‘Grace’ Land
Excellent reporting by Joe Sexton detailing the painful experience of young Grace Welch while being held at Vermont’s Woodside Juvenile Rehabilitation Center and the sad ending of her life [“The Loss of Grace,” October 25].
It is, sadly, a very familiar story to me after nearly 30 years working in public schools as a special education teacher who case-managed children with significant mental health issues as a result of chaotic and traumatic childhood experiences. Schools are ill equipped to provide the intensive mental health support needed for more and more children and, in my experience, it can take as long as two years of wading through the required processes for students to be placed in alternative settings that offer therapeutic support throughout a school day.
As I was preparing to leave my teaching career, what I was starting to see, more and more, was the warehousing of children in programs that made lofty claims about what they could offer, only to see settings with unqualified staff with high turnover and no measurable outcomes. I kept asking what we were doing as an educational community to prepare our students for life beyond high school, understanding that if we were not addressing the challenges that children faced in an honest or realistic way, we would be turning out another generation that had little to offer their communities as far as job skills and unresolved trauma to carry with them. My concerns fell on the deaf ears of inexperienced administrators with no vision.
Carrie Caouette-De Lallo
Chelsea
‘One Question’
What a story [“The Loss of Grace,” October 25]! I have just one question: If a mentally and physically healthy person experienced what Grace went through at Woodside, what would be left of them?
Leigh Dolin
South Burlington
System Failure
I was unable to speak for hours after reading this brilliant synthesis [“The Loss of Grace,” October 25]. If Vermont still cannot find both the will and the way to take immediate action toward a future of available and humane care for vulnerable people, current leadership is as culpable as anyone at any level who allowed this monstrous “system” to continue.
Lucy Bird Masters
Burlington
‘Different Era, Similar Story’
‘Congratulations’ is a strange word to use in commending the Seven Days piece “The Loss of Grace” [October 25]. It is hard to feel joy at learning about the horrors endured by children at Woodside Juvenile Rehabilitation Center and the predictable but despicable efforts by officialdom to cover it all up.
But I am happy to see investigative journalism of such a high quality appear in the pages of a Vermont publication, especially in this era of fake news and media bashing. It is difficult but sometimes necessary for journalism to afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted. That is what Joe Sexton and the editors at Seven Days have done here, brilliantly. Also, hats off to attorney Kerrie Johnson for her dogged advocacy on behalf of Grace Welch and the other juveniles in the state’s care.
I covered the abuse of children at the St. Joseph’s Orphanage and by Catholic priests in Vermont. I so appreciate it that your piece made note of the connection between those child victims and the ones at Woodside. Different era, similar story.
Sam Hemingway
Hinesburg
‘Sheer Torture’
Words cannot express the horror I felt as I read “The Loss of Grace” [October 25]. To think that something like this could happen in our state and in our town is unimaginable. This was sheer torture. There is no other word for it, and that children were the recipients of it is unthinkable. The restraints and total isolation for weeks were absolute cruelty. And it was filmed — for what purpose?
This situation was brought to the attention of Vermont’s governor, the Department for Children and Families, and the attorney general, and they turned a deaf ear to it.
Thanks to lawyer Kerrie Johnson for her diligence in pursuing the matter and Judge Geoffrey Crawford for starting shutdown procedures of the Woodside Juvenile Rehabilitation Center.
That Jay Simons was given a job with DCF is beyond comprehension.
Having read A Child Called “It,” The Lost Boy and A Man Named Dave, true stories by Dave Pelzer, I realize there are some bad parents out there. But for the most part, parents want the best for their children, and I agree with lawyer Johnson that children are better off with their families.
Joyce Coutu
Essex Junction
I Was There
Woodside was horrible [“The Loss of Grace,” October 25]. We use to get abused there. I remember that place.
John North
Berlin, N.H.
Public Inquiry Needed
I am awed by Joe Sexton’s article, “The Loss of Grace” [October 25], and am heartened by Seven Days’ courage in publishing it. Heartfelt kudos to both.
That so many who could have stopped the torture of Grace Welch and other children committed to state custody at the former Woodside facility closed their eyes and ears to the violence there for so long is horrifying. However, lawsuits leading to the payment of compensation out of public funds and a vague promise by officials to “do better” in the future do not relieve the rest of us from some responsibility for what allegedly was done for the community’s benefit in the past or what will be done in the future.
A public inquiry should be undertaken to determine, first, how physical and psychological abuse was allowed to become the state’s default approach to our troublesome juveniles and, second, what that approach ought to be now if we hope to avoid similar public and private tragedies.
Therese Kurtze
South Burlington
Support H.409
The systemic abuse that eventually killed Grace Welch is widespread and ongoing [“The Loss of Grace,” October 25]. Grace arrived as a tiny child in her local public school. Already traumatized and needing care, her school choose to focus instead on crushing her behavior rather than healing her trauma and letting school be a place of safety for her.
Even though we know better, this use of force on our most vulnerable children is common practice in Vermont’s schools. The research is published and rock solid: Seclusion and restraint only re-traumatize these kids. But we do it anyway, over and over, failing the kids who need us the most.
If you hate this, let your legislators know you support the current bill H.409, restricting the use of seclusion and restraint in our schools. That bill is currently opposed by Vermont’s public schools and even mental health centers like Clara Martin — big players who claim to speak on behalf of the kids. We have to fight back, for the kids like Grace.
Gary Hillard
Randolph
Animals Get Better Treatment
“The Loss of Grace” [October 25] was a highly disturbing exposé and a master class in investigative journalism. While I, like many, was aware that Woodside was a questionable juvenile “rehabilitation facility” and wasn’t surprised by its implosion, how could we have known the extent of the abuse in the North Unit without it being uncovered so thoroughly here?
Having been a guardian ad litem, I’ve seen kids like Grace Welch and the Woodside 7; they are dealt a losing hand out of the womb and require copious doses of empathy and love, as well as a holistic approach to their often complex care. The systemic failures and lack of oversight — and the blind eyes cast by those in leadership roles — are startling. Falling prey to Vermont exceptionalism is one thing, but removing oneself from reality when cruelty is laid bare and at your feet is criminal.
If my workplace, the humane society, treated animals as horrendously as these kids in the North Unit of Woodside have been treated, we would be stripped of our name. Vermont adolescents need more Kerrie Johnsons and fewer Jay Simons.
Joyce Cameron
Charlotte
‘Sanctioned Abuse’
[Re “The Loss of Grace,” October 25]: I have known for years about the psychiatric crisis, especially for children, here in Vermont. I have heard stories about Woodside on and off over the years, but I have never in my wildest imagination gone to the place where the professionals in our state, going all the way up to the governor’s office, allowed Woodside to go. Calling it in any way, shape or form a treatment facility is like calling Alcatraz a daycare for adults.
What Grace Welch and the many other young people I read about just now had to go through was child abuse at best. The lives of these children were put in the care of Woodside, and I would imagine most were irreparably harmed.
The fact that so many state officials were told and chose not to intervene is appalling. Not just low-level state officials, but high-level officials who should know better. We voted them in because we thought they knew better. We thought we could trust them to hire staff and keep tabs on the people caring for children with severe mental health issues. I, for one, will not make that mistake again.
Don’t let the children of our state down again. Make sure you know that those you vote for will not stand by while children who are in crisis are left in situations like Woodside. Sanctioned abuse. Never again.
Karen Kelley
St. George
‘I Couldn’t Stop Reading’
I picked up Seven Days for the first time today in Quechee, where I am vacationing. The story of this Vermont girl’s sad life is so touching and captivating, I couldn’t stop reading Joe Sexton’s well-documented history of the neglect and mistreatment of this child [“The Loss of Grace,” October 25]. She simply fell through the cracks of a system that was designed to provide her with help. It is so unconscionable and difficult to believe. I hope there will be a sequel to this story that provides clarity as to the outcome of changes that are needed in the state system, as well as consequences for many of those people entrusted with her care. Let us hope that Vermont can overcome these failures and prevent any further “ghosts of Woodside.” Sending children in need out of state is not the long-term solution.
Jim Desmond
Wall, N.J.
‘Nothing Was Ever Done’
[Re “The Loss of Grace,” October 25]: I worked as a residential supervisor at Sand Hill, a temporary lockdown home for girls in the Department for Children and Families system. It was run by Spectrum Youth & Family Services from 2000 to 2008. There we looked after many girls with all types of problems and kept them safe from others and themselves until they could transition to a new or different foster home. We heard many disgusting and disturbing stories from our residents about Woodside 23 years ago, which we would dutifully report to their social workers, etc., yet nothing was ever done about it.
Julie Merwin
Castleton
Let’s Hear All Voices
[Re “UVM Students Protest Cancellation of Palestinian Writer’s Appearance,” October 24, online]: At this moment when it is so difficult for the leaders of our country — including many members of Congress — to find the courage to call for an immediate cease-fire in Israel and Palestine and to pursue diplomacy, the least we can do is allow for Israelis and Palestinians to speak at our universities. As a lifelong Vermonter, I deeply cherish our values of freedom and unity, as well as the spaces for us to communicate across differences.
A U.S. Department of State official responsible for ensuring the U.S. isn’t participating in war crimes in Gaza just resigned to protest the fact that he’s not being allowed to do his job, which involves deliberation and discussion about sending weapons to other countries. When it came to Israel, he said there was no space for dissent. The state department should do better. So should the University of Vermont.
Our publicly funded university should not discriminate against potential speakers because their ethnicity is controversial. Of course, universities should protect people’s safety to the best of their ability, but this shouldn’t be used as an excuse for discrimination.
Genocide Watch has issued a genocide emergency alert for Israel and Gaza. The Center for Constitutional Rights reported last week that the U.S.’s role in the war rises to the level of complicity in genocide. Our congressional delegation should call for an immediate cease-fire. And our public university should avoid discrimination, which Genocide Watch lists as stage three of the 10 stages of genocide.
Isaac Evans-Frantz
Brattleboro
Evans-Frantz is executive director of Action Corps.
Money in Politics
[Re “Texts Reveal Why Crypto Exec Backed Balint Over Gray in U.S. House Race,” October 18]: As one of the Democratic congressional candidates in 2022, I had a close-up look at Becca Balint’s campaign. There is no question that the $1.1 million in laundered super PAC money from which she benefited changed the entire trajectory of the contest. Indeed, this money probably had more impact than any other FTX contributions nationwide, given the small size of Vermont. Our state has never before seen this, and it is alarming.
As suggested in court exhibits from the Sam Bankman-Fried trial, Balint’s willingness to publish the FTX pandemic screed almost verbatim sent a signal to the Bankman-Fried gang that she was amenable to its influence.
Her campaign’s subsequent suggestion that her opponent, Molly Gray, was “homophobic” for questioning the donations was the most dishonest form of slander.
Vermonters deserved better.
Louis Meyers
South Burlington
Trouble With Tech
[Re From the Publisher: “Technically Speaking,” October 18]: Paula Routly might be right that the iPhone and other high-tech devices and developments are moral tests for those who use them, but it’s a real problem that, for the most part, individuals have to take those tests all on their own. Society, in the U.S. at least, is doing very little to slow the pace of release of new technologies and assess the potential harmful effects. Good luck to us!
I agree that we need to know more about tech, but most of what we’re getting is rah-rah journalism describing the latest cool things and the cool people who are developing them [“What’s Next?” October 18]. We need more critical and skeptical reports. Really, though, we already know enough about the effects of digital technology — on our ability to sleep, to learn, to think, to live meaningful lives — to warrant applying the “precautionary principle” to new tech and to think seriously about creating tech-free periods in our days, and maybe also in certain places.
Beyond that, we need to try again to articulate shared visions of what life is all about and organize ourselves around those. Until that happens, our tools will continue to develop beyond our ability to control them, and we’ll all continue to be pushed around by technology and the agendas of those who are so enthusiastic about bringing it into the world as quickly as possible.
Don Jamison
Burlington
The Good With the Bad
I fully support your coverage of whatever happens in Burlington — the good and the bad. But I feel that some of your recent coverage has painted a darker picture than is really warranted [“Tim Newcomb,” October 18; From the Publisher: “Burlington Blues,” September 27].
I come into Burlington once a week if I can. I have a meal, shop and sometimes just walk around. I see “iffy” people, but usually not that many. I have seen needles, but infrequently. I have never been confronted on the street by anyone.
I don’t know what will solve Burlington’s problems, but driving people away certainly isn’t the answer. If people don’t live in, shop in, work in and visit Burlington, it will surely die. I imagine your coverage is intended to stimulate appropriate public responses, but I think you are doing some damage. Many neighbors, who seldom or never go to Burlington say, “Why would I go there? It’s just a dangerous slum.” It’s not.
Do we know who our homeless, addicted and mentally ill people really are? Are they really just a bunch of shiftless layabouts who have come to Vermont because we are generous, as some people claim? Or are they Vermonters who have had misfortune — medical problems, loss of a job, spousal abuse, underlying mental issues, an accident, a lousy education? Some of each, I suppose. Some informed reporting on this population would be very helpful.
Let’s try to keep the issues in perspective, with maybe some informed coverage about the people who concern us.
J. Wick
Shelburne
Who’s to Blame?
[Feedback: “Welcome All Freeloaders,” September 20] lays blame for the serious problem of homelessness and an increase in drug users on Church Street at the feet of Burlington City Council members, as well as the “state’s huge safety net,” homeless shelters and safe injection sites.
One very large factor in the increase of Burlington’s homeless population is the recent rapid increase in house prices, which has dried up available affordable housing. A house that was listed at $385,000 a few years ago might now be on the tax lists at $685,000. A much larger problem is the cost of tax cuts that benefit the middle and upper classes, as well as lower capital gains rates, which benefit the middle and upper classes; huge capital gains exclusions for us homeowners; drastic reductions in the federal estate tax; mortgage interest deductions; etc.
George Bush’s tax cuts in 2001 and 2003 continue to benefit high-income taxpayers while ballooning the deficit. It isn’t homeless drug users who pass laws that funnel hundreds of billions of dollars to the rich.
I worked with homeless addicts during the pandemic and saw some state assistance, but nothing like the “huge safety net” that props up property owners and the wealthy. I agree the Burlington City Council made some poor decisions. But who are the real “freeloaders”? Instead of looking for someone else to blame, let’s use our resources and creativity to create a better Burlington for all of us.
Jeffrey Jarrad
Burlington
The Problem Is Gentrification
[From the Publisher: “Burlington Blues,” September 27]: About a decade ago, Burlington chose to elect a mayor whose primary goal was to make the city into a playland for the rich. Burlington is now essentially a luxury shopping mall, food court and condo association for rich people. Burlington’s current problems aren’t complicated: When you gentrify and build a city to cater to the hyper-consumption of tourists and rich people, everyday life becomes unaffordable for the majority who aren’t rich.
Now the rhetoric describing Burlington’s current problems goes something like this: “There are times of day on Church Street when it seems like more people are in the throes of substance abuse, mental illness or both than those going about the business of working, shopping and eating.” As described by local media and the powers that be, the main problem with the lack of affordable housing, unaffordable health care, lack of access to substance-use disorder services and shaming attitudes toward mental health issues is not that more and more people are suffering from a cultural lack of compassion and lack of will to help those in pain, but that the people who need help are keeping others from shopping effectively. And now that the mess that has become Burlington can’t be ignored anymore or festival-ed away, people are upset that the results of chronic poverty and disenfranchisement are harshing their shopping and fine-dining vibes. A real change in this situation means a radical shift in priorities — not just a worry-free shopping spree or night out on the town.
Rachel Daley
Charlotte
Not ‘We’ vs. ‘Them’
In [From the Publisher: “Burlington Blues,” September 27], the author concludes by asking: “Does anyone know what will [fix these problems?],” alluding to behaviors associated with people using drugs in public, those with mental health challenges and the unhoused.
The answer is “Yes, we do, but the will of the people has been nullified by the power of the current administration.”
The article itself is a sensationalized and slanted depiction of the very real consequences of public health policy derelictions here in Vermont. As usual, the mistreated, prosecuted, disenfranchised and politically underserved are blamed, and the thrust of the article therefore descends morally to what “we” are going to do about “them.”
The true question is: “What are we going to do about an administration that ignores science, feigns compassion and hoards money?” H.728, an act related to overdose responses and based in science, was vetoed by our governor in 2022, the worst year ever in Vermont, with 264 neighbors dying of accidental drug overdose.
That same year, in a transparent attempt to feign compassion for this exact same group of Vermonters, the governor declared August 31 Overdose Awareness Day…
Presently, over $15 million lies idly in Vermont’s coffers, while 2023 screams in our faces every day, sirens blasting, exhausted first responders working overtime, family after family facing the preventable death of a loved one.
We, the people, can and must elect leaders who follow proven science, demonstrate compassion and find the resources necessary to care for the most vulnerable.
Ed Baker
Burlington
‘Brand-New Day’ in Burlington
[Re “Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger Won’t Seek Reelection,” September 28]: Mayor Miro Weinberger is leaving? This is good news. Now we have a chance to elect someone who is quite different. I’ll be looking for someone who can picture either fixing up Memorial Auditorium or replacing it with a replica.
I always felt it was allowed to become run-down for someone’s benefit, someone building giant, ugly new buildings on that “Gateway Block.” All of it — parking lot, site of auditorium and everything between. With a new Memorial Auditorium honoring our veterans, we would indeed have a Gateway Block.
We now have the opportunity to find someone who likes people more than buildings. We need to take care of the homeless, instead of playing whack-a-mole with them.
We can make progress. Not with big buildings, but by making the city work. New sidewalks downtown, a well-patrolled Church Street and truly affordable housing.
It’s a brand-new day. A bright new day.
Charles Messing
Burlington
Drawing Attention
Tim Newcomb’s cartoon [October 18] is about a problem that’s been around Burlington for a long time. Making fun of it is not helpful, but maybe drawing attention to it could be.
I did business in downtown Burlington for 16 years, and I enjoyed every minute of it, but there were challenges. One August day around 2005, a young man stripped off all of his clothes in front of my completely full restaurant, lay down in the middle of the street and started masturbating. Fortunately, at the time there was an outreach team led by Matt Young that was able to intervene quickly and hopefully get this young man the help he needed.
I have spoken with some of today’s major downtown businesspeople. They have told me that yes, it is challenging, but they don’t blame the people with issues. They blame the fiasco of the Burlington Square Mall being torn down and not rebuilt. Then COVID-19, which had a detrimental effect on Church Street foot traffic. Then the “defund the police” movement! Stupid!
These problems are not insurmountable, compared with what’s going on now in Israel, what happened in Libya after the dams broke and what’s happening in the Ukraine. In the richest country in the world, and one of the most beautiful U.S. small cities, it’s too bad that more resources can’t be mustered to address these issues. Simply going to the suburbs to do your shopping and dining is not the answer.
I’m proud of the good people who labor to put this excellent weekly newspaper out. I hope, going forward, that you can lead the charge to find solutions to the challenging issues around homelessness and drug abuse.
Robert Fuller
Lincoln
Fuller is the former owner of Leunig’s Bistro & Café.
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The Loss of Grace
This article appears in Nov 1-7, 2023.
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