Tenn. investigates ex-gay camp

[kweerwolf]

(Remember all the posts about the 16-year-old Tennessee boy sent against his will to an "ex-gay" camp? Here's a follow-up on the story. Apparently the state is investigating the unlicensed facility!)

The state of Tennessee has begun an investigation in response to allegations of child abuse at Love in Action, a Memphis facility that advertises homosexual conversion therapy for adolescents, according to the state department of health.

K. Daniele Edwards, a spokesperson for Child Services at the Tennessee Department of Health, confirmed an investigation is underway but declined to comment on the details. She noted that she presumes the Love in Action program would require licensing by the state.

Love in Action is not licensed by the Tennessee Departments of Health, Mental Health, Human Services, Child Services or Education, according to Rachel Lassiter of Gov. Phil Bredesen's communications office.

Refuge, Love in Action's program for adolescents, became the focus of public concern earlier this month after a Bartlett, Tenn., teen who uses the blogger name Zach, posted online entries that say his parents had responded to his coming out as gay by sending him to a religious institution to be converted to heterosexuality.

http://www.nyblade.com/thelatest/thelatest.cfm?blog_id=1265

[Egalia]

1. good news but..

the only problem is the state of Tennessee has a dysfunctional government. I'm hoping they act fast and don't blow this, but at the rate they move, the investigation could end sometime in 2006.

Not to diss my state, but..

http://guerillawomentn.blogspot.com/2005/06/zach-tn-state-investigating-child.html

[Meeker Morgan]

2. What kind of license would they have ...

... if they were not "unlicensed"?

[thegreatwildebeest]

3. Most camps...

Most camps have to have some sort of license akin to a private school. The problem is, as found with the many "synon" drug camps in the late 80's/early 90's, many of these camps run not only without one, but without even any semblance of a program, lacking trained health professionals, decent food, decent housing, and often times resort to abusive/coercive methods of getting kids to "stop" their addictions. After most of them got shut down in the 90's, many of them changed their tact and either renamed or relocated in order to get into the booming market of militayr styled boot camps and gay conversion.

[MountainLaurel]

4. If they're offering "mental health" services

I would guess that they'd need licensed practitioners rather than Pastor Jim Bob.