Organization plans to turn old Fulton hospital into center for displaced foster care youth

FULTON, Mo. (KMIZ)

A new center that its creators say will support displaced foster care youth and at-risk children will take over the hospital in Fulton that has been vacant since 2022.

According to a release, Cornerstone Treatment Center is taking over the hospital. More than 400,000 children in the U.S. are in foster care. Without access to stable housing, education, financial literacy and more, children in foster care are at risk of being exploited and are vulnerable to human trafficking.

The treatment center is leasing the building.

"Cornerstone Treatment Center is going to be a residential treatment center for children ages five to 17, along with an outpatient mental health hospital for children five to 17," Cornerstone Treatment Center of Missouri CEO Margie Barilla said. "The residential treatment center is actually, more exclusive for children in the foster care system that have been displaced where we are trying to alleviate the issues of sleeping in CPS offices, hotels, unlicensed facilities.

The center will have multiple functions such as providing shelter, mental health services job training, education support and critical intervention to help young people prevent and recover from trafficking. The center will also provide trauma-informed care and holistic support to help youths transition into adulthood, according to the release.

Barilla said the center will also include pediatric urgent care, an orthodontist, a dentist, an oral surgeon, an obstetrician, a barber, schooling and more. The center will also include ten trauma beds for children as well.

For outpatient mental health care, Barilla said the center will have partial hospitalization, intensive outpatient, individual and family sessions.

"It's 100% psychiatric, co-occurring," Barilla said. "However, if there's substance abuse or chemical dependency, we would actually refer that out."

Barilla said the center also plans on hosting events for the community to participate in.

"The community is going to love us being here," Barilla said. "We're going to have monthly parenting classes and anger management, because ultimately, the whole part of mental health is a continuity of care, early intervention and prevention."

Children at the center will go to school there for four hours a day online using monitored computers.

The center will be joint accredited, according to Barilla and will cost an estimated $25 million. By the end of this year, Barilla hopes to have a center in every state except for Hawaii, Alaska, Guam and Puerto Rico, where they will do telehealth services.

"I just think that this is going to be a great asset to the community at large, not only will they be able to bring their children here that are suffering through depression, anxiety, or even suicidal ideation," Barilla said. "We also will have family therapy available. The beautiful part is that we're just right next door and, being able to be a part of the community is such an honor and I couldn't ask for anything else."

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received more than 18,000 reports of possible child sex trafficking in 2023.

A grand opening ceremony will take place in about 90 days.

Nobel Health announced the closure of its hospitals in Fulton and Mexico in 2022. Former Noble employees at the Fulton hospital and another in Mexico, Missouri, allege in a filing in the company's bankruptcy suit that Noble failed to pay their insurance premiums, leading to uncovered claims, and failed to pay them.

The bankruptcy case is ongoing but the Fulton hospital property was part of a settlement last June that transferred the property to Ziva Medical.

Noble said when it closed the hospitals that about 170 employees would be furloughed. Local resident, Sharlette Anderson thinks the center will be good for the children who need help, but the community still needs a local hospital.

"If it's going to be productive and they can help people that need help, and I rather do that than have it empty," Anderson said. "I hope we can find a way to have acute emergency services here, not 30 miles away."