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Children’s home in Rhode Island under fire after report shows assaults, neglect, and biker gang on campus

St. Mary's Home for Children has five residential homes on their North Providence campus, which houses residents aged 6 through 18.

January 23, 2024

4 minutes to read

A children’s home in North Providence, R.I. has been under fire after a report from the state’s Office of the Child Advocate found safety concerns and negligence across its campus.

The OCA sent a 119-page report last month to St. Mary’s Home for Children and Rhode Island Department of Children, Youth, and Families, detailing instances of staff assaulting children, children assaulting and sexually assaulting other children, a lack of proper supervision, and a biker gang on the campus allegedly without state permission.

St. Mary’s Home for Children provides residential and outpatient treatment for children dealing with psychiatric problems and other forms of trauma. They have five residential homes on their North Providence campus, which houses residents aged 6 through 18. The OCA is an independent oversight agency.

The investigation was launched after the OCA were made aware of a 17-year-old who had overdosed and was found unconscious in a bathroom at the home in April of last year. The teen was revived with two doses of Narcan, the report said.

The incident prompted the OCA to look into all Child Protective Services calls, specifically for the month of April through May 8. There were more than 20 calls to the CPS hotline, they found, including allegations of drug overdoses, sexual contact among the children, staff assaulting children, runaway children, and an overwhelming amount of police responses, the OCA said.

In one instance, two children stole a van and drove off campus. During the same day, another child was able to enter an office and apparently take a pair of scissors, which were later found bloodied in a pillowcase.

“The OCA determined the actions of St. Mary’s were neglectful and placed all youth within the Hope Unit in an unsafe situation,” the OCA wrote.

The office was also unable to find follow-up records about the incident from DCYF Licensing Division, which monitors and enforces homes for children.

Responses conducted by DCYF Licensing Workers were insufficient and kept children in unsafe living conditions, the report also said.

“It is impractical to state, ‘there were no licensing issues reported’ without physically observing the unit and all corresponding documentation in person,” the OCA wrote. “In order to identify licensing violations and ongoing issues at St. Mary’s, DCYF Licensing must conduct in-person visits and speak with staff and residents.”

In a statement, DCYF said they paused placements at St. Mary’s in May and then again in November 2023 due to the concerns.

“DCYF appreciates the constructive feedback and recommendations from the OCA. Over the next few weeks, DCYF will develop a response report to address the OCA’s findings,” a spokesperson said. “DCYF is actively working to ensure the highest quality of services are provided to the children in its care and will continue to support all efforts to deliver the services children and youth deserve.”

The OCA also spoke to staff, such as unit supervisors, clinical staff, and teachers, who overwhelmingly said the staff suffers from “low morale.” Front-line staff also said there is a disconnect between staff and the administrator team, which included Executive Director Carlene McCann, who has stepped down since the OCA report.

Bikers Against Child Abuse, on campus

Later that summer, the OCA found that members of Bikers Against Child Abuse were staging outside of St. Mary’s, which was not communicated to the OCA or DCYF. According to the report, OCA discovered the bikers were interacting with the children inside the units.

McCann repeatedly told the bikers to leave in August, she told the OCA, after they were “monitoring the facility for a period of time.” McCann also said BACA was joined by associated “‘outlaw’ motorcycle gangs.”

“And certainly, we should NEVER have people here that have not had background checks,” McCann wrote in an email to BACA, the OCA, DCYF and North Providence police that was included in the OCA report. “I get that you are trying to help, but you are doing things we have never asked you to do. This whole thing has become something never intended. Honestly, I am at wit’s end- especially since I have explained -as have Mike and Melissa, the difficult position you have put us in – which would not have been a problem if you had just stopped 2 weeks ago when I originally asked.”

BACA told McCann, the OCA, and DCYF that they were invited by St. Mary’s staff to monitor the home and did not interact with the children except with staff permission, including a meet and greet.

McCann called BACA their “partner” in a staff-wide email, saying they would regularly ride through campus unscheduled to make their presence known to the staff and youth.

What’s next?

Charles Montorio-Archer, interim CEO of St. Mary’s, wrote a guest column in the Providence Journal on Saturday. He called the home’s work “challenging” and “unpredictable.”

“Acknowledging this does not mean we take it lightly, and we are in the process of evaluating all areas of vulnerability and creating actionable change to create the safest environment for both the children and our staff,” he wrote. “Change starts at the very top. We now have a completely new leadership team in place that brings decades of experience and best practices to St. Mary’s.”