The future of St. Mary’s Home for Children, which was the subject of a devastating report earlier this year detailing rampant chaos, abuse and mismanagement at the North Providence mental health treatment facility, appears uncertain.
Concerns among state child care agencies grew last week, even as state leaders broke ground in Exeter on a new 16-bed residential treatment center for adolescent girls.
The opening of this $45 million facility is not planned until 2026.
More: ‘Horrifying’: Government accuses RI DCYF of ‘warehousing’ children at Bradley Hospital. What you should know.
Official concerns about possible closure of St. Mary’s
House Speaker Joseph Shekarchi is in Chicago for the Democratic Party convention and is not involved in the talks, said his spokesman Larry Berman.
“However, he has heard from some colleagues who are concerned about a possible closure of St. Mary’s,” Berman said.
Shekarchi referred questions to Gov. Dan McKee’s office or the state Department of Children, Youth and Families. Spokespeople for those offices did not immediately return calls seeking comment.
Beth Bixby, executive director of Tides Family Services, a separate nonprofit agency that took over day-to-day operations of St. Mary’s in May, also disagreed.
What would the closure of St. Mary’s Home for Children mean?
Closing St. Mary’s would further limit Rhode Island’s options for the children in its care who need intensive mental or behavioral health care, said state Rep. Julie A. Casimiro.
Without the agency in North Providence, “we wouldn’t have a single bed available in Rhode Island for a child who needs one,” Casimiro said.
Rhode Island currently serves 81 children whose services are provided in distant states such as Alabama and Tennessee because local care is not available.
St. Mary’s also provides outpatient services to over 100 other children (and their families) who have been sexually exploited or have experienced other traumatic experiences. The agency also runs school-based programs for two dozen other children.
The latest in a series of worrying developments for the institution
DCYF stopped placing children at St. Mary’s last November after an investigation by the state’s child welfare agency revealed a long list of failings, including improper child care, assaults on children by other residents and staff, and mismanagement.
Carlene Casciano-McCann, St. Mary’s longtime executive director, retired shortly after the report was released in January.
St. Mary’s hired an interim CEO, Charles Montorio-Archer, but his questioning of some of the report’s findings proved damaging, and his tenure was short-lived.
In May, Tides Family Services agreed to take over the day-to-day operations of the home, even though the company had no experience running a mental health treatment center.
But within weeks, DCYF began looking for alternative placements, such as foster care or other community programs, for the ten remaining children who were still housed at the residential facility and could not return to their families.
In June, DCYF asked the state to pause construction of an $11 million, 12-bed addition to St. Mary’s until “St. Mary’s has made further leadership and organizational decisions.” The addition would be paid for with federal pandemic relief funds.
Contact Tom Mooney at: [email protected]
