Disclaimer: This article is about using electronics to assist in monitoring children. Insure you have permission from your administrator or supervisor before using any of these devises or techniques.

  Whether you enjoy it or not, A lot of being a houseparent involves a cat and mouse game, where the kids try to get away with things and you try to catch them. Although I usually don’t enjoy the outcome, (I don’t like to see kids fail, get kicked out of programs, or end up in jail) I love to play the game. I have found a few devices over the years that have really helped me play the game.

  One of the most useful devices I have ever found is called a Phone Manager (Model ER-2000). We were having problems with children making unauthorized long distance phone calls to the tune of $200 a month. The facility we worked at, children were given pretty much unrestricted phone use, but were responsible for their own long distance.

  Hoping to find a solution on the Internet, I found this phone manager on a spy shop website. I ordered it and hooked it up as soon as it arrived. Within two weeks unauthorized phone calls were reduced to almost zero. What it does is log the number called, time, date & duration of the call for up to 2000 calls. We were able to find out immediately where the call was made to, and didn’t have to wait until the phone bill came to find out it was long distance. With it came immediate consequences.

  You can also use it to insure the children are not calling people they are not supposed to. At another facility, some of our children had “NO Call” lists. We could easily look at the manager, while they were still on the phone and insure they weren’t calling someone on their list. I couldn’t imagine being in a cottage without one.

  Using any search engine and the string “phone manager ER-2000” will yield several sites that sell them. Their price varies from $38-$199. I would like to find the person that would pay $199 for one, I’d sell them mine. One disadvantage: It will store 2000 calls, but it is very hard to use after about 30 or 40. I would log any suspicious calls and then I reset mine each time I checked it.

  Another very useful device, is a baby monitor. Other than the kids we had that were narks, and unannounced searches, the baby monitor was our most useful intelligence gathering device. Now that they have 900MHZ and 2.4GHZ monitors, they are even more useful because they have less static and better range. Using our monitors, we learned of run-away plots, substance abuse, assaults on other children, and numerous other things. One major negative is that you frequently have to hear language you don’t want to hear.

  We would use rechargeable batteries in ours. The batteries would usually last about 3 or 4 days However, in one home we worked at, they were hard wired in dummy heat registers in the ceiling. I would put a piece of black tape over the little power light, wrap it in a black garbage bag and hide it under a dresser or desk. It was kinda funny one day, we let the girls rearrange their room, forgetting about the monitor. About twenty minutes later, one of them came downstairs holding a black garbage bag and said, “I think this belongs to you!.”

  Video is a very good tool, and now that it is small and cheap, it is even better. Gone are the days of trying to hide your full size VHS or even your smaller Super 8 camcorder. I keep getting pop up windows while surfing the Internet, advertising a wireless camera system for $79.95. I saw a black & white CCTV system at the hardware store the other day on sale for $69.95.

  We have used cameras to monitor our pantry, telephone, and the front door. We would never use the cameras in the children’s rooms or bathroom, except to monitor a child’s room while they were gone. We had a situation where every time one of our children would leave on a visit, something got stolen from their room. One weekend we had several kids gone, except the one we thought was the thief. We set up a camera in one of the vacant rooms. The next day we looked at the tape, and caught a thief. Theft was greatly reduced after that. In houses without alarm systems, cameras have caught late night pantry raiders, telephone users, and front door sneaker outers.

  We have used many other devices and techniques to monitor the children. Wireless and hard wired alarm systems, telephone listening devices (Court & DFS ordered of course), caller ID, Binoculars and scopes, stake outs at the school, etc. I look forward, hopefully in the next 5 years, when GPS location monitoring implants are affordable, so I can put them in my birth children, and always know where they are during their teenage years, but until then I will enjoy the technology we already have.

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