Normative Services Inc. Academy in Sheridan, Wyoming.
A therapeutic youth home in Sheridan, Wyoming is closing its doors this spring after multiple states have dropped contracts with its parent company nationwide due to reports of violence, abuse and a death at another facility. When Normative Services Inc. Academy closes in March, nearly 50 kids from Montana will need to be transferred elsewhere.
NSI is owned by Sequel Youth and Family Services, a for profit company that runs juvenile treatment centers across the country. Typically, county and state agencies place foster kids, juvenile delinquents and children with behavioral problems in these facilities.
Credit screen shot by Tennessee Watson
On Monday, Dec. 14, the Joint Appropriations Committee heard Wyoming Department of Family Services Director Korin Schmidt present her department s plan to cut its budget. This comes after Gov. Mark Gorden announced last month he wanted the state budget reduced by an additional $500 million, following 10 percent cuts in July.
Over a third of the $8.5 million that DFS will cut comes from reduced operations at the Wyoming Boys and Girls Schools, including the elimination of 21 positions. In both the Boys School and the Girls School, our hope would be, Schmidt told the committee, that we can achieve the reduction in staffing numbers by attrition without having to go through a formal reduction in force process.