Pearl Youth Residence, a 27-bed facility treating children ages 12-17 with serious mental illness in Tacoma, Wash., is set to close in November, eliminating a quarter of the state’s long-term youth psychiatric beds, The Seattle Times reported Sept. 24.
The facility has faced financial losses, high staff turnover and challenges discharging patients back home. “It was death by a thousand paper cuts,” Kim Zacher, CEO at Comprehensive Life Resources, which operates Pearl Youth, told the Times.
Here are four things to know:
1. Pearl Youth has lost $3 million since 2020. Staff turnover was 114% in 2024 and remains at 70%. Now, 92 staff are facing layoffs. The facility plans to discharge its 16 youth residents to their homes or other programs. For several years, the facility has operated well below its 27-bed capacity.
2. Pearl Youth is one of four intensive residential programs for children in Washington. Together, the facilities make up the state’s 109-bed Children’s Long-term Inpatient Program, developed in the 1980s as residential programs closed and consolidated.
3. According to state officials, 36 children are currently awaiting a CLIP bed. Washington State Health Care Authority is seeking opportunities to contract for replacement capacity. Separately, Lake Burien, a 16-bed youth residential facility, is seeking CLIP certification and could join the program pending a state inspection scheduled for October, the Times reported.
4. Comprehensive Life Resources plans to sell the 23,000-square-foot facility, which was built in 2020 with nearly $10 million in the agency’s funds and a $1.95 million taxpayer-funded state Department of Commerce grant.
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