R.I. nonprofit Tides Family Services agrees to take over programs at troubled St. Mary’s Home for Children

St. Mary’s Board President Jeff Cascione was expected to outline the details of the arrangement in a town hall-style meeting for St. Mary’s Wednesday morning, according to the email.

In the email, Montorio-Archer called the arrangement “a significant step forward in our commitment to stabilizing our organization. ... Tides brings widespread experience and expertise in helping vulnerable youth and their families through the provision of educational and community based services, which will complement our organizational strengths and enhance our ability to fulfill our mission.”

St. Mary’s, a nonprofit founded in 1877 as an orphanage within the Episcopal diocese, offers residential services at its campus, along with outpatient services for children, adults, and families impacted by sexual abuse and exploitation, and a residential and day school for children with various learning, emotional, and behavioral challenges.

It is the only psychiatric residential treatment facility for children in Rhode Island, and the state Department of Children, Youth, and Families has spent more than $29 million since 2019 in its contract for children in state care.

However, last May, DCYF and the Office of the Child Advocate launched dual investigations into St. Mary’s a few weeks after a teenager overdosed. That led the agencies to uncover vast problems including physical and sexual abuse, neglect, understaffing, and mismanagement.

DCYF finally stopped placing children at St. Mary’s in late November, after a boy running away was hit by a Jeep. There are now 10 children remaining in its care.

Tides Family Services provides in-home services to families in Providence, Pawtucket, Central Falls, Middletown, West Warwick and Woonsocket, outreach, tracking, and schooling services. According to Tides annual report, its programs “wrap around” the client and the family, and offer counseling that focuses on personal strengths, structured recreation, multi-systemic therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, and 24/7 coverage for emergency crisis situations.

The board of Tides Family Services announced on Wednesday afternoon that it had voted to move forward with the agreement to take over the management at St. Mary’s.

“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,” Tides CEO Beth Bixby said in prepared remarks Wednesday. “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.“

Tides does not have experience in psychiatric residential treatment services for children, which St. Mary’s offers. There were no specifics about how the arrangement will work.

The executive director for the Rhode Island Coalition for Children and Families said Wednesday afternoon in response to questions from the Globe that the group looked forward to reviewing the details of the arrangement and how it will enhance the quality of services.

“Our priority at the Rhode Island Coalition for Children and Families is the safety and well-being of children and youth and ensuring they have access to a comprehensive and quality system of care,” executive director Tanja Kubas-Meyer said in a statement. “While we don’t have specifics about the proposed management services, Tides Family Services is a trusted organization with 40 years of experience serving and supporting Rhode Island’s most vulnerable children and families.”

Senate President Dominick J. Ruggerio, who represents the North Providence district that includes St. Mary’s, said that it’s been a priority for the Senate to have quality residential psychiatric treatment for girls. (There are currently dozens of youths in placements out of state.)

“Tides Family Services has earned an extraordinary reputation for providing effective services for vulnerable youth in a professional, stable environment,” Ruggerio said in a statement. “I expect that their expertise will lead to improvements at Saint Mary’s and will make them a good neighbor for my constituents and for our entire North Providence community.”

Ruggerio said he’ll work with Tides to address the concerns of neighbors, who’ve reported children running away from St. Mary’s, and monitor the care at the facility.

Senator Louis DiPalma, who’d sharply questioned St. Mary’s ability to care for children earlier this year, praised the arrangement with Tides. He told the Globe that he was not concerned about Tides’ lack of experience with residential treatment.

“Given the exemplary work they’ve done over the decades they’ve been involved, they have extensive experience in child welfare, their success and effective results ... it will be very beneficial to St. Mary’s, the young adults and the adolescents who will be there,” DiPalma said Wednesday.

While he was briefed on the arrangement, DiPalma said he did not have details about how it would work. He said he no longer had concerns about a plan to spend $11 million in federal pandemic funds to expand the number of psychiatric beds.

There were no details immediately released about what the state will pay for the collaboration, nor how it is expected to work. Neither Cascione nor Bixby responded to requests for comment.

DCYF said it supported the agreement, but did not answer questions about what the state will pay.

“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,” DCYF said in a statement, adding that the agency will continue to monitor the youths who are still placed at St. Mary’s.

Other agencies have launched investigations into St. Mary’s since the child advocate’s report. The state Department of Health, Center for Health Facilities Regulation, investigated in January and found deficiencies that threaten St. Mary’s federal certification as a psychiatric residential treatment facility.

Disability Rights Rhode Island has an ongoing investigation and is continuing to receive complaints.

Morna Murray, the executive director of Disability Rights Rhode Island, said Wednesday that she was concerned about the announcement and the “lack of transparency surrounding the partnership.”

“St. Mary’s remains under investigation by multiple agencies, including DRRI and law enforcement, yet none of these agencies were notified or provided the opportunity to weigh in,” Murray said in a statement to the Globe. “It is not apparent whether Tides has the expertise to run such an intensive level of placement. DRRI questions why DCYF continues to prop up these Psychiatric Residential Treatment Facilities, a model that is proven to harm children, rather than investing into a full continuum of community-based services for youth with trauma and behavioral health needs.”

Disability Rights legal director Kristine Sullivan said in a recent interview with the Globe that there were several children at St. Mary’s who have been ready to be discharged for months or a year, but have been languishing because there is no ability to transition them into the community.

St. Mary’s accreditation with Social Current’s Council on Accreditation, an independent, nonprofit international accreditor of community-based social service and behavioral health organizations, has been on probation since February. A spokeswoman for Social Current confirmed recently that St. Mary’s remained on probation, but declined comment on the reasons.

The news of the collaboration with Tides had yet to reach the families. Donna Goulet-Truppi, whose grandchild Trevor has been at St. Mary’s since April 2023, said she learned of the news from the Globe.

She said there has been very little communication with the families. “I hope Tides can do better, but I’m not holding my breath.”

This story has been updated with the board vote from Tides Family Services and prepared remarks from CEO Beth Bixby.

Amanda Milkovits can be reached at amanda.milkovits@globe.com. Follow her @AmandaMilkovits.