DCYF is removing its kids from St. Mary's Home for Children. What comes next?
PROVIDENCE – With a cascade of troubles confronting St. Mary’s Home for Children, the state’s child welfare agency is looking to remove the 10 children remaining in the North Providence psychiatric treatment center.
The move comes a week after Tides Family Services agreed to take over the day-to-day operations of the home, despite having no experience running a psychiatric treatment center, and five months after a scathing report on the home’s deficiencies.
Urgent meeting called over St. Mary's Home for Children
The Department of Children, Youth & Families convened what it called an urgent meeting Thursday morning with community service providers.
In an email sent out Wednesday afternoon, the department summoned providers to its downtown office, along with representatives from the Child Advocate’s Office and the state legal aid agency CASA, charged with representing the interests of the children in state care.
What happens to the children?
The email asked participants to think outside the box in coming up with solutions to transitioning the high-risk children out of St. Mary’s.
The department is suggesting that those children who can’t return to their families be placed in foster homes or in other residential community programs known as congregate care.
Will St. Mary's close?
Tides spokesman Frank McMahon said shortly after the meeting that the nonprofit agency is reviewing all aspects of St. Mary’s operations but does not plan to close the psychiatric residential treatment facility.
Those services, along with intensive community-based services and outpatient programs, will remain part of the St. Mary’s “continuum of care,” he said.
Due to limited access to treatment services in the community, McMahon said, many children “receive care that is more costly and more restrictive than necessary.”
Tides' goal, he said, is to ensure children receive the individualized treatment they need to thrive and in the “least restrictive environment that meets their level of need.”
Zoom out: U.S. Attorney threatens to sue RI over treatment of children
That point was the focus of concern earlier this week when U.S. Attorney Zackary Cunha threatened to sue Rhode Island for "routinely and unnecessarily” warehousing children with disabilities at Bradley Hospital.
Cunha said the DCYF was violating the civil rights of hundreds of children with its reliance on long-term hospitalizations instead of community treatment services.
He gave the state 10 days to come up with a remedial action plan to end the practice or face a potential lawsuit.
DCYF officials have argued for years that the hospitalizations are an act of last resort because of a shortage of less-restrictive services.
Cunha wasn’t entertaining that explanation: “Our fundamental contention is that the state needs to do more to meet its federal civil rights obligations. Period. Full stop.”
Looking back: Trouble at St. Mary's Home for Children
Troubles at St. Mary’s broke into the open in January when the Office of the Child Advocate released a 119-page report on its eight-month investigation into St. Mary’s practices.
The report found a chaotic living experience for many children, with some being physically or sexually assaulted by other children, children “being injured in restraints,” and the Home welcoming a motorcycle group to stem the common problem in congregate settings of children running away and facing the threat of sex traffickers.
More: Overdoses, assault and restraints: Inside a damning report on St. Mary's Home for Children
The report also found instances of drug use by children, staff assaulting children – some workers were fired and criminally charged – and a management hierarchy that admonished staff for raising concerns.
In November the state stopped placing children in its care at St. Mary's. And in January, the St. Mary’s board of directors brought in a new management team to work with the DCYF to make improvements.
Meanwhile St. Mary's faces additions scrutiny by Disability Rights Rhode Island, part of a national network of agencies that advocates for the rights of people with disabilities. It too is investigating care inside the state’s only residential psychiatric treatment center for children.
Contact Tom Mooney at: tmooney@providencejournal.com
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: RI DCYF pulling kids from troubled St. Mary's Home for Children
