Riverbend Place reports no July admissions; staff cite behavior, fit and safety concerns

Riverbend Place accepted no new referrals in July and its staff reported ongoing deferrals tied to aggressive behavior, suicidal ideation or self-harm, and cases described as ‘‘not a good fit’’ for the program’s milieu, county staff told the Washington County Health and Human Services Committee on July 30.

Staff member Julie Driscoll said the report in the committee packet covered the period June 20 to July 22 and showed eight referrals in July; none were fully accepted into the program during that window. "There are 6 youth currently in the Riverbend Place, and 4 of them are Washington County and 2 are out of county," Driscoll said.

The committee heard that Riverbend and an entity identified in the discussion as "Norris" provided information late in the day before the meeting; Driscoll said staff had tried to synthesize that late report but continued to press Norris for clearer detail on specific deferral reasons. Committee members were told the most common stated reasons for not accepting referrals were assessments indicating aggressive behavior and concerns about safety, histories of suicidal ideation or self-harming behaviors, and instances where staff judged a referral to be "not a good fit" with the existing group of residents (the facility milieu).

Driscoll told the committee that those deferral patterns have persisted from prior months and that the presence of referrals from multiple sources nationwide suggested interest in the program even as acceptance rates remained low. The July report also recorded no discharges, leaving the facility census steady at six.

Committee discussion was limited. The chair asked for a motion to move into closed session to continue the Riverbend update; the motion was called with Supervisor Bossert and Supervisor Troutner named by the chair during the request for a motion and second. The committee then prepared for a roll call vote beginning with Supervisor Troutner; the transcript does not record the vote outcome.

No additional actions, votes, funding decisions or directives related to Riverbend were recorded in the public portion of the meeting excerpt provided. The committee recorded no public questions during Driscoll’s verbal update.

Going forward, county staff said they would continue to seek more detailed explanations from Norris and Riverbend about deferral criteria and case-level decisions; no timeline for further reporting was given on the public record in the provided transcript.