Buildings on the St. Mary’s Home for Children campus in North Providence are shown in April 2024. (Photo by Alexander Castro/Rhode Island Current)
Rhode Island’s child welfare agency shared one item from its wishlist with the state’s properties board on Tuesday: taking ownership of the former campus of St. Mary’s Home for Children, the nonprofit that ran the psychiatric care campus which closed its doors in August 2024 after a year of scandals and accusations of chaos and abuse.
The Rhode Island Department of Children, Youth and Families (DCYF) formally relayed its hopes to acquire the seven-building campus in North Providence at a Tuesday morning meeting of the State Properties Committee. No vote or action was taken after the DCYF’s presentation, which was only intended to begin the discussion of a possible state purchase of the complex owned by the dissolving nonprofit…