The following information is provided as general help for parents, guardians, and relatives of children in behavior modification programs.

Please contact a lawyer in your area for further information.

This page is currently under construction.

We will be making additions in the near future.

Contracts

If you are considering placing a child in a facility of any kind - The following general statement is relevant to contracts:

So-called "contracts" based on fraudulent misrepresentations of material facts, deceptive advertising, and the failure to disclose pertinent facts could be found void by a court of law.

Parents and third parties can never 'contract away' the right of children to be free from abuse and neglect.

Children are not pieces of property that can be rented, bought, or sold by parents or treatment programs of any nature.

Parents are always free to remove a child when there is any suspicion of abusive treatment or neglect.

In fact, a parent's failure to remove a child, or a relative's failure to report suspected child abuse or neglect, may leave the adult open for possible liability.

A relative may be able to petition for a writ of habeas corpus (Latin for 'bring the body forth').

This information is general in nature, and a lawyer should always be contacted for advice in any particular situation.

Unconscionable Contracts

Unconscionable contracts are so unfair to one party that the contract becomes unenforceable, usually with respect to consumers induced to sign contracts via high pressure sales techniques or who misunderstood the requirements and conditions. Such contracts hide procedurally unfair terms in the fine print, contain exorbitant price or limit buyer's remedy (waiver of buyer's defenses, prohibiting buyer's recovery in case of product defects, limiting remedies to useless options, giving a seller the right to repossess items sold on credit regardless of payoffs on some of them).

Source: Parad Legal Help

Fraud

Fraud in the Inducement n. the use of deceit or trick to cause someone to act to his/her disadvantage, such as signing an agreement or deeding away real property. The heart of this type of fraud is misleading the other party as to the facts upon which he/she will base his/her decision to act.

Example: "there will be tax advantages to you if you let me take title to your property," or "you don't have to read the rest of the contract--it is just routine legal language" but actually includes a balloon payment.

source: http://legal-dictionary.com

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