VERGENNES, Vt. (WCAX) – The Vermont Department for Children and Families for the first time Thursday publicly confirmed their plans for a new secure youth treatment facility in Vergennes.
The city’s mayor earlier this month confirmed the plans that were first floated in mid-April. DCF officials say the Green Mountain Youth Campus will be located off of Comfort Road. It will have 14 secure beds, eight of them will be for short-term crisis stabilization and six will be for ongoing treatment.
The state has been looking for years to build a modern facility after the 2020 decision to shutter the state’s only youth correctional facility, Woodside. It came after court decisions criticized the Essex facility for being too similar to a jail. The following year, the state revealed plans to build a more therapeutic facility for troubled youth in Newbury. But residents there pushed back and the state appealed until they won at the Vermont Supreme Court. However, in an about-face last month, DCF decided to ditch the Newbury plan.
A public forum is set for the evening of June 5 at the Vergennes Opera House.