Advocacy - Table of Contents
- Land Management
- New Proposed Outfitting and Guiding Policy Released
- Wilderness Adventure Therapy
- H.R. 6358 - Stop Child Abuse in Residential Programs for Teens Act of 2008
- US Bureau of Land Management, National Instruction Memorandum
- Other Concerns regarding HR 6358 and what YOU can do
AEE Accreditation Advocacy Work
The AEE Accreditation Program is continually working to advocate on behalf of accredited AND non-accredited adventure education programs. In 2007 and 2008 we worked to educate and inform land managers and the Committee on Education and Labor at the U.S. House of Representatives regarding wilderness therapy programs. See below for details.
Land Management
In response to the growing demand for operating permits on U.S. public lands, AEE continued its efforts to educate land managers about the AEE Accreditation Program and its published standards. We asked all accredited programs to submit their contact information for the land managers that they work with. In return, we sent a letter that notified those land managers of the accredited programs in their district and what AEE Accreditation means. We also included a copy of the Manual of Accreditation Standards for Advenutre Programs so they could learn more about the process. From the information provided we shipped information packets the U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Park Service. These packets made their way to employees at Department of Interior and Agriculture in Washington, D.C. all the way to the district and unit levels in places such as Denver and Salida, Colorado. We encourage all accredited programs to submit their land management contact information to AEE so that we can continue to advocate on their behalf.
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New Proposed Outfitting and Guiding policy released
On October 19, 2007 the U.S. Forest Service published the "Proposed Directives for Forest Service Outfitting and Guiding Special Use Permits and Insurance Requirements for Forest Service Special Use Permits." The proposed regulations could, "...establish a flat land use fee for temporary use permits...to facilitate greater participation in outfitting and guiding by youth, educational and religious groups." "In addition, the Forest Service is proposing changes to a directive governing insurance requirements for Forest Service special use permits."
AEE is working with the USFS to announce the proposed changes and comment period to it's members and encourage participation by giving input. If your program operates on Forest Service lands we ask that you pay attention to this issue.
To access the Federal Register Notice describing the proposed changes and the draft Forest Service Handbook and Manual directives for your review click here.
To post your comments regarding the proposed changes go to http://www.regulations.gov/. The quickest way to access the document is to click on the "search for documents" tab towards the top of the homepage. There under "Document ID" type FS-2007-0008-0001. Under "Date Posted" type 10/19/2007.
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Wilderness Adventure Therapy
During the week of October 8th, 2007 the House of Representatives Education and Labor Committee met regarding "Cases of Child Neglect and Abuse at Private Residential Treatment Facilities". Chaired by Congressman George Miller (CA), the committee specifically focused on areas of the field classified as "boot camps", "wilderness programs" and "behavior modification facilities".
The hearings included the committee's investigative staff, family members who have lost children to accidents in adventure therapy programming, the executive director of the National Association of Therapeutic Schools and Programs and others. During these hearings the adventure therapy world was painted with a broad brush and presented in a negative light.
AEE responded with the following letters.
Letter to Congressman Miller from Pat Hammond
Letter to Congressman Miller from Jude Hirsch on behalf of the AEE Accreditation Council
H.R. 6358 - Stop Child Abuse in Residential Programs for Teens Act of 2008
As many of you know, H.R. 6358 (Stop Child Abuse in Residential Programs for Teens Act of 2008) has the potential to significantly affect the field of adventure therapy. For this edition, we've compiled a number of perspectives from a number of the field's stakeholders. If you have a perspective you'd like to share in next month's AEE eBlast, please submit it to membership@aee.org.
From Stephen Glass, Executive Director of Project D.A.R.E./Wendigo Lake Expeditions, Chair of TAPG
This bill passed in the House on June 25, 2008 and will go to the Senate later this year. It was pushed through the house with provisions that I believe will allow for good quality programs to operate without fear of going out of business. The amended version of the bill specifically added language to
1) include everyone (public and private programs, psychiatric hospitals and foster care group homes),
2) prohibit unlimited punitive damages, and
3) mandate documentation on covered programs.
I believe the concerns that remain include whether there is enough opportunity for states to show they are taking steps to enforce standards and issues around liability remain.
I believe there are two main concerns remaining about this issue:
1) "Yes, I am in favor of this legislation because it may improve advocacy, give visibility to our work and better document quaility control "
2) "This type of legislation gives me anxiety because it appears to have been carelessly drafted and may be harmful to my program."
For me personally, I live and operate up in Canada and we are already regulated along the lines of this bill. I would advise to my American friends that passage of HR 6358 through the Senate will change things, but you can operate a quality program in a more controlled environment. However, I would suggest watching, and becoming involved if necessary, in what happens to help ensure that it will be crafted in a way not to put good programs out of business.
More information:
To see how your representative voted.
To read the bill use search term "6358"
GAO Report October 10, 2007
US Bureau of Land Management, National Instruction Memorandum
From Paul Smith, President, Catherine Freer Wilderness Therapy Program
News linked to the Miller legislation include 1) the BLM's new policies directed at residential treatment and wilderness therapy programs and 2) the Federal Trade commission's warning to consumers about health and safety issues at residential treatment programs for a troubled teens.
One June 25th, BLM sent out a memo announcing that they will deny permitting to programs in states where oversight is either unavailable or inadequate, on the basis that the they have neither the personnel nor expertise to provide adequate oversight.
It is currently too early in the process to know how broad reaching these changes are going to be. For example, it is unknown whether or not the Forest Service will follow suit.
It is in the interpretation of these rules that we will come to realize the true impact. Certainly, anyone that works across state lines or travels out of state will face state licensure issues. And what about programs that operate across state boundaries? One good thing that may come out of this is that states may be more collaborative in forming legislation and they may begin to show reciprocity in licensure.
Currently, individual states are primarily responsible for regulating youth programs that utilize public lands and federal agencies may establish additional safeguards for youth under federally funded state programs. The GOA report from May 2008, reveals that most programs are already regulated by state programs and interestingly, residential treatment programs are more regulated than federal and state run programs.
I would encourage efforts to promote public comment on this issue. Without voice being given to the majority of programs that are well run and serve their client's well, I wonder about the intent of additional regulations. Any new rulings should come out of an effort to solve identified issues. The FTC's warning appears to come out of biased information. The warning itself, provides 15 questions for consumers to ask potential programs, all of which are good questions and good programs have the answers well documented.
BLM Instruction Memorandum (pdf)
Gov't Accountability Office, May 2008 (pdf)
AEE thanks NATSAP for providing these sources of information.
Other Concerns regarding HR 6358 and what YOU can do
By the Association for Experiential Education
HR 6358 is a well intended bill. However, we have already seen some byproducts including the decision by the BLM to enact Instruction Memorandum No. 2008-141, as well as the Federal Trade Commission’s warnings to consumers of residential treatment programs.
While it is unclear whether or not the senate will act on this bill, it is important to become educated about the issue and to contact your legislative representative. Explain to them how these laws can be best written in order to do the most good and avoid restricting the good that programs are currently doing for our children.
AEE contacted Hal Hallett, Senior Outdoor Recreation Specialist at the BLM, to learn more about IM 2008-141. We asked him what our members ought to be doing about the impending legislation. His strongest recommendation was for individuals to contact their representatives to stress the importance of having a clear definition of "wilderness treatment programs" when amending this legislation. If the vague definitions used in HR 6358 and by the GAO persist, then the net may be cast too far and more programs will be dragged under it. While many therapeutic programs will find themselves scrambling as a result of IM 2008-141, one thing that this IM is very clear about is what programs will be affected by permitting changes and what programs are excluded.
