Students’ Rights

At Kansas City Girls Academy we commit to the following:

• Ensure student safety and well-being with stringent safety measures and background checks for staff, providing a secure environment.

• Provide nourishing meals daily, essential for health and well-being, provided consistently and without condition, and never as a bargaining tool.

• Prioritize students’ rest and sleep for physical health and academic performance, ensuring structured sleep routines free from disciplinary interference.

• Promote respectful communication between students and staff, fostering an environment of mutual respect and understanding.

• Respect students’ dignity by avoiding verbal intimidation or punitive measures, ensuring interactions are respectful and non-threatening.

• Grant students the right to personal possessions within safety guidelines.

• Protect students’ privacy while maintaining safety through oversight, ensuring a balance between personal space and program integrity.

• Encourage age-appropriate activities and exercises in alignment with the student’s abilities.

• Prohibit the use of seclusion or restraint (except in immediate safety risks).

• Provide meaningful tasks for life skills education, not to be profit-driven, and always in alignment with the student’s physical abilities.

• Provide parents, guardians, and students with consistent, honest, and reflective communication concerning what is written in their file. All communication will be in alignment with their ongoing treatment and personal goal-setting.

• Provide essential clothing necessities and exposure to natural elements for every student’s well-being and comfort.

• Guarantee each student a personal bed in a monitored environment, respecting their privacy and safety.

• Facilitate planned family visits and foster regular communication (free of coercion or scripting).

• Allow students, parents, and guardians to raise concerns that will be escalated through proper channels without fear of retaliation.

• Prioritize timely and diligent medical care for all students’ health needs.

• Ensure transparency in academic records and facilitate their acceptance by other institutions without exceptions, providing all financial commitments are fulfilled.

• Provide age-appropriate, comprehensive, and fully accredited education tailored to each student’s needs for future success

• Allow students to withdraw from the program with parental approval, facilitating a smooth transition, and prioritizing the student’s overall wellbeing.

• Assure the right to report any instance of perceived abuse within the program confidently and safely ensuring protection from retaliation and thorough investigation.

Crisis Prevention and Intervention

The staff at KCGA go through yearly training to ensure that they are prepared to deal with all crisis situations. This training equips staff with proven strategies for safely defusing anxious, hostile, or violent behavior at the earliest possible stage. Participants are provided training in defining the stages of crisis in terms of identifiable behavioral levels and appropriate staff responses. Additionally, verbal and non-verbal de-escalation techniques, personal safety principles, and physical control strategies are taught to manage aggressive students in a safe, non-harmful manner while establishing a therapeutic rapport after the crisis. Staff learn decision-making skills to match the level of the response to the risk of the crisis, focusing on the least restrictive response to ensure the care, welfare, safety, and security of students. This includes recognizing the stages of an escalating crisis and learning evidence-based techniques to appropriately de-escalate.

Trauma-Informed Care Our staff is trained to implement Trauma-Informed Care techniques:

Realizing the impact trauma can have on students. Recognizing when an individual is showing signs and symptoms related to actual (or perceived) trauma. Responding empathetically to students acknowledges the potential of trauma, and in a way that resists re-traumatization.

Principles of a Trauma-Informed Approach:

The six principles that guide a trauma-informed approach, include:

1. Safety
2. Trustworthiness & Transparency
3. Peer support
4. Collaboration & mutuality
5. Empowerment & choice
6. Cultural, historical & gender issues

About Restraints and Correctional Procedures

We do not believe in forcing compliance. Instead, we foster an environment of care that encourages participation and positive reflection of behaviors. No form of mechanical or chemical restraints are ever used. Students may loose some privileges if/when they exhibit various forms of noncompliance with our basic rules, however students are never forced to participate in any activity. We do not condone any form of shaming nor individual isolation. We always seek to provide a safe and respectful environment where students can reflect upon their behavior and find constructive ways to communicate their emotions.