A group of about 50 parents of children enrolled in a substance-abuse program said Saturday they are concerned that recent media reports have not told the whole story behind the program.
The parents converged on the offices of Salt Lake's media outlets to complain about television and some newspaper accounts concerning KIDS of Greater Salt Lake and to express their strong support of the program that has changed their children's lives for the better."We were concerned that things that happened this past week that were negative . . . would leave the impression that this program was over-hard, domineering and abusive," said John Wilcox. "We came to give our evidence that the program is based on love."
Wilcox was referring to the arrests of two peer counselors of the adolescent drug and alcohol treatment center after a 19-year-old man was allegedly forced to return to the program's facilities last Tuesday.
The patient, who failed to sign out before walking away from the center at 464 W. Bearcat Drive, was allegedly followed to the area of 2600 South and 600 West, and, when he refused to return to the center, was allegedly forced into the car, said South Salt Lake police detective Gary Foster.
The man was later released to his parents.
Ajhe-Dada Carpinelli, 19, of Salt Lake City, and Dana K. Sewell, 22, of Midvale, were arrested Friday afternoon and booked into the Salt Lake County Jail for investigation of unlawful detention and assault, according to jail records. Both are class B misdemeanors.
The parents of other patients in the program said they do not condone such an incident but don't believe the program should be judged on one unfortunate incident.
"We recognize those two kids, in their zeal to save a peer, overreacted not out of malice or viciousness, but out of a heartfelt concern," Wilcox said. "In spite of what has occurred, we all support the program 110 percent."
The parents said some of the patients eventually become staff members and counselors to others going through the program. The younger patients can often relate to such counselors because they have been through the program themselves and the counselors can truly empathize and also receive therapeutic benefits, said Bruce Collet, Centerville.
"We are terribly concerned that this (negative publicity) not force the junior staff program to fold," he said.
Collet said at least one group has already withdrawn funding it had planned to give to KIDS as a result of the publicity surrounding last week's incident. However, in response to that withdrawal, the parents' group got together Friday night and raised $35,000 for the program.
"That was the sixth mile that we went to last night to save the program," Wilcox said. "It wasn't the second mile or the third, but the sixth."
Many of the parents said they have made great sacrifices to enroll their children in the program. Before the program became available in Utah last July, 22 families went to New Jersey to have their children treated in the program.
Other parents said they made great sacrifices to move to Utah so their children could receive treatment here.
Darlene Rajski, of El Paso, Texas, said that when the KIDS program in El Paso went bankrupt, she thought her world had collapsed. Unlike psychiatrists and hospitals, the program had helped her 15-year-old daughter, who had been a runaway with an alcohol and drug problem.
She decided to send her daughter to the program in Salt Lake City. "I followed (her) up here a month later. I gave up my house, my job, my friends and my family. If this was not a worthwhile program, I would not have done this," she said.
"My daughter would be dead now without it."
The parents delivered dozens of letters explaining their belief in the KIDS program and the benefits their families have received.
A statement issued by KIDS of Greater Salt Lake said the clinical staff person in charge at the time "immediately suspended" the staff members pending an internal investigation.
The suspension of the counselors was upheld at a Friday morning meeting of the board of directors of the center.
Stating that it is KIDS policy and practice to prohibit the physical retention or restraint of adult patients, the statement said the center "in no way condones, endorses or supports the use of physical means of returning adult clients to treatment."