Vista Maria Ends Youth Residential Program After 50 Years Amid Allegations

Vista Maria in Dearborn Heights is ending its nearly 50-year residential treatment program, a change that will relocate 11 girls and result in about 150 staff layoffs. The agency says the decision followed more than a year of reflection and data review and was driven by regulatory, social and systemic challenges and an inability to provide the inpatient psychiatric care many residents now require. The closure comes amid heightened scrutiny after numerous runaways and campus incidents — including police being called hundreds of times in one year and a 16-year-old later found with a 62-year-old man who was charged — and state reports citing food and training violations and other concerns. Former residents have leveled “disturbing allegations” of threats, verbal abuse and inappropriate staff-resident relationships, and attorney Michael Jaafer says his firm is investigating and plans to file suit. Vista Maria emphasizes it is not closing altogether and will continue community-based services such as foster care, juvenile justice, transitional living and independent living while families, staff and survivors process the changes.