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.) http://www.samhsa.gov/data/States_In_Brief_Reports.aspx
Juvenile arrests in Mississippi for 2008 include 1,483 arrests for property crime, 145 arrests for violent crime, 454 arrests for drug abuse and 124 arrests for weapons violations, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. (Washington, DC: Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2009). https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/ojjdp/228479.pdf
For the 2010-2011 school year, Mississippi reported a 75 percent high school graduation rate. (U.S. Department of Education, Graduation Rates 2010-2011) http://www.governing.com/gov-data/high-school-graduation-rates-by-state.html
Summary
When teens are depressed, unmotivated or rebellious, it can just be phase they are going through. However, when behavior issues turn serious, like substance abuse, violence, illegal behavior, self-harm, poor academic performance and engaging in risky behavior, it’s time to intervene. HelpYourTeenNow will guide you in evaluating all kinds of long-term therapy programs, and give you the information you need to steer clear of military schools and boot camps. As a parent advocate group, we are ready and waiting to help parents across the country, just like you, to get your child the therapy and immersion program that best suits them. Call HelpYourTeenNow for a free consultation.
Leave a Reply