{"id":683139,"date":"2026-07-09T22:25:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-09T22:25:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/683139\/"},"modified":"2026-07-09T22:25:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-09T22:25:13","slug":"why-did-two-groups-of-teens-attempt-to-flee-a-goochland-psychiatric-facility","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/683139\/","title":{"rendered":"Why did two groups of teens attempt to flee a Goochland psychiatric facility?"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\"mental<\/p>\n

<\/a>Photo: \u00a9 pattozher (Generated with AI)\/stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n

Five male juveniles who left the Hallmark Youthcare psychiatric facility in Goochland late Monday night were eventually located \u2013 less than 36 hours after a group of eight female juveniles receiving care at the facility were located and returned after another breach.<\/p>\n

A mother of one of the girls told WTVR-TV 6 in Richmond<\/a> that her daughter told her the girls left because they did not feel safe there.<\/p>\n

The TV station has been investigating Hallmark Youthcare, the largest short-term residential treatment program in Virginia, with 82 in-patient beds for young people with behavioral and mental health needs, since the fall of 2025.<\/p>\n

The facility is owned by Acute Behavioral Health, a Nashville-based company that was formed with an initial investment from two private-equity firms, Petra Capital Partners and Harbert Credit Solutions, in partnership with Elm Creek Partners and Granite Growth Health Partners.<\/p>\n

Acute Behavioral Health, in a June 22, 2022, news release<\/a> announcing the purchase of Hallmark Youthcare, touted how the move gave \u201cunique opportunity for Acute Behavioral Health to expand its footprint in Virginia.\u201d<\/p>\n

There is, indeed, big money to be made in behavioral healthcare, which is why you see private equity firms investing billions into the sector, often financed by debt \u2013 which critics say puts pressure on the companies to cut corners in terms of staffing and oversight to be able to make their money back.<\/p>\n

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\"girl<\/p>\n

<\/a>Photo: \u00a9 David Pereiras\/stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n

A 2024 U.S. Senate Finance Committee report on the industry<\/a>, titled, ominously, \u201cWarehouses of Neglect: How Taxpayers Are Funding Systemic Abuse in Youth Residential Treatment Facilities A Senate Committee on Finance Staff Report,\u201d detailed how adolescents and teens who \u201cshould receive high-quality mental health services in the least-restrictive environment that meets their needs\u201d often don\u2019t get what they need.<\/p>\n

Per the report, Residential Treatment Facility providers \u201coptimize per diems by filling large facilities to capacity and maximize profit by concurrently reducing the number and quality of staff in facilities.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Committee\u2019s investigation found that children at RTFs suffer harms such as the risk of physical, sexual, and emotional abuse at the hands of staff and peers, improperly executed and overused restraint and seclusion, inadequate treatment and supervision, and non-homelike environments.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese harms amount to acute safety concerns and have long-term effects, including suffering, trauma and even death.<\/p>\n

\u201cTaken together, the Committee finds that these harms are endemic to the RTF operating model,\u201d the report tells us.<\/p>\n

WTVR-TV6 reported that the state cited Hallmark Youthcare 27 times between January 2024 and September 2025 \u201cfor violations including employees not adhering to protocol for active supervision, resulting in a resident being sexually assaulted by another resident; an employee assaulting a resident; and an employee leaving a gate open, resulting in two residents running away from the grounds.\u201d<\/p>\n

The TV station reported that a follow-up investigation by its reporters revealed more violations, including \u201cstaff verbally abusing residents and staff failing to follow supervision protocols, resulting in three residents accessing the roof during recreational time,\u201d and two sexual assault incidents, reported in April and May, one leading to a charge against a teen in the assault of another underage facility resident.<\/p>\n

Good work here on the part of WTVR-TV6 to keep on this story.<\/p>\n

The behavioral health advocate who drew my attention to this isn\u2019t convinced the state is giving the issues at Hallmark Youthcare the serious attention it should.<\/p>\n

Which I can identify with, given my interactions with the Virginia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services over the state-run Commonwealth Center for Children and Adolescents, which has myriad issues of its own.<\/p>\n

ICYMI<\/p>\n

The TV station did get a comment on the two recent patient escapes from Hallmark Youthcare, which is saying, through a spokesperson, that it \u201chas initiated a thorough internal review of the circumstances surrounding each event and is cooperating fully with law enforcement and appropriate state oversight agencies.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe recognize the concerns these incidents raise for our residents, their families, our employees, and our community. Working in collaboration with our regulatory partners, we are implementing enhanced safety measures to reinforce our therapeutic environment and strengthen protections for both residents and staff. These actions reflect our commitment to continuous improvement and our dedication to maintaining the highest standards of care and security,\u201d the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Photo: \u00a9 pattozher (Generated with AI)\/stock.adobe.com Five male juveniles who left the Hallmark Youthcare psychiatric facility in Goochland…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":683140,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[102,1906,6623,20419,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-683139","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mental-health","tag-health","tag-mental-health","tag-mentalhealth","tag-public-safety","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/683139","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=683139"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/683139\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/683140"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=683139"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=683139"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=683139"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}