A new report from the office of the New York state comptroller shows shortfalls in juvenile justice centers across New York state. There are a number of contributing factors, including staffing shortages, which have led to more self harm and drug use among youth the centers serve, but there are some outliers, according to the report.

“No kids are bad,” said Vanderheyden President and CEO Karen Carpenter. “Individuals just grow up in different circumstances.”

That’s part of the motto at Vanderheyden, a children, adult and family services agency in Rensselaer County.

“The individuals we serve are individuals who may have been served in other programs historically, in psychiatric centers and division for youth facilities,” Carpenter said.

Children at Vanderheyden stay in cottages that resemble a small dorm on a college campus, where they have the opportunity to learn life skills that they’ve otherwise been unable to acquire.

“How do you take the bus, do you get your permit, do you graduate high school?” Carpenter explained. “All these things that we know can yield their future, which we know can be bright.”

It’s a formula that appears to be working.

“It changed the way I act,” said Isaiah, a longtime resident. “I was a really bad kid in my other school.”

Isaiah has lived at Vanderheyden for several years and believes it’s got him on the right track.

Asher, who has been a Vanderheyden for less than six months, said, “My time here has been pretty good. The staff is really nice. They help you with social skills and learning, life skills.”

But the comptroller’s report paints a much different picture at six facilities overseen by the state’s Office of Children and Family Services. It describes failures to train staff on proper restraining methods and timely intake procedures, including medical assessments, with some cases taking nearly nine months.

“Working in facilities where you have individuals that have trauma, that have behavioral problems, that have mental health needs, you need an excellent trained staff, and right now it’s hard,” Carpenter said.

The audit calls for immediate action as the shortfalls are believed to leave the youths in danger.

“We’ve raised the salaries for our direct care professionals because they’re the crux of the work we do,” Carpenter said. “We also make sure there is ongoing training.”

That's helped Carpenter and staff avoid some of the shortfalls highlighted in the report, but she still think there needs to be a better focus on prevention work.

“We want to have individuals, case managers, clinicians, direct support professionals, be able to go into family's homes before it becomes a problem," she said.

Isaiah and Asher are now on the path to success, working with cars and hair respectively.

“To this day, yeah, I still need a little bit of help, but get the help you need,” Asher said. “It’s always worth it.”

The New York State Office of Children and Family Services provided a statement to Spectrum News 1:

"OCFS is committed to providing youth in care with a safe and healthy environment, and we know how critical it is for our staff to have the resources needed to provide it. OCFS appreciates that the Office of State Comptroller (OSC) took the time to connect with and learn about facility programs to understand more about the needs of youth and staff, and to make on-the-ground assessments of OCFS practices. We are glad that OSC acknowledged that OCFS-operated facilities meet health and safety standards, as well as state requirements for facility conditions. The majority of the OSC's look back occurred during the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic. Like the majority of the human services sector, OCFS was significantly impacted by staff losses and the inability to quickly hire. OCFS has taken several steps to address the OSC report's findings and has implemented several counter measures to better support staff and youth programs. These include but are not limited to: adopting new training curriculum, exploring training methods that will meet policy expectations while minimizing the impact on staff availability, and analyzing and expanding recruitment efforts with the goal of increasing staff retention and supporting the best outcomes for youth."