Officials with Tennessee treatment centers for troubled or abused children say they are pulling together to care for dozens of children whose treatment plans have been affected by the impending closure of Cumberland Hall, an adolescent behavioral health facility.
“Any time a child has to abruptly move from a placement, it can be very scary for a child, and most of these children have experienced a lot of trauma already,” said Amanda Tillman, East Tennessee program director for Memphis-based Youth Villages, a private facility that cares for troubled children through programs that include foster care, in-home counseling and residential treatment.
“I think our big concern is, ‘How can we transition these children to the most appropriate and safe placement without causing more trauma?'” she said
In an unusually sudden move with little public explanation, Cumberland Hall’s parent company notified employees last week that on Jan. 31 the facility would be shut down. The decision meant the layoff of 70 full-time employees and the relocation of 35 children in the facility’s residential treatment program and acute care hospital for adolescents in crisis. Such crises include those who have experienced depression, defiant behaviors and sexual or physical abuse.
All will be placed with new facilities by Friday, said Jon Van Mol, spokesman for Cumberland Hall’s parent company, Psychiatric Solutions, Inc., based in Franklin, Tenn.