Posted by Wesley (207.172.7.13) on March 30, 2000 at 15:42:02:
In Reply to: Re: Things I learned about safe-recovery after posted by Alba on March 29, 2000 at 16:47:41:
: : Wouldn't it be interesting to see what we learned after we placed our child in "treatment." For example:
: : 1. Host home fee $10.00/day
: : 2. required to be at building every holiday
: : 3. Parents raise money to buy supplies and parents provide labor for maintenance of building.
: : 4. Never-ending mini-fundraisers for Anchor Foundation, parent group and building maintenance.
: : 5. No time for old friends or family not "checked out."
: : Anyway you get the idea!
: Or even worse...finding out you are considered unsuitable as a parent so all ties with your child are severed because you will not submit!
Response from Wesley follows:
We had been married for 23 years when our family joined the cult. One night, after I learned from the third or fourth phasor that they were spitting in kids' faces as part of their bizarre therapy (I mean big globs of spit purposely directed into a kid's face) and that the receiver was made to sleep in the dried spittal, I submitted an official parent-to-staff concern, in writing, as I had been taught to do. And I also brought this up as a parent-to-parent concern at the next Monday night synanon which is the proper forum Straight had taught us to use. Subesquently my wife was called in by the clinical director and advised that I should not have made a statement to the parent GROUP, that at least three families had been so alarmed by my announcement that they had withdrawn their child, and that thanks to me three kids would probably die. He strongly advised my wife that I make ammends to the parent GROUP. Also subsequently, the host home coordinator spoke with my wife and told her that I was no longer good for the program and that she (my wife) was going to have to make a decission about her marriage (eg. to choose between me or Bill, our son). In other words my wife was made to understand that either she would have to divorce me and stay in treatment along with our son and our daughter, or she would have to withdraw my son from Straigth where he would surely die. I knew then about those meetings, but it wasn't until several years later that I learned from my wife that she actually had very seriously considered divorcing me after all those years because she had felt that I was a man and could make it on my own, but our son was just a kid and would die without Straight!
STRAIGHT, BRINGING FAMILIES APART FOR OVER 20 YEARS
Wesley Fager