This commentary is by Amy Rose of Middlesex, policy director of Voices for Vermont’s Children.
The Joint Justice Legislative Oversight Committee met Oct. 26 to discuss many things, including Vermont’s “high-end system of care.” While the need for more options for Vermont’s youth was palpable, the cautionary tale from Joe’s Sexton’s special report “The Loss of Grace” was the “elephant in the room” that was identified by Chris Winters, commissioner of the Department for Children and Families.
Given all of the dynamics, the testimony from Steve Howard, the Vermont State Employees Association executive director, was startling.
After fighting for the Woodside Juvenile Rehabilitation Center in Essex to remain open and saying “we need to keep this team at Woodside together, because they have been producing positive results for our kids” on Dec. 2, 2019, on Thursday, Oct. 26, Mr. Howard asked the Legislature to call a state of emergency and activate the National Guard to support state workers in staffing Vermont’s youth.
This pattern is extremely heartbreaking and should give us all pause. The day after a painful story was released about the consequences of state employees who went unchecked, the person representing state employees asked for the National Guard to intervene as a way to create safety from and for our youth. That narrative reinforces the idea that our kids do not need treatment; instead, they need people to take power over them.
The attorney general’s ongoing defense of Woodside, its failure to address crimes against children, and its inability to foresee litigation is appalling. Citing the fact that the Eighth Amendment’s protection against cruel and unusual punishment “doesn’t apply to children” in response to punishment within a Vermont facility sets a dangerous precedent. When we fail to create boundaries around harm, and neglect to provide accountability to the adults responsible for our youth, we create trauma. This benefits no one.
Defending employee rights is different from asking employees to be immune from accountability. There are many state employees who are thoughtful, kind, caring, incredibly hard-working and are paying the consequence for Woodside’s leaders and the systems that supported them. When we create conditions where people are moved around and promoted after causing harm, trust is eroded, which is dangerous for other state employees, and it is dangerous for Vermont’s children, youth and families.
It is unclear to me how many state employees engaged with Steve in preparation for his testimony. I imagine they spoke to the crisis at hand with urgency. I would be surprised if the majority of our state employees would support a military intervention for our youth. I would like to see the data from his survey and have an open conversation directly with state employees about their experience and their requests.
If we want youth to act like valued members of our community, we have to treat them as valued members of our community. If we want them to see accountability as a natural part of being in community, we need to embrace it ourselves first.
