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Eastern Greene officials ask county to press Hamilton Center for school mental-health services
Summary
School and juvenile justice officials told commissioners Eastern Greene students lack sufficient school-based mental-health services, said the regional provider Hamilton Center holds the contract and has not met needs, and asked the county to seek accountability and follow-up at a future meeting.
Eastern Greene Schools officials and juvenile probation staff told Greene County commissioners that students in the Eastern Greene School Corporation lack adequate school-based mental-health services and urged county leaders to seek accountability from the Hamilton Center, the region’s contracted community mental-health provider.
"Our students do not have adequate mental health services, and I'm working to secure the services they need," said Dawn Hostetter, identified in the meeting as the director of corporation services for Eastern Greene Schools. Hostetter told commissioners that Hamilton Center holds the regional contract and, in her account, has not been meeting local needs since 2011 and has blocked other willing providers from serving Eastern Greene because of contract controls.
Hostetter said a recent provider that had offered four employees at no cost to the school rescinded service after a company buyout; another provider rescinded an offer following a state-level decision tied to Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic (CCBHC) contractual obligations. Hostetter said the county’s schools previously had four full-time providers in the school who served about 45 students and that the loss of those in-school services has increased demands on law enforcement and local hospitals.
An unnamed juvenile probation officer who addressed the board said the county’s rural areas have limited in-person services and that some Hamilton Center services are provided virtually rather than in person. "We're providing these services, but they're only providing them in the local of Vigo County, and our outside areas really suffer for that," the probation officer said, explaining that county agencies often fill service gaps.
Hostetter told commissioners the Hamilton Center receives "over $7,000,000" to serve Greene and other counties and asked the board to seek information on how those funds are allocated locally and what specific services are being provided here. She also cited a child fatality review team report saying Greene County had the highest child fatality rate in the South Central Region from 2018 to 2022, and she asked commissioners to consider further discussion in April when additional local stakeholders could attend.
Commissioners thanked the speakers and indicated they would take the matter under advisement and consider asking for additional documentation or bringing stakeholders to a future meeting for more information. No formal county action, enforcement measure, or directive to terminate contracts was recorded in the meeting minutes.
