By Guy Page
The State of Vermont is planning to build the Green Mountain Youth Center on Meadowlands Drive off Route 116 in South Burlington to provide secure, intensive treatment and crisis services for justice-involved youth with the state’s most significant behavioral and mental health needs.
DCF reportedly is hoping to have the $27 million project fully open by the summer of 2028. The project is the state’s latest effort to fill the need created by the 2019 closure of the Woodside secure treatment facility in Essex Junction.
According to the Department for Children and Families, the state lacks enough residential programs for children in DCF custody and is the only state without a dedicated facility for its highest-needs justice-involved youth. As a result, many young people are sent out of state, temporarily staffed in nontraditional settings, or placed in programs that are not well suited to their needs.
The Green Mountain Youth Center will have two programs: an eight-bed crisis stabilization program for youth in immediate crisis and a six-bed treatment program for youth with long-term behavioral and safety needs, for a total capacity of 14.
The clinical facility will be overseen by DCF and operated by an independent provider staffed by counselors, clinicians and mental health professionals. Youth will continue their education on-site while receiving treatment, with the goal of returning to their families, communities or a lower level of care.
The state said it will lease the facility from a private developer rather than purchase the land, which will remain privately owned. The developer will pay property taxes to the City of South Burlington, and the lease will include an option for the state to purchase the property in the future.