Left to right, Lisa Martinelli, executive legal counsel for the Executive Office of Health and Human Services, DCYF Director Ashley Deckert, and DCYF Deputy Director Brandi DiDino appear before the State Properties Committee on Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025. (Photo by Alexander Castro/Rhode Island Current)
A week after its initial pitch, the Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF) won approval Tuesday morning from the State Properties Committee to purchase a former psychiatric treatment facility for youth which closed in August 2024 after a year embroiled in controversy.
Under the purchase and sale agreement approved Tuesday, the tentative purchase price for the former St. Mary’s Home for Children in North Providence is $760,848, roughly equivalent to the money needed for the nonprofit St. Mary’s to conclude its legal existence, a process known as dissolution. On Dec. 10, DCYF first presented its detailed plans to purchase the campus to renovate and reopen as a 16-bed psychiatric facility for teenage girls…