Recent events at our agency, coupled with correspondence from the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services (DHS) in response to them, compels us to respond on behalf of our agency (“State won’t renew Glade Run license,” Nov. 11, P/1).

Following a difficult year at Glade Run Lutheran Services, we find our agency in the undesirable position of being forced to permanently close our Residential Treatment Facility (RTF). This is the result of recent incidents on campus property, that while unfortunate, are certainly not beyond the bounds of historical experience in a facility such as ours that cares for some of society’s most challenging neglected and abused children.

The combination of these incidents, coupled with a meticulous DHS corrective action plan that has proven exceptionally difficult to maintain and administer, has led to this outcome. Glade Run’s supervision and safety measures are unprecedented in our field. Systems have been put in place to monitor any staff mistake, allowing us to act swiftly to make corrections and terminate staff who are not diligent in their care. However, a zero-tolerance policy standard that allows no room for absolutely any error has become untenable to maintain, and the agency is cited as if the entire organization and not a single individual is to blame. Such standards are unattainable by any organization, including ours.

We absolutely share DHS’s concern and mutually share a deep and abiding concern for the care and well-being of the children we serve. We concede our frustration that a mere handful of staff, among the hundreds we regularly employ, jeopardized our RTF program because of their less than 100 percent attention to policy and procedures. However when DHS releases one-sided inflammatory information that makes the organization appear incompetent, it jeopardizes the reputation of a stellar and historic agency that serves 95 percent of its youth in community and school settings.

Moreover, we are dismayed at the reaction of our residents as this news has unfolded. We have experienced youth begging us to stay and some of our children have reacted by attempting self-injury and experiencing high levels of anxiety. We harbor deep concerns that many of the children we care for may now be at more risk because of our RTF closure. We are concerned that DHS’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.

Churches and other faith-based groups have historically provided the kinds of therapeutic care and psychological support that we have continuously delivered for 162 years. We do our work even through it is difficult, risky and often thankless. Like many of our agency peers, we continue to do our part, knowing that this is the role that we believe God has asked us to fulfill.

Glade Run will continue to partner with our community to find alternative ways to serve God’s children. This will include the ongoing operation of our very successful school and community-based programs. We will seek to expand our services in other creative and useful ways that we believe will benefit society. We will to the best of our ability continue to honor God and our faith tradition by seeking to serve society’s abused, neglected and at-risk children. While the closure of our RTF is a difficult conclusion, we take solace in the fact that our RTF children represent less than 5 percent of the total client population that we annually serve. We help thousands of people annually and we plan to continue doing so for many years to come.

Glade Run Lutheran Services had been led and grown by our president for 27 years. Some of our board members have served for most of his tenure. We cannot let his transpire without a response on behalf of our agency. Over that time, our staff have been supported by a caring volunteer board of directors who have always sought to deliver quality care to both children and at-need adults throughout our community. We all share in the distress of this conclusion.

Our community knows Glade Run and the breadth of the good work we do. We remain mission-oriented, outcome driven, and invested in the children, families and communities we serve. We remain grateful for the partnership of all stakeholders and we welcome any questions you may have after recent correspondence or news reports.

Whether you are an employee, director, volunteer, community partner or, most importantly, one of the many children and families that Glade Run has been and are privileged to serve, we thank you for taking the time to read this letter. On behalf of all that you do to help and serve our communities’ vulnerable and traumatized youth, we appreciate your continued prayers, care and support during this time of transition.

Glade Run board of directorsBrian Kane, chairmanGlade Run Foundation board of directors the Rev. Donald Green, chairman