PROVIDENCE – Months after details of the R.I. Office of the Child Advocate’s scathing report were released, St. Mary’s Home for Children will be managed by Tides Family Services.
The Board of Tide Family Services announced Wednesday it voted to accept an offer from the St. Mary’s board of directors to assume day-to-day management of all St. Mary’s programs, including residential psychiatric treatment center, outpatient department home based treatment services through the Department of Children Youth and Families, and the George N. Hunt Campus School for students with learning, social, emotional and behavioral challenges.
“Tides has a 40-year record of helping vulnerable Rhode Island youth and their families through the provision of high quality educational and community-based behavioral health services,” said Beth Bixby, CEO of Tides. “Over the coming weeks, Tides will begin to integrate our services staff, and move forward with an expanded continuum of care model that includes best practice elements identified by SAMHSA to meet the behavioral health needs of children.”
Bixby said Tide’s vision for the care includes a range of hospital diversion programming beginning with a Mobile Response and Stabilization Services through a placement in the Psychiatric Residential Treatment Facility
Jeff Cascione, president of St. Mary’s board, said the home is pleased to reach an agreement with Tides.
“Tides has an outstanding record of providing services to children and families in need, and strong fiscal and management practices,” Cascione said. “We are confident that this agreement will ensure that the children and youth at St. Mary’s receive the services they deserve, and are confident in a smooth transition as Tides takes over day-to-day management and operations.”
R.I. Department of Children, Youth and Families senior legal counsel Misty Delgado said the state agency supports this decision.
"We are encouraged by this news and are looking forward to continuing to work with both entities in the coming days as they outline a plan for the operations of the facility going forward," Delgado said in a statement.
The shift management comes months after St. Mary went through a series of leadership changes after details from a December 2023 investigation by R.I. Office of the Child Advocate “significant safety concerns and abusive living conditions” were published in the Providence Journal.
In March St. Mary’s also published a 164-page report on its website outlining how it has implemented recommended changes and clarified some comments made in the initial investigative report. However, OCA was still not satisfied with St. Mary’s response at the time.
Katelyn Medeiros, OCA acting child advocate said St. Mary’s response made it difficult to determine whether any real changes had been made to help children and expects they will provide a more comprehensive plan for corrective action. Charles Montorio-Archer, who was appointed interim CEO after OCA’s report was public in January, said that the steps St. Mary's had taken were only the beginning.
It was not immediately clear how the St. Mary’s leadership team will be affected by the management change or how it will work.
Other agencies have opened investigations into St. Mary’s, including The Disability Rights of Rhode Island, a protection and advocacy agency. Under Protection and Advocacy for Individuals with Mental Illness Act of 1986 or, PAIMI, the Disability Rights is required under federal law to investigate reports of mistreatments of Rhode Islanders with disabilities.
Spokespeople for Tides and St. Mary’s did not immediately respond to PBN’s questions Wednesday.
(UPDATE: Comment from DCYF added in 7th and 8th paragraphs)