<p>"What happened in Scranton, according to Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, District Attorney Andrew Jarbola, is a crime. He has convened a grand jury to look into the families where some of the 12 students who came to Scranton were placed, as well as the company who placed them there and its officials.</p>
<p>“Well, in my opinion they were treated kind of crudely,” Jarbola said. “Not provided the proper food, hygiene and things of that nature. And the areas they were placed? I know one of the students was placed in a home with a convicted felon – convicted of drug trafficking or drug offenses – and that is very disturbing to me.”</p>
<p>Jarbola said some students were so malnourished that one was treated in a hospital for dehydration while another passed out during track at school.</p>
<p>“They weren’t provided with food,” Jarbola said. “In fact there is one incident with tape on food items in the refrigerator of the host family that says, ‘Do not touch. This is for the host family only.’ So basically they were neglected.”…</p>
<p>Jarbola said a girl from Norway, who asked to be identified only by her first name, Anne, tried to alert officials that she and some of the students were in dire straits.</p>
<p>Anne told CNN she had school officials send an e-mail to Aspect in October explaining how bad things were and including photographs of the inside of the home where she was placed. The home was later condemned by the city.</p>
<p>Anne’s high school principal took her in, but other students weren’t as lucky and spent nearly the entire school year in unsafe homes, until Children and Youth Services was tipped off about a month before school ended, Jarbola said…"</p>
<p>In its initial statement to CNN, the State Department said when it hears of allegations, “we immediately contact the sponsoring organization involved and ask them to investigate. We gather full information and act swiftly and appropriately.”</p>
<p>That’s the problem, argue critics, who say the department has had a hands-off policy for years when it comes to foreign exchange group sponsors. When complaints are made against the sponsor, they are asked to investigate themselves.</p>
<p>Arkansas legislator Sue Madison said she had a law passed in her state to protect students after it was discovered some of them were forced to do manual labor, live in unfit conditions and even forced to hand over their money to host families.
[Exchange</a> students live American nightmare - CNN.com](<a href=“http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/07/15/us.exchange.students/index.html]Exchange”>Exchange students live American nightmare - CNN.com) e</p>