Listen in as Adrienna Irick shines a light on the conditions inside four different Youth Villages Placements: Inner Harbour, Dogwood, Wallace Group Home and Rose Center. In more restrictive placements such as Inner Harbour, Rose Center and Dogwood, residents are considered too high risk for public school. Instead, they attend facility schools run by Youth Villages. Adrienna described the schools as inadequate and lacking ACT preparation. 

In facilities where cottages and courtyards can have many residents, Adrienna felt staff were too busy with others to address her emotional needs. Her testimony offers feedback for staff wishing to make a positive impact on foster teens in residentials and group homes. 

Adrienna came out in foster care and alleges staff at her facilities made negative comments about her sexuality. These comments came from the same staff hired to help her manage her mental health and empowered to restrain her. 

Host note: At times during this episode, Rose Center is referred to as G-Cert. Rose Center’s old name was Girl’s Center and was colloquially known as “G-Cert” during part of our stay in Youth Villages. Rose center also has courtyards, not cottages. This mix-up comes from my familiarity with Bartlett, which has cottages. 

Excuse the poor audio quality on this episode- Adrienna was unavailable for a re-recording.