State Takes Action At Granite Pathways

Statement

Today, Governor Chris Sununu, HHS Commissioner Jeff Meyers, and state officials announced that the State will be terminating its contract with the Granite Pathways Youth Treatment Center following the situation earlier this week.

Earlier today, the State of New Hampshire informed Granite Pathways that its contract for a Youth Treatment Center in Manchester will be terminated within 30 days, as laid out per the contract with the state. In the meantime, Granite Pathways will be suspending admissions temporarily.

The State is installing a new team led by Annette Escalante, Director of the New Hampshire Bureau of Drug and Alcohol Services, to oversee operations and the placement of the five remaining youths at the treatment center until they can be transitioned out. A thirty day review of all contracts the State has with Granite Pathways will be undertaken, and based on that review, further action may be taken.

"As soon as we became aware of the situation at Granite Pathways, the State took action," said Governor Chris Sununu. "Placing the care of a child over to another, be it a person or an organization, is a profound leap of faith. Tragically, there has been a serious breach of trust with this organization. Officials have begun the process of securing a new vendor to ensure that services are brought back online as quickly as possible to ensure the best possible outcomes for our at-risk youth."

"We will be transparent about what we learn in our review of these recent events at the Youth Treatment Center," said HHS Commissioner Jeffrey Meyers. "Because it is important that everyone understand what happened, we will publicly release a summary of what transpired next week. Our priority is to ensure the health and safety of the remaining youth in treatment at the Center. To that end, I have appointed Annette Escalante, who serves as the Director of the Bureau of Drug and Alcohol Services and has 25 years of clinical experience including 12 years running residential programs, to oversee the wind down of the operations."

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