Rachel Spinelli is living in Jamaica.But her parents, Sherry and Chris of Aurora, say they have their daughter back again.
This time, they think it's for good.
Once a freshman cheerleader at West Aurora High School, Rachel made headlines last June when she disappeared while visiting her aunt in Omaha, Neb.
The 15-year-old was missing for a week and eventually was found living with a group of homeless young adults who called themselves the National Association of White People's Party.
It was not the first time Rachel had run away from home.
According to Sherry Spinelli, Rachel started hanging around with a bad crowd, turning more rebellious and angry, after entering high school in the fall of 1996.
Even after they brought her home from Omaha, Spinelli says, Rachel continued to run away over and over again.
Local treatment centers did no good.
Spinelli says the first night Rachel was home after three weeks of in- and out-patient care, she tied her bedroom sheets together and climbed out the front window of the family's home.
Then she stole her parents' bank access card, cleaned out their account and headed west again.
Gone every other day
Rachel made it to within an hour of Omaha before the Amtrak police found her.
But the same day her parents brought her back to Aurora, she ran again.
Then, says Spinelli, her daughter "proceeded to run away every other day.
"When we would catch up with her, she would be drugged up.
And it got to the point where she was running with strangers now instead of old friends. It was taking us longer to find her each time, and she was more belligerent each time."
A psychiatrist recommended that Rachel be placed in a long-term locked facility.
But in the state of Illinois, a teen cannot be kept against his or her will.
And the cost of the programs they encountered, says Spinelli, ran from $4,000 to $6,000 a month.
In the meantime, the family was falling apart.
The younger siblings were greatly affected by the chaos their big sister created.
Sherry and Chris eventually filed bankruptcy because they missed so much work looking for Rachel, and because of the cost of their many attempts to treat her.
"We were at our wit's end," recalls Spinelli.
"We didn't know where else to turn."
Answer online
The family eventually found the answer on the Internet, where they learned about an organization called Teen Help, a referral center that works with four privately owned residential specialty schools dealing directly with teen-age behavior modification.
In addition to attending school six days a week, eight hours a day, the kids take part in a series of seminars designed to help them regain their self-esteem and develop values and tools they need to grow into adults.
The Spinellis chose to put Rachel in Jamaica because of the cultural shock often needed to straighten up kids who are so out of control.
Also, because the cost of living is lower in off-shore sites, the program was less expensive.
Still, in order to cover the $2,100-a-month tuition, Sherry Spinelli went back to work full time as a day-care provider, the family sold their two late-model cars and they moved into a more modest home.
But their decidedly more frugal lifestyle is all worth it when they see how far their daughter has come.
Although she's only halfway through a six-part program, Rachel corresponds with her parents regularly now, is repentant about her past and excited for her future.
"She's back," says Spinelli.
"And we couldn't be more thrilled."
This is a column about people, events and issues that touch the hearts and lives of those in the Fox Valley.
If you've got a suggestion, call Denise Crosby at The Beacon News, (630) 844-5870.
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