CAPE GIRARDEAU (AP) - Employees of a southeast Missouri youth psychiatric center say a new state plan to keep the center open might be better than shutting it down, but they're afraid the change will leave children without appropriate treatment.
More than 90 employees at Cottonwood Residential Treatment Center in Cape Girardeau were informed of the plans to privatize the facility in a 17-page presentation released this week by the state Department of Mental Health.
The presentation details Cottonwood's planned transition from a state-owned facility to one run by Community Counseling Center, an agency the state contracts to provide behavioral health services and referrals.
Keith Schafer, director of the Department of Mental Health, said the move provides a greater array of treatment options and would cost about $2 million less than the $5.7 million the spends each year to run the facility.
Under the plan, all of the facility's employees will lose their jobs. Many said they are devastated for themselves and for the children, with the restructuring likely to cut the center's capacity by half while increasing home-based options.
"I'm concerned there may not be enough beds for kids who need them," said Jeanie Dale, a Cottonwood therapist.
Cottonwood has been in limbo since June, when state officials announced they were closing the facility at the end of the year as part of $100 million in cuts ordered by Gov. Jay Nixon.
Schafer said at the time the state had no hope of keeping the center open because of budget constraints and future revenue losses from tax cut bills approved in the last legislative session.
In August, a Nixon official said Cottonwood could potentially stay open if it lowered costs and if the Republican-led Legislature allowed Nixon's tax-cut vetoes to stand, which it did. Soon afteward, Nixon released roughly $241,000 in funding for the center.