A Tacoma facility that treats some of Washington’s most severely mentally ill children is shutting down next month, eliminating a quarter of the state’s long-term psychiatric beds for kids in the process. Pearl Youth Residence, run by Comprehensive Life Resources, is set to close on Nov. 21, a move that will lay off 92 employees and leave families with even fewer options for intensive inpatient care.
Washington will lose 25% of its long-term psychiatric beds for children once the facility closes, according to KING5.com. Pearl Youth is one of four Children’s Long-term Inpatient Program, or CLIP, sites in the state, and its last day of operations will be Nov. 21, per Behavioral Health Business. The CLIP Administration describes the program as the most intensive inpatient psychiatric treatment available to Washington residents, serving youth ages 5 to 17 and funded primarily through federal and state Medicaid dollars.
The Tacoma facility has a capacity of 27 beds but was down to just 16 patients as of Sept. 28, according to Northwest Public Broadcasting. That shrinking census reflects a deeper staffing crisis: Pearl Youth stopped admitting new patients in December because it didn’t have enough staff to care for them, and its population fell to 17, FOX 13 Seattle reported.
Years of Losses and Staff Turnover
The closure didn’t come out of nowhere. Pearl Youth Residence has posted $3 million in operational losses since 2020, the same Behavioral Health Business report found. Staff turnover hit 114% in 2024 and remained near 70% at the time of that report’s publication — a churn rate that would make it difficult for any facility to maintain consistent care for children with severe psychiatric needs…