I spent 4 years institutionalized starting in 1988 when I was 12. I transferred from institution to institution 4 separate times . Some better than others. Some places had me so medicated that life was a blurry existinance. Other places made me bust concrete slabs all day with a sledge hammer in the the Texas sun. I have had strings tied from my wrist to staff members wrist, and if the string broke for any reason I was slammed to ground and held there until a new string could be attached. Placed in "quiet rooms" (padded rooms) for days, strapped to beds with leather restraints, strapped to wheelchairs, force fed if I didn't want what was being served for dinner, shot with thorazine for 30 days in a row while being strapped in a bed. There are good staff members that talk to you as a friend, and here are bad staff members, that treat you as a toy to take out their own agressions on.

30 years later I suffer from debilitating anxiety attacks, depression, mistrust for authority, and an irascible demeanor. Maybe it's a coat of armor that I will never be able to take off. A resentment towards my parents for what equates to abandonment. Overall....I feel that yanking a child out of society and forcing them into these placea can leave life long damage to the recipient

I think there are some good facilities with good people providing care. But, my experience was not of this nature.