We cannot in any way recommend STS…
We cannot in any way recommend STS exchange student program.
Our son hosted a family in Missouri, and we had okay contact with them before he traveled to the USA.
He was dismissed from the family after 10 days because he had watched pornographic content on his cellphone. It was common on the school transit bus and in the high school to watch and share pornographic content. The only way the host family found out was by tracking his cellphone in their home.
He was removed from the host family one Monday after school without any warning or being confronted with the problem. After being removed from the host family he was suddenly also accused of having “sexually advanced” on the host family´s daughter among many other things.
Our son is diagnosed with Aspergers but is a very normal functional teenager and is aware of his diagnosis. The host family’s mother is a child psychologist, and the father runs an organization for families with diagnosed children, so we thought it could help our son to be in a family with awareness of the diagnose Asperger.
The family was late picking him up at the airport, for the first couple of days he was ignored due to the family also hosting last year’s exchange student, who had dropped by for a late holiday with the family.
The mother was working at home most of the time, and the father didn’t live in the house, but was only visiting his family on Sundays.
Before our son was dismissed from the family, we didn’t get any indication of the host family having any problems with our son, and after he was dismissed the host family has been silent and won’t answer our replies to get their side of the situation. We only got our sons side of the story, where all the accusations are false, besides he had watched pornographic content on his cellphone.
He was removed from the family by the regional director, who soon after began accusing him of not being very cooperative and then he suddenly harassed their daughters, so they didn’t feel safe with our son. Once again, it was false accusations according to our son, and an example was that they texted him when dinner was ready, while he was sitting in his room. And when he didn’t see the text message, so then he was not very cooperative. We asked for an online meeting with the regional director, but it was denied.
If that wasn’t enough, then he was accused of being harsh vocally on his political opinion towards his local director, which is another false accusation, since our son never raises his voice and is very balanced in any conversation no matter subject. The local director’s Facebook profile shows he clear opinion on what side he is on and what side he hates.
No matter if our son is guilty or not guilty in all this harsh accusation, then we think it’s very important to keep a dialog between all parts of this sad situation. We asked for an online meeting with the staff from STS in the USA, which was denied. All dialog and information came from STS Sweden and there from was no sympathy or respectful dialog. They only believed in the information they got from the USA and didn’t care about what we or our son said about the situation and the false accusations against him.
According to the STS rules it is forbidden to for the exchange student to access websites or watch films, in the host country, with pornographic content. Our son didn’t get a warning when it happened but got 20 minutes to pack and was dismissed from the host family. We didn’t get any warning either or notice of him being removed from the host family. All the details we got from our son as they happened were because of our daily contact with him.
We believe that our son was removed from the family because of something else and was the start of STS turning our son into a monster with all those false accusations, so they could dismiss him from the STS’s exchange student program and send him home. The more accusations, the easier it was for STS to send him home. And STS thought that we would believe in all of them and accept that our son was that monster they created. But we didn’t believe STS and therefore they denied any dialog with STS in USA hoping we would surrender by time.
Our son got 3 weeks in the USA, and we paid almost 20.000$, but STS refused to give us a refund. STS stole all our money without showing any rules and rights to do that. They don’t care!!!
WE CANNOT RECOMMEND STS
They are a sick organization without any responsibilities towards the exchange student or his family.
It is now 3 months since our son got home and we are still in shock over the way STS has handled this bizarre case.
We have written to the host family and the staff of STS in the USA several times to get their side of the story, but nobody wants to talk openly with us. We find that very suspicious.
Maybe its time for STS to take us seriously!!!
Emil, Jette and Svend
Denmark
