Maine’s Department of Health and Human Services has contracted with a Saco-based behavioral health agency to build the state’s first adolescent residential treatment program, a development advocates believe will help close an important gap in services for vulnerable children. Jayne Van Bramer, Sweetser’s President and Chief Executive Officer at the building that will house the program. Derek Davis/Portland Press Herald

Maine’s Department of Health and Human Services has contracted with a Saco-based behavioral health agency to build the state’s first secure residential treatment program for adolescents, a development advocates believe will help close an important gap in services for vulnerable children.

Sweetser was awarded a $2 million contract this month, CEO Jayne Van Bramer said, and the organization hopes to open a 16-bed facility in April 2026.

“Being able to have an available locked residential program for children who require that level of service is long overdue,” she said in an interview Thursday. “The absence of that has resulted in children being sent out of state, away from family, languishing in emergency rooms for weeks or months at a time.”

The state, under Gov. Janet Mills, has been working for years to establish a secure psychiatric treatment center for children, even as some advocates have warned that a locked facility is a step backward in how systems treat people with behavioral and mental health diagnoses.

Disability Rights Maine, the state’s designated protection and advocacy agency, has objected to the establishment of a youth psychiatric residential treatment facility in the past.

“But here we are, spending $2 million to build a locked facility. That’s the reality,” said Atlee Reilly, managing attorney for the agency.

Van Bramer, however, said as many as 35 other states already have similar facilities, and Maine already is sending many children out of state.

“This can really be a win for families and children and really a win for Maine,” she said.

Maine does have a network of residential programs for children, but all are unlocked and often unable to provide adequate resources for clients who might be aggressive or dangerous. They also typically have long waiting lists.

As a result, children with high behavioral health needs often end up in hospitals by default or sent out of state, both of which are costly for the state.

Sweetser is one of the state’s largest mental health providers, both for children and adults, with locations in nine communities. It was the only agency that submitted a bid to DHHS for start-up funds. It plans to use them to renovate an existing building on its Saco campus.

Although the state has entered into an agreement with Sweetser to create a new facility, some advocates and lawmakers believe demand is high enough to create even more.

Sen. Joseph Baldacci, D-Bangor, has sponsored a bill to create a psychiatric residential treatment facility as well as three “crisis centers” where children could stay after being discharged from a hospital. That bill had a public hearing this week.

Van Bramer said it will be up to the state to determine who would qualify for placement in the new secure facility — children with advanced behavioral or mental health needs are typically covered by MaineCare —  but she agreed that filling the beds will not be a challenge.

“This is not meant to be a long-term program, though,” she said. “We hope that children can step down into other residential placements or return home entirely.”

Maine has struggled for years to adequately provide both in-home and residential care for children with advanced behavioral needs, a problem that has worsened in recent years because of workforce shortages.

Last year, the U.S. Department of Justice sued Maine for allegedly violating the civil rights of disabled children. Among the allegations were that the state failed to invest in community-based providers and that it has been “unnecessarily segregating children with behavioral health disabilities in hospitals, residential facilities and a state-operated juvenile detention facility.”

That resulted in a settlement that required the state to strengthen its community-based services for children with behavioral health challenges to keep them from being placed outside the home. The creation of a locked facility was not a requirement of that settlement, but it will help the state address some of the deficiencies cited by the Justice Department.

Reilly said Disability Rights Maine will continue to work with the state to ensure compliance with that settlement. And when Sweetser opens its new facility, he said, his agency will help ensure they are complying with all regulations and requirements, and advocate for residents there.

He believes Sweetser when it says the goal will be to keep children at the new facility only temporarily, but history suggests that’s not always easy.

“Kids get stuck when there isn’t another option,” he said. “So, what should be short term becomes very long term.”