VERGENNES, Vt. (WCAX) – The state of Vermont may have found a new home for a long-planned juvenile justice facility. Seven Days reports that Vergennes will be the new home for the 14-bed facility. But that news comes as a surprise to people in Vergennes.
The Department for Children and Families will not confirm the newspaper report that they have selected Vergennes, however, the proposed site would be just up the road from the city center. Residents we spoke with say they feel like they should have been more included in the process.
“I was in the dark completely,” said Linette Poquette, who along with her husband, Bill, own Comfort Hill Kennel, across the street from state-owned land that is expected to host the new youth treatment facility.
The Poquettes feel there hasn’t been a chance for the community to weigh in. “They should have said, ‘Well, we’re sending this out, this is what we’re thinking.’ Just so that we’re here, we know what’s happening ahead of time, not after the fact,” Bill said.
The state has been looking for years to build a modern facility after the 2020 decision to shutter the state’s only youth correctional facility, Woodside. It came after court decisions criticized the Essex facility for being too similar to a jail. The following year, the state revealed plans to build a more therapeutic facility for troubled youth in Newbury. But residents there pushed back and the state appealed until they won at the Vermont Supreme Court. However, in an about-face last month, DCF decided to ditch the Newbury plan.
Now, the state is looking at sites in South Burlington and Vergennes. DCF Commissioner Chris Winters says the focus will be on treatment and not incarceration. “What we’re looking at is therapeutic treatment guided by evidence-based principals and trauma-informed best practices,” he said. “We won’t be looking at cinder block and razor wire.”
Vergennes Mayor Chris Bearor supports the facility’s possible placement in the city and says while there are still many unknowns, the state needs a facility like this. “There is a need for these kids to get the proper help that they need. It’s one of those things where… I’ve got two daughters of my own, and if they needed help, I’d want them to have help,” he said.
If Vergennes is chosen, it would not be the city’s first time hosting a youth facility. The Weeks School operated as a youth detention center for over a century before closing in 1979. Since then, the campus has housed the Northland Job Corps, a federally-funded vocational training program.