DHHR: Potomac Center to return to fully licensed status in New Year

ROMNEY, W.Va. — The Intensive Training Program at Hampshire County’s Potomac Center is on track to be returned to fully licensed status by February, more than a year after allegations first surfaced about children at the Romney facility being photographed in “degrading and demeaning” situations.

Currently, eight children are being treated in the Intensive Training Program at the Romney facility which serves as a contractor for the state Department of Health and Human Resources.

With the notification of full licensing from the DHHR this week, that number could climb to 16 by the end of January and 24 before the close of February.

“It’s the best Christmas present ever for them and the kids that they’ve served,” said Mark Drennan, executive director of the West Virginia Behavioral Health Care Providers Association, of the reaction at the Potomac Center.

“And then (additionally) the fact that these perpetrators that did these inexcusable things are being brought to justice.

The Potomac Center, a member of the West Virginia Behavioral Health Care Providers Association, offers a six-month to 24-month residential program for kids between the ages of five and 17 who have developmental disabilities and behavioral issues.

In January of this year, DHHR, State Police and other child advocacy groups launched an investigation after reports that a small number of workers at the Potomac Center were directly involved in or had knowledge of photos that were being taken of the kids in what were described as “demeaning” positions.

The photos were allegedly sent to others via Snapchat, a social media app service that automatically deletes any sent photos once they’re viewed.

“I think the police have 50,000 pages of information and statements that they’ve taken,” Drennan said. “Those particular instances were demeaning and degrading and things that are just uncalled for.”

Two dozen children were moved out of the Potomac Center to other locations pending the results of the investigation.

This month, ten people, all former workers at the Potomac Center, have been charged with misdemeanors and most of them are accused of failing to report abuse and neglect.

Drennan said the arrests send a message. “It’s pretty important for the rest of us to understand how important it is to report allegations of abuse or neglect and, certainly, the Potomac Center and many of us who are in this field are mandated by law to report that,” he said on Tuesday’s MetroNews “Talkline.”

According to Drennan, the Potomac Center is well-positioned to move forward in the New Year. “I’m 100 percent confident (in the Potomac Center). In fact, I’ve had some referrals that have come to me and I’ve sent them up to the Potomac Center,” Drennan said.

The DHHR will continue to monitor the facility.





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