Daybreak Youth Services, the sole facility of its kind in Western Washington serving addicted teens, is withering away. The new 44-bed Brush Prairie secure facility was opened in 2017 after residing in a makeshift, boys-only space in Vancouver since 2002.
In September, the Clark County Sheriff obtained and executed search warrants of Daybreak’s facility. These were obtained based upon child safety allegations; very good reasons to investigate, up to a point. Four months later the results of the investigation have not been publicly revealed. In the meanwhile, in an abundance of caution, judges stopped referring girls and boys to Daybreak for treatment, leaving three-fourths of the beds empty and troubled kids “in the wind.”
If something is wrong at the Daybreak Youth Services facility in Brush Prairie, authorities should expose the child safety concerns with no delay so that its citizen board can take remedial action. Failure to publicly report the findings of the investigation leaves troubled youth and Daybreak in limbo.
The state-of-the-art Brush Prairie facility was largely funded by local donors who believe in its mission. Many donors have experienced addictions in their own families and thus understand the unique services this 42-year-old organization provides to addicted youth in our community.
