A child welfare agency that traces its origins in metro Detroit back to 1883 announced this week that it will end its residential youth treatment program, which had dwindled to just 11 girls, who will be relocated.
Vista Maria located at 20651 W. Warren St. in Dearborn Heights emphasized it is not closing, and “will continue to strengthen our community-based programs, such as foster care, independent living, and juvenile justice services, which serve hundreds of young people and families each year.”
But it said it will transfer the girls to other places by Dec. 19.
“Many of these young people would benefit from receiving inpatient psychiatric support that we do not, and are not licensed to, provide,” Vista Maria said, calling its decision “a thoughtful shift in how we serve Michigan’s youth.”
About 150 staff will also be laid off.
The agency blamed a combination of factors, which it identified as “social, systemic and regulatory,” that had “made it increasingly challenging to care for youth whose mental health needs have grown more acute and complex.”
Vista Maria said its decision was made after more than a year of “reflection, data review, and discussions with our leaders, board, and community partners” and was unrelated to news earlier this year about runaways.
In March, a 16-year-old who was reported missing from Vista Maria was found more than a month later in the home of a 62-year-old Dearborn Heights man who pleaded guilty to criminal charges that included harboring a juvenile.
In April, a 13-year-old girl also reportedly ran away.
The organization started in 1883, when five Sisters of the Good Shepherd established a home in Detroit to help care for young girls and women without adequate housing. For the next several decades, it expanded services.
It moved to Dearborn Heights, when the Ford family offered land there for new accommodations. The House of the Good Shepherd was renamed and reopened in 1942 as as Vista Maria.
The organization noted that the change “will reduce expenses through staffing changes” and help “ensure long-term strength,” and that it is financially stable and “positioned for sustainability.