Rich parents with troubled or misbehaving children are shelling out thousands of dollars to a company that deploys "family architects" and security cameras to reform the unruly homes, New York magazine reported.
The supernanny-like staffers for Cognition Builders are not trained psychologists, but young college graduates – and the service they provide comes down to watching the adults parent, suggesting changes, and making sure you do what they say, the magazine reported.
But the most critical part of the strategy involves the installation of "nest cams" with microphones all around the house, the magazine reported.
"We are a fly on the wall of a family's home," the company's clinical director, Sarah Lopano, told the magazine. "We take a very behavioral approach to everything we do."
According to the magazine, the "architects" observe the family around the clock via the security cameras, watching and listening to every interaction that occurs between parents and kids.
When something goes wrong, or someone needs to be corrected, the watchers shoot a text to the parents or speak right through the cameras, the magazine reported.
Footage is used for daily reports about what has been observed — and the rules for fixing the problems.
It is like "merg[ing] life-coaching with 'Supernanny' with a slightly powered-up Amazon Echo," reporter Kim Brooks wrote.
According to the magazine, over time, the role of the surveillance team evolves from observing to enforcing the rules — and the company claims the strategy is able to change a family and child's functioning.
One family said they paid about $125 an hour over four months, adding up to a total of $80,000. Elizabeth, a mother of four children who was interviewed for the magazine's investigative piece, claimed she spent about $70,000 over a five-week period.
Others said they paid six figures for the service.
"They charge you by the hour, and they charge you different rates . . . I mean, for that much money I could have hired five nannies," Elizabeth told the magazine. "I told our consultant: this is a billionaire game, not a millionaire game. You have to be in a certain echelon to do this."
Cognitive Builders founder Ilana Kukoff told the magazine it does not advertise publicly, relying instead on referrals; she told the magazine the company had grown 125 percent since its launch in 2006.
"Parents, especially those who believe the act of raising a child is a process that can be studied and optimized, will rarely shy away from seeking outside help, and Cognition Builders is the highest-end of outside help," Brooks wrote. "It is the private jet or bottle service of parenting guidance — the kind that can't be found on any blog or in any book."