Saco, Maine-based Sweetser will open the state’s first secure residential behavioral health program for children, the Bangor Daily News reported March 26.
The program received a $2 million grant from the Maine Department of Health and Human Services to launch the program. Sweetser was the only organization to apply for the grant, the Daily News reported.
In November 2024, Maine reached a settlement with the U.S. Justice Department, who sued the state alleging it overrelied on residential treatment centers for children with behavioral health concerns.
As part of the agreement, Maine pledged to increase the availability of community health services. At a stakeholder meeting in 2024, Maine mental health leaders acknowledged a need for more in-home and community-based services in the state, the Daily News reported. The majority of leaders said the state also needed a secure residential program to ease strain on the state’s hospitals.
“Sweetser is proud to lead the effort to bring our kids home from expensive, out-of-state care,” Sweetser CEO Jayne Van Bramer told the outlet.
Sweetser will use the $2 million in funds to renovate an existing space at its Saco campus, according to the Daily News. The site will treat 12 to 16 patients at a time.
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