Stewart-Cousins Demands State Take Action at JCCA Campus
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Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins (D-Yonkers) has urged the commissioners of the two state agencies that help determine residential treatment center placements to move youths with significant mental illness from Pleasantville’s JCCA campus.
Stewart-Cousins’ wrote a July 13 letter to Suzanne Miles-Gustave, acting commissioner for the state Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS), and state Office of Mental Health (OMH) Commissioner Dr. Ann Marie T. Sullivan sounding the alarm on how the Cottage School is ill-equipped to handle some youngsters with mental health needs and asking that the placement of those individuals “immediately ceases.”
“As a result, I ask that OCFS work with JCCA to immediately seek alternate care and placement arrangements for any such youth,” Stewart-Cousins stated in the letter obtained by The Examiner. “Moving forward, it is imperative that your agencies work together to swiftly identify, and implement, services and programming to meet the needs of this population. Safety and security must be assured for both the youth OCFS and OMH have a responsibility to care for and treat, as well as the members of the communities where such youth are placed. I ask that OCFS help ensure that the practice of sending this specific population to the Pleasantville Campus immediately ceases in light of these realities.”
The letter was written the day after Town of Mount Pleasant officials held a press conference calling for the closure of the JCCA given the escalating number of police calls and violent incidents that have involved residents at the campus. Through the first six months of 2023, the Mount Pleasant Police Department recorded 459 calls related to the campus, including some for assault and property damage where youths have used the glass from broken windows as weapons.
In her correspondence with the commissioners, Stewart-Cousins stated that new approaches are needed to help residential treatment centers effectively service the population at its facility. She said that OCFS has sought proposals for Intensive Service Models that would provide a higher level of treatment for youths that have more significant emotional or behavioral issues.
During a community forum held in Mount Pleasant where OCFS representatives participated, the Intensive Service Model was proposed by JCCA but little has been done to achieve that goal, she said.
“It should be noted that JCCA raised concerns about the increasing number of high acuity youth coming to campus in the Spring of 2022, long before this issue reached the current degree of difficulty,” wrote Stewart-Cousins, whose district includes the campus at 1075 Broadway. “I am troubled that JCCA’s attempt to provide additional services in light of this growing crisis went unanswered despite the apparent pressing and immediate need that they faced.”
The Office of Mental Health referred all press inquiries regarding the issue and the letter to OCFS because the program is overseen by that department.
OCFS spokesman Solomon Syed acknowledged that the office received the letter and is exploring alternative placements where appropriate.
“The New York State Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS) continues to work closely with JCCA to ensure it is effectively providing a supportive and secure environment for youth in foster care placed with their organization,” Syed stated in an e-mail.
“JCCA has a longstanding history of serving these young people, especially those who require complex services as the result of chronic exposure to trauma and adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). OCFS partners with the State Office of Mental Health to ensure that the mental health needs of these vulnerable young people are met to protect their well-being and that of others. Community safety is a top priority and OCFS is exploring options to transition youth whose needs may be better served through placement in alternate programs.”
Mount Pleasant Supervisor Carl Fulgenzi said he was pleased that the issue has gotten Stewart-Cousins’ attention and is hopeful that action can be taken soon.
“We appreciate that Sen. Stewart-Cousins recognizes the urgency and severity of the state’s misplacement of these high-needs children at the JCCA, which is incapable of properly caring for them,” Fulgenzi said. “The key phrase in the senator’s letter is that state officials immediately seek alternate care and move these kids out of the JCCA. We expect urgent action.”
Martin has more than 30 years experience covering local news in Westchester and Putnam counties, including a frequent focus on zoning and planning issues. He has been editor-in-chief of The Examiner since its inception in 2007. Read more from Martin’s editor-author bio here. Read Martin’s archived work here: https://www.theexaminernews.com/author/martin-wilbur2007/
