A proposed child psychiatric treatment facility in Logan County is advancing with a disturbing lack of transparency and would have "disastrous implications" if it is completed, the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of West Virginia recently told Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin's administration.
U.S. Attorney William Ihlenfeld urged the state to reconsider its approval of a planned 70-bed residential facility for children between the ages of 4 and 21.
"I cannot overstate the disastrous implications for children with behavioral health issues in the Northern District of West Virginia, should the Dazzy Vance Mountain Retreat become operational," Ihlenfeld wrote to Secretary Karen Bowling, of the state Department of Health and Human Resources, in a letter dated Oct. 13.
In June, the U.S. Department of Justice faulted West Virginia for too often placing children with mental health needs in institutions, like the proposed Dazzy Vance facility, rather than offering community-based support services that let them stay in their homes.
The Justice Department said West Virginia is violating those children's civil rights.
"The state has needlessly segregated thousands of children far from family and other people important in their lives," acting U.S. Assistant Attorney General Vanita Gupta wrote to Tomblin after a year-long study.
West Virginia "over relies on segregated residential facilities and continues to build more segregated programs," the Justice Department concluded.
Those findings were officially presented to the state on June 1. However, less than a month later, Ihlenfeld wrote, "You recommended that the Dazzy Vance proposal not be required to undergo a certificate-of-need review, thereby paving the way for its approval."
Ihlenfeld would not comment on his letter for this report.
Sarah Lieu, a DHHR spokeswoman, said Bowling received Ihlenfeld's letter and respects his opinion but that she approved the facility so it can move toward bringing children back to West Virginia from out-of-state facilities. Lieu said the DHHR would continue discussions with the Justice Department.
Ihlenfeld wrote that the proposed Logan facility is particularly threatening to children of his district, because it would place them so far from their families. Children from Martinsburg would be six hours away, while Morgantown and Wheeling would be four hours away, he wrote.
"Children from my district sent to Dazzy Vance would be unable to interact with their families in any significant manner, which is in direct contravention to the recommendations resulting from the investigation," Ihlenfeld wrote.
He said the DHHR currently uses several out-of-state facilities that are just minutes across the border, more accessible to families in his district.
The proposed facility has also come under fire from other sources recently.
State Sen. Mike Woelfel, D-Cabell, recently sent a letter to Senate leadership asking for discussion of the Dazzy Vance facility at upcoming interim meetings and suggesting that Bowling explain the project.
Also, the American Civil Liberties Union of West Virginia recently launched a campaign aimed at keeping children out of institutions, be it for mental health, child welfare or criminal justice reasons.
Bringing children that currently are being treated out of state back to West Virginia is the first step in, hopefully, transitioning them entirely out of institutional care and back into their communities, the DHHR has said in justifying the Logan facility.
As of mid-September, there were 175 West Virginia children at out-of-state psychiatric facilities, DHHR officials said, and only 98 beds at facilities in West Virginia.
"The most important thing for our agency, in moving forward, is to ensure all services necessary to treat the children are available and accessible within our state borders," DHHR Deputy Secretary Harold Clifton said Wednesday in a prepared statement. "All children placed in a psychiatric residential treatment facility are only placed if it is in the best interest of the child and deemed medically necessary by an appropriate physician and in accordance with the law."
The $10.8 million Dazzy Vance facility would be built at the Earl Ray Tomblin Industrial Park, in Holden. It would be run by Trinity Health Care Services, which operates nursing homes in Logan and Mingo counties. David Quick, a representative of Trinity Health Care, did not return requests for comment.
While it would be built with private money, the Dazzy Vance facility eventually would get almost all its income through the state, by billing Medicaid.
Trinity's application to the state says that it would bill up to $500 per patient per day, far more than it costs to treat children with services within their community.
Ihlenfeld praised the DHHR's new "Safe at Home" pilot program, which aims to move kids in 11 counties out of residential facilities and foster care and back into their communities.
However, he had harsh words for the DHHR, citing it for being less transparent than it had promised after the Justice Department report was released.
"[The] DHHR's actions here belie its assertion that it wishes to work collaboratively with the United States to address the concerns identified in our investigation," Ihlenfeld wrote. "Please note my objection and please reconsider the plan of action with regard to Dazzy Vance."
Reach David Gutman at david.gutman@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-5119 or follow @davidlgutman on Twitter.