The House Committee on Education and Labor heard testimony citing abuses in residential programs -- also called "boot camps," "wilderness programs," or "behavioral treatment programs" -- for children and adolescents. Committee Chairman George Miller (D-Cal) reviewed the Government Accounting Office (GAO) scathing report, Residential Treatment Programs, which documents 33 states in which at least 1600 individuals were charged with abuse in a single year, 2005. A full investigation was hindered, the reports says, because it could not locate:

a single Web site, federal agency, or other entity that collects comprehensive nationwide data. GAO also examined, in greater detail, 10 closed civil or criminal cases from 1990 through 2004 where a teenager died while enrolled in a private program. GAO found significant evidence of ineffective management in most of the 10 cases, with program leaders neglecting the needs of program participants and staff.

Although not all programs are equally remiss, insufficient regulation has led to untrained, unsupervised staff using life-threatening techniques to address substance abuse, behavioral and co-occurring disorders. The testimony is available on the committee's web site.