Vermont has inked a five-year contract worth up to $21.5 million with a Pennsylvania company to run a new three-bed program for youth in state custody despite documented past allegations of negligence and mistreatment.
Cornell Abraxas Group will run the West River Haven, a crisis-stabilization youth program in Brattleboro meant for children who require short-term specialized care and do not have another immediate placement option.
West River Haven will offer support to children for up to 45 days, “aiming to address emergency needs and prepare participants for more long-term placements,” Nya Pike, a spokesperson for the Vermont Department for Children and Families, said in an email. The program, which will serve youth ages 10-18, is located at a building owned by the Windham County Sheriff’s Office and is currently hiring and training staff, according to the department.
Vermont has struggled to find places to care for youth in state custody since the closure of Woodside, the scandal-plagued Essex facility that housed some Vermont children accused of juvenile offenses. The state has attempted to replace Woodside with a new facility in Newbury or Vergennes, but in both cases local government poured cold water on the initiative.
With fewer programs and beds available, the state has relied on so-called emergency staffings to care for youth — instances in which state staff or contractors oversee kids in makeshift locations like state offices while they search for more permanent foster care or residential placements. Vermont has also leaned on its new, temporary Red Clover facility, a four-bed program in Middlesex, to house children charged with juvenile offenses or adult crimes.
“Over the past several years, we have focused on securing safe environments for children and youth who have experienced trauma and require specialized care to ensure their safety and the safety of others,” Pike said in an email.
The new Abraxas contract is meant to support Vermont’s “high-end system of care,” Pike added, or youth in state custody in crisis situations and who have intense needs.
Because Vermont lacks sufficient in-state programs, the state has contracted with Abraxas and others for out-of-state residential care for children in state custody, but the company’s operation in Vermont is new.
“Our collaboration with Abraxas historically and thus far has been positive,” Pike said.
Abraxas, like many organizations that operate youth residential treatment facilities, has drawn criticism for the quality of care it provides. Late last year, Pennsylvania revoked the license of one Abraxas facility due to “gross incompetence, negligence, and misconduct in operating the facility,” according to state officials.
More recently, Abraxas has come under fire for its work holding unaccompanied migrant youth in Pennsylvania for the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement. Over 12 years, state inspectors documented at least 15 incidents in which staff physically mistreated children at that facility, Abraxas Academy, according to the Washington Post and The Independent.
Abraxas did not respond to emails requesting comment in December and this week.
Pike, the Department for Children and Families spokesperson, said the department’s leadership “was unaware of licensure revocations in other states” when the state finalized its new contract with Abraxas in mid-December.
“We remain committed to strict regulation and licensure procedures for all entities caring for our children and youth,” she added. “We maintain regular contact with programs and the youth in our care. Family Services will take all necessary measures to ensure contract compliance and provide informed follow-up if issues arise.”
Vermont’s youth watchdog responds
Matthew Bernstein, Vermont’s Child, Youth and Family advocate, said the primary need for youth in state custody is safety.
But too often, he cautioned, state programs are designed to fill the immediate need of finding a place for youth to stay temporarily without a focus on what’s best for children.
“Yes, we have to get through the day, but that’s just not good enough for families and children,” he said. “Vermont has long had an issue where youth are placed in congregate care settings longer than their needs require.”
Rather than pouring money into the highest-end of the residential care spectrum — programs for kids already in state custody like the West River Haven — Bernstein said the state needs to prioritize preventative programs catered to children who live at home with their guardians.
Bernstein acknowledged that the new Brattleboro provider would help keep youth from being warehoused in unlicensed settings, an emergency practice the state has relied on in recent years. In those instances, youth typically aren’t provided treatment or educational services. But while some kids benefit from residential facilities, Bernstein said he doesn’t “see a lot of evidence that children improve when they leave these programs.”
Without that data, he was skeptical of a continued investment in crisis stabilization and long-term residential treatment.
Lauren Higbee, deputy advocate in the Office of the Child, Youth and Family Advocate, argued the state needs to investigate new companies with a fine-toothed comb before signing lucrative contracts.
“If Vermont truly has the intent to strengthen our system of care and our service array to be responsive to children and adolescent treatment needs, we would truly vet new providers coming into our state,” she said. “A simple Google search will (show) then it was just a few months ago Abraxas lost one of their licenses in a Pennsylvania program. You can see a history of several lawsuits and allegations regarding child physical and sexual abuse in their facilities.”
For Higbee, that history raises a fundamental question.
“Who do we want to be serving Vermont children and youth?”
