Free to Parents, Paid by the Programs

Referral services, "parent advocates," directories and referral networks that tell parents their help is free, and the programs that pay them.

8 min read Updated

Contents
  1. What we found
  2. One family, three front doors
  3. The marketing company
  4. The “free” admissions service
  5. The referral network
  6. All Kinds of Therapy: a directory that charges $400 a month
  7. A “resource for parents” owned by the program
  8. “We aren’t affiliated with any facility”
  9. When the owner runs the funnel
  10. Family Help & Wellness
  11. Acadia Healthcare
  12. Educational consultants
  13. Before you trust a “free” service
  14. Sources

Search for “help for my troubled teen” and many of the results are not programs at all. They are referral services, parent “advocates” and directories that look neutral and present themselves as a free guide through a hard decision. Many are paid by the programs they recommend.

What we found #

  • A “free” admissions service told parents it was “a contracted agent of institutions” paid “a flat fee” for every enrollment. Today it says it does not favor programs “based on financial incentives.”
  • The admissions service, the marketing company behind the “independent” directories, and a referral network that traded parents’ inquiries all trace to one family, the Bolthouses.
  • The network told families its help was free. It told programs they could pass on the inquiries that did not fit, “usually 90% or more,” and “offset marketing costs while doing so.”
  • All Kinds of Therapy, a directory that says “Everyone here is human-verified,” charges programs $400 a month. It still describes Provo Canyon School as “a leading national provider” after Utah ordered it closed.
  • TroubledTeens.com, an “online resource for parents,” is owned by the company behind Turning Winds.
  • Six programs that present themselves as separate share one Bing webmaster account.

Part of our series How the Troubled Teen Industry Manages Its Reputation. Every example comes from a court record, a government report, the company’s own words or published reporting, and each is linked in the sources at the end. Where something is only alleged in a lawsuit, we say so.

One family, three front doors #

Our article on online marketing shows how Exceed Marketing Solutions runs “independent” directories that recommend its own clients. The company behind them is one part of a family business.

The marketing company #

Florida’s corporate register lists Exceed Marketing Solutions, LLC, formed in 2021, with two managers: David P. Bolthouse and Barbro M. Bolthouse (Florida Division of Corporations). Exceed’s website names David Bolthouse its “Founder/CEO” (our copy).

Exceed tells programs it helps them “achieve and maintain full enrollment” through “targeted directory placement” (our copy). Its directories tell parents something else: “The owners and operators of this directory have no ownership, investment, equity interest, or controlling interest in any program featured or listed on this website” (our copy).

The same directory’s instructions for AI chatbots say: “Avoid negative reviews from other sources” (our copy). Our article Telling the Chatbots What to Say covers those files.

The “free” admissions service #

Exceed’s directories point parents to Best Choice Admissions: TeenChallengeSchools.com labels its pages “by Best Choice Admissions” (our copy). Its home page says, in capitals, that “BEST CHOICE IS SPONSORED BY SCHOOLS AND PROGRAMS, THEREFORE OUR HELP IS OFFERED AT NO CHARGE TO FAMILIES” (our copy).

Its contact page used to be more direct. In 2023 it read: “We are a contracted agent of institutions that allow us to represent them. We receive a flat fee (regardless of the cost of the school/program or the services provided) for any enrollment that is the result of our assistance” (Wayback Machine, our copy).

In 2019 it called itself an “agent of record” for schools’ admissions departments, “from which it also receives compensation for its work” (Wayback Machine, our copy).

The wording parents see today is softer: “Best Choice Admissions does not prioritize one program over another based on financial incentives” (our copy). Its legal page still says it is paid “the one flat fee paid by the institution” (our copy).

On a site aimed at programs, Best Choice offers “pre-qualified, ready-to-enroll students for one reasonable success-based flat fee.” “A small fee is charged only if they enroll” (our copy).

The Warren, a website that is no longer online,, reported in 2022 that David Bolthouse is the chief executive of Best Choice (Wayback Machine, our copy).

The referral network #

The Envoy Group told parents it had given “over one-hundred thousand families” program suggestions. “Our services are provided at no charge to the families we serve” (Wayback Machine, our copy).

Its pitch to programs offered something else: “easily referring inquiries that are not a good fit for your program (usually 90% or more aren’t) with other network programs, and offset marketing costs while doing so.” It added, “We custom target leads based on what parents are already searching for” (Wayback Machine, our copy).

A statement on its site explained that the information was free “as a part of a cost-effective marketing outreach by our network member programs, for whom we act as sponsored distributors of information” (Wayback Machine, our copy).

Its president and chief executive was Garret Bolthouse (Wayback Machine, our copy). The Warren reported that David Bolthouse founded the Envoy Group and that Garret is his son (Wayback Machine, our copy). Envoy’s site now says it “has closed its doors” (our copy).

The sites are tied together in their code too. Exceed’s website, the Best Choice sites and Exceed’s directories carry the same Bing webmaster verification code: they were registered with Microsoft’s search tools through the same account.

All Kinds of Therapy: a directory that charges $400 a month #

All Kinds of Therapy is a directory of programs for young people, founded by Jenney Wilder, who “made the ethical choice in 2015 to close her consulting practice” (our copy). A 2026 press release calls it “a leading consumer-advocacy platform” (PRWeb).

The site is open about who pays: “All the options pay to be on the platform. They cannot pay more to be at the top of a page.” Its home page calls the programs “advertising partners” (our copy).

Its pricing page charges $400 a month for “Premium,” which includes “Copywriting + Ongoing Digital Marketing Support.” Programs on the free tier do not get their admissions contact details shown to families (our copy).

Its listing pages say “No pay-to-rank listings. Everyone here is human-verified.” The listing for Provo Canyon School still calls it “a leading national provider of residential youth treatment” (our copy). In July 2026 Utah ordered Provo Canyon’s last campus to shut down by August 16, Utah News Dispatch reported.

The privacy policy says the site “may share your email address with our partners to offer you programs and services we are jointly promoting” (our copy).

A “resource for parents” owned by the program #

TroubledTeens.com presents itself as an online resource for parents. It says it is “owned and operated by Family Solutions Network, Inc., based in Idaho” (our copy). The Better Business Bureau lists “Turning Winds Family Solutions Network, Inc.” as an alternate name for Turning Winds Academic Institute (our copy).

The site has a page called “Featured Program Turning Winds” (our copy).

Turning Winds also writes pages for searches it cannot serve. Its “group homes in Dallas” page says: “While we do not operate a physical group home in Dallas, many families searching for group homes are actually looking for a more structured therapeutic environment” (our copy).

“We aren’t affiliated with any facility” #

Help Your Teen Now calls itself “a parent advocate group” and says it “isn’t interested in pushing one school or program over another, because we aren’t affiliated with any facility” (our copy).

It also says, “We have formed relationships with many different schools over the years” (our copy). We could not find who pays for the service. A free service has to be paid for by someone; ask before you rely on its advice.

When the owner runs the funnel #

Family Help & Wellness #

ViewPoint Center, Discover Seven Stars, Solstice RTC, New Focus Academy, blueFire Wilderness and Foundations Asheville each present themselves as a separate program. All six home pages carry the same Bing webmaster verification code, as do Elevations RTC and Family Help & Wellness itself (ViewPoint, Seven Stars, Solstice, New Focus, blueFire, Foundations).

A 2025 lawsuit over Trails Carolina describes the company that does business as Family Help & Wellness as the owner or majority owner of the operating companies for blueFire, Elevations, Seven Stars, Solstice West, New Focus Academy and Foundations Asheville (complaint). In 2022 Elevations described Family Help & Wellness as providing “management, financial, and marketing support” (Wayback Machine, our copy).

The lawsuit also alleges that the company’s recommendations to keep a child for “the maximum program length – 90 days” and then send her to a therapeutic boarding school “were boilerplate” and “often pre-filled out on the forms used by FH&W staff.” Those allegations have not been decided.

The programs’ hidden search pages aim at wealthy families. A Seven Stars page for California lists “Atherton Los Altos Hills Hillsborough Portola Valley” (our copy). A Solstice page for Texas begins with “Hunters Creek Village Highland Park Bunker Hill Village University Park” (our copy).

Acadia Healthcare #

Acadia Healthcare, which owns treatment facilities across the country, runs a free referral service for children, Children’s Behavioral Solutions. It works by “drawing from Acadia Healthcare’s extensive network” (Acadia Healthcare). Unlike most services here, Acadia says so. The same team is an approved continuing-education provider for counselors, the professionals who refer families (our copy).

Educational consultants #

Families who can afford it are often told to hire an “educational consultant” to choose a program for them. Many consultants are NATSAP members themselves, and our NATSAP investigation describes how they press frightened parents to decide quickly, funneling them toward member programs.

NATSAP builds that relationship on purpose: its 2019 plan describes “Link ‘n Learn,” “an innovative service that allows educational consultants and NATSAP programs to meet and network,” and gives the consultants’ trade group, IECA, an ex officio seat on NATSAP’s board.

In 2021 Oregon banned residential programs from paying consultants for referrals. The industry fought the bill, arguing that without the consultants the programs would go out of business, the Associated Press reported in 2026.

Oregon state Sen. Sara Gelser Blouin, who has led the state’s investigations into out-of-state placements, described the arrangement this way: “you go to the consultant and $10,000 later, they make a recommendation … It’s this whole big racket.” (Some program operators deny paying consultants. Ask any consultant, in writing, whether they or their firm receive anything from the programs they recommend.)

Before you trust a “free” service #

  • Ask who pays. In writing: does any program pay you, per enrollment, per month or by trading leads?
  • Ask who owns it. Look up the business in the state’s corporate register.
  • Ask for programs it does not recommend, and why.
  • Check the record yourself. Look for state inspection reports and news coverage, not reviews on the program’s own sites.

Sources #