By: Heba Saleh (TU)
The House of Representatives opened session today with NSU-502.
Members of the House read through the legislation as Rep. Weir gave his author’s explanation.
NSU-502 is an act relating to Oklahoma youth that targets the Troubled Teen Industry, referred to in the bill as “boot camps, wilderness therapy, teen ranches, reform schools, or conversion therapy” or facilities that could be deemed as such.
According to the author, Representative Christopher Wier, parents involved in the Troubled Teen Industry pay $2,300 to ship their children who they believe to have behavioral problems to these camps where these children may then be abused or otherwise harmed, traumatizing the child.
The bill would bar “gooning,” defined as legally kidnapping and transporting children to Troubled Teen Industry programs, as the bill defines it.
Additionally, the bill prohibits parents from signing away the legal rights to their children without referral from a mental health professional. This last provision caused tension within the House as some believed it would provide a legal loophole enabling parents to continue to send their children to these programs by obtaining a referral from a corrupt doctor.
As provided by the penalties section, parents who were in violation of the act would be held criminally liable for child neglect and the child would be removed from their custody. Additionally, the parent would be obligated to put the amount of money it would have taken to place the child into the troubled teen facility, into a trust in the child’s name. This would occur every two years until the child turned 22 years old.
Members of the House were concerned about the penalties with some believing that removing a child from the custody of a parent who was willing to put them into a facility would not exactly be penalizing the parent.
Despite concerns, the bill passed the House with 52 votes in the affirmative and 8 in the negative.NSU-
502 was stalled, however, in the Senate where it failed by a vote of 7 in the affirmative and 11 in the negative.