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Alberta Adolescent Recovery Center (AARC)
AARC is located in Alberta, Canada.
It is a descendant of Straight, Inc.
Between June 1988
and February 1989, Straight, Inc. operated the Family Service Center in
Edmonton.
During this time, F. Dean Vause was reportedly a guidance
counselor at North Battlefield High School.
Miller Newton, former
Clinical Director for Straight, Inc. was operating his own Straight-like
program, Kids of Bergen County in New Jersey.
Due to the volume of
Canadian teens recruited from Calgary into his New Jersey program, Newton opened
Kids of the Canadian West--a support center to aid kids who had been through
Kids of Bergen County. Newton reportedly hoped to turn Kids of the Canadian West
into another franchise treatment program like Straight, Inc..
In 1989, Vause accepted a
position at Kids of Bergen County, under the supervision of Miller Newton.
Also in 1989, the CBS news program West 57th Street aired a damaging
segment on Kids of Bergen County, alleging many cases of abuse and fraud. Newton
then changed the name of the facility to Kids of North Jersey.
In 1990,
Dean Vause was offered the position as director of Kids of the Canadian West.
In August 1990, Bergen County prosecutors entered Kids of North Jersey,
investigating allegations of child abuse and false imprisonment.
At that
point, there were 40 Canadian children in Kids of North Jersey, costing the
Canadian Government $25 per day per child for a daily total of $1,000.
When Canadian authorities learned that they had not been paying for
psychiatric or physician services - some $250,000 later - those payments
stopped.
In February 1992, Dr. Vause founded AARC, with the help of $1
million raised by the Rotary Club.
Norman Haines, Communicator and
Manager in Canadian Broadcasting for 25 years, served as principal consultant on
the creation of the AARC.
AARC, like Straight, Inc., was reportedly
opened in an industrial building located in a warehouse district.
Brian
Neil, a former client of Kids, worked as a counselor at AARC, even though he
reportedly had no training.
Brian Neil hung himself in 1996.
In 2003, the Canadian Television Network (CTV) was allowed to film inside AARC.
Survivors of Straight, Inc. who have viewed the footage agree that the facility is very similar, if not
identical, to Straight.
Documents
Many of our documents are PDF files and require the Adobe Acrobat
Reader. This link will take you to the Adobe download page: Get Adobe Acrobat Now!
Comparison of Kids and AARC, by Phil Elberg, Attorney at Law
ISAC Preliminary Report
Accreditation Document
Endorsements by Health Dept. and Gov. Officials
Program Overview
Structured Day
For more information about Straight, Inc. and Miller Newton, please visit our archives.
For more information about Kids, please visit Kids of North Jersey/Bergen County
Survivors
One of the best ways you can help prevent abuse is to share your story.
If you would like to submit a statement about your experience,
use the form below.
 Federal Declaration Form
If you have documents and are willing to share them with us,
please contact us immediately.
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