At the end of session this year state representatives from Western New York worked diligently to pass legislation that would keep the Western New York Children’s Psychiatric Center (WNYCPC) open. Gov. Cuomo wants to close this facility, ignoring the great contributions this facility makes to the lives of the patients and their families who rely on it.

The WNYCPC is rated in the top 10 percent of children’s psychiatric facilities in the nation and has helped countless children throughout the decades that it’s been in operation. WNYCPC offers a unique opportunity for children who struggle with behavioral and emotional issues to grow and develop skills and attributes that will help them succeed in coping with their illness. The Center provides a trauma sensitive system of care that is safe and therapeutic in a family setting for children and adolescents from age 4 to 18.

Cuomo would rather send these fragile children to a facility in Buffalo that treats adults. Children are still growing and need extra attention to development skills and behavioral support than adults. Combining the two populations would be detrimental to the development and growth of these children who need the attention and environment that WNYCPC provides. Relocating these patients would be counterproductive to their treatment and success.

Mentally frail and behaviorally-challenged children need to be in a safe, violence free and emotionally-stimulating environment for treatment to be as successful as WNYCPC has been for these children. The center allows these patients to work together to develop coping skills and grow. Before a child leaves WNYCPC they add their handprint to a wall at the Center so other patients are encouraged by their peers success and feel supported – a sense of hope that they’re not alone.

WNYCPC offers a variety of services tailored to all children and a variety of mental, emotional and behavioral disturbances, including inpatient, outpatient, day treatment, clinic treatment, intensive care management and mobile mental health consultation services. The Center supports families and educates those in the community about how to deal with the emotionally and behaviorally disturbed population.

Here’s how you can help: sign my e-petition at http://bit.ly/2s0cJVv, call the governor at (518) 474-8390, or write the governor at The Honorable Andrew M. Cuomo, Governor of New York State, NYS State Capitol Building, Albany, NY 12224.