ZELIENOPLE — In a letter addressing the state’s decision not to renew the license of its child residential facility, executives and board members at Glade Run Lutheran Services criticized state officials’ handling of the matter and said some juvenile clients had attempted to harm themselves after learning of the impending closure.

“We are concerned that (the state’s) decisions are based more on isolated incidents and not the overall positive outcomes of literally thousands of children that we have helped over many decades of time,” the letter states, in part.

The letter, dated Nov. 17 and signed by board members and the Rev. Charles T. Lockwood, the organization’s president and CEO, comes about two weeks after the state Department of Human Services issued a “nonrenewal notice” to Glade Run’s child residential facility at 70 Beaver Road.

DHS officials have said the decision to shut down the residential facility was made after two incidents — one involving a resident found hanging from a bedsheet on a bathroom door; another involving a staff member who was found overdosing on heroin in a bathroom — came to light during inspections in August.

The inspections were part of a DHS corrective action plan Glade Run agreed to in the wake of a state investigation that found staff negligence resulted in a “sexual misconduct system that included forcible rape” and involved eight children between the ages of 8 and 13 between March and July of that year.

A complete report appears in Wednesday’s Butler Eagle.