DEARBORN HEIGHTS, Mich. – Former residents and staff at Vista Maria, a treatment center for girls in Dearborn Heights, have reached out with concerns after the disappearance of a teenage girl brought attention to the facility.
In 2024 alone, there were 368 calls to Dearborn Heights police to visit Vista Maria.
The allegations against the facility include physical and sexual abuse, poor building conditions, and a lack of adequate training for staff.
Local 4 sat down with Vista Maria leadership to discuss these concerns. We were allowed access to two buildings, the admin building, which is also foster care, and the transitional housing building. The facility has a total of 15 buildings.
Vista Maria Chief Operating Officer Meredith Reese has been working there for 21 years. Here’s what was said:
Why are police called to Vista Maria so frequently?
When Dearborn Heights police were asking for help locating the missing teen, they raised concerns about the number of calls they’d received to assist at Vista Maria.
“In 2024 alone, we’ve had 368 calls for service at that location,” Dearborn Heights police chief Ahmed Haidar said in April. “These include assault and battery, fights, staff being assaulted, and juveniles out of control. Our officers have used force in some cases, and we’ve seen injuries ranging from fingers to backs and ankles. It’s a major drain on our manpower.”
Haidar said he didn’t know why the situation had gotten worse but believed it could be caused by “staffing issues or hiring unqualified, untrained individuals. I understand they might be taking on more than they can handle.”
Reese said Vista Maria was just as “concerned” and “alarmed” during that “particular moment in time.”
“I just wanted to set the record that, and provide some clarity that these are traumatized youth. They come with a history of abuse and neglect, and oftentimes as traumatized clients, oftentimes they express on those, that emotion, the concern, and so forth. And it can be through verbal it could be physical aggression.
“Our staff are trained in order to be able to address those particular emotions and even those behaviors. Oftentimes, when it exceeds that capacity, it is difficult to maintain, and so therefore we may and we will seek outside assistance.
“At that time, it was the Dearborn Heights police. We did express our concerns, and we even had meetings with them twice in 2024 to even express it, even tried to problem solve. We want to be good community partners, and we do very important work here, and so we do need the assistance of Dearborn Heights police and others to be able to make sure that this work continues. In order for us to protect our staff and our kids, we have to do this together,” Reese said.
---> ‘Their foot in my neck’: Former Vista Maria resident alleges abuse, forcible injections, cover-up
Addressing security concerns
Reese said she believes Vista Maria does an “appropriate job” making sure that all staff and youth are safe.
“Security issue is very important for us to make sure that our youth, and our kids, and our staff, are safe,” Reese said. “It’s important that, for our campus, that we protect them from those from the outside. Meaning, when you come to our campus, only those who are allowed visitors, and family, and staff are allowed to come to our campus.”
In January 2020, a special investigation conducted by MDHHS found that four minor children were allowed to visit a resident, and one of them slipped a pair of crafting scissors to the resident.
The minor children were not on an approved visitor list, and “allowing unverified children to visit residents appears to be done across Vista’s campus as a matter of routine.”
The special investigation report stated that while Vista Maria’s policy at the time indicated that a supervisor should verify a visitor’s identity, children don’t carry ID, and the policy did not address how staff are to handle child visitors.
The investigator “strongly suggested” that ”Vista Maria consider restricting visitors to parents/guardians/attorneys/clergy and those who are ordered visits by the Court." Stating that minors may be restricted unless a monthly sibling visit was required by DHHS and Vista Maria is able to verify the identity of the siblings.
According to the Vista Maria Parent Handbook linked on the Vista Maria website and dated for 2022, “any unauthorized visitor under 18 years old must be accompanied by an authorized adult.”
Staff raise concerns about lack of training
Current and former staff members have reached out to Local 4 and said they do not feel training is adequate, and have raised concerns about not having enough staff to care for the children.
Reese said new hires receive 40 hours of training. They use an evidence-based approach to addressing traumatized clients, which includes mandatory training in trauma-informed care, restorative approach, crisis prevention and intervention, and motivational interviewing.
“From there, they are paired with skills trainers, actually in the unit, to be able to provide that particular service. And then as they continue on one year, and even beyond, then, training is also offered, also training is essential. Training is ongoing,” Reese said.
In February, a special investigation was launched by MDHHS after an allegation was made that there were staff members who were not breaking up fights between youth. In that incident, the investigation found that staff did intervene, and the agency was found to be in compliance.
However, an additional finding during that investigation uncovered a training violation. The report states that the agency was in noncompliance because a team lead had not completed annual physical management training in 2024.
Allegations of sexual misconduct between staff, residents
A common allegation Local 4 is hearing from former staff and former residents involves sexual misconduct between staff and residents, and between residents.
“We report to Child Protective Services, we report to law enforcement in those entities, that’s what we’re obligated to do. We’re mandated reporters. In addition, is that if there is a concern that we are known and so forth, we will safeguard,” Reese said. “If there’s anything that we need to follow up on, we would do so immediately, cooperating with the investigations, provide any information. This is a serious concern. We do not take that lightly. And I want to make sure that is very clear.”
A special investigation was launched in January after a resident reported being sexually assaulted in the facility. The investigation found “no evidence to support that the staff had been inappropriate with the youth.”
However, a staff member told the investigator that “she was ‘sick’ of hearing Youth A say she was pregnant, her stomach is moving, and someone is coming into her room because she knows it is not true.”
Because staff failed to report the suspected abuse of the resident, the agency was found to be in non-compliance.
Residents complain of cold food, say they go days without eating
A special investigation launched in December 2024 found Vista Maria not in compliance. A resident told the investigator that the food was “nasty” and sometimes served cold. She said that she would go days without eating because she did not like the food.
A chef was interviewed on Jan. 17, 2025, and said that food services were provided a list from nursing staff of youth with allergies. According to the report, the issues were mainly with dinner service.
The chef said that dinner meals were packed and sent to the unit at 4:30 p.m., and the staff decided when to serve dinner.
Kitchen staff were not available to contact after 5 p.m. if meals were incorrect.
“A violation was found based on interviews with youth and staff. Although youth reported they received three meals per day, it was consistently reported that dinner was either cold or youth were not able to eat it due to special diets not being followed. Youth consistently reported that alternative dinner options were not available to them. This was verified by food services.”
MDHHS special investigation report
The special investigation report said that residents reported not being served dinner until 5:30 p.m. or 6:30 p.m., and that the food was cold, and if the wrong meal was sent, there was nobody available to contact to correct the meal. The agency was told to “address the timeliness of dinner service, or proper procedures to hold or reheat food.”
“I want to provide clarification. So, let’s start from the beginning. When a youth is amended to our care, we are able to gather the information about any type of dietary concerns or anything, and that’s from our medical staff, so that’s well documented,” Reese said.
“Then, that information is shared with our contracted kitchen staff, and then they able to prepare whatever the necessary food for our youth. We have established cafeteria that’s here on campus that they prepare all the food for all of our residents and our staff.
“And then also, too, if any residents that need food within the unit, then they deliver that food to the unit, and that is an appropriate sealed, you know, container so forth to keep the food warm, to keep the food hot, for depends on what the food is, of course, right? And for the youth to be able to partake, as you saw, we do have kitchens, and kitchens are in each of the units, so the food is able to be prepared or warmed as necessary for the youth,” Reese said.
---> ‘Cruel punishment’: Former resident accuses Dearborn Heights youth facility of abuse
Video shows boarded-up walls, staff raise safety concerns
Video sent to Local 4 from an employee shows boarded-up walls and staff raised concerns about safety. A special investigation report from March 2024, found the agency in non-compliance due to “metal sticking out of the wall.”
“So, one, in relation to any of those -- all units, is that if there’s anything that’s addressed, and that is property destruction or anything that has happened, then we do have an on-site facility team that does address the issue,” Reese said.
“We cannot just have holes in the wall and just leave it unattended, Erika. We have to do something safe. We cannot have our children to be able to injure themselves and so forth and not do nothing. So we do have to secure the wall to make sure that it doesn’t happen, anyone gets hurt, right? Protection to make sure harm to self or others. So we do that.
“Now, the next step that is that some staff members may not be aware and follow that process is that, if we already need to board it up, or we need to find a different material, then we need to find that. So, anything of a replacement window or any other material, we have to order those materials, and then we get those materials here, and then we’re able to fix those concerns there in the building.
“We do have a facility maintenance schedule and so forth, which they follow for each of the units, and to be able to fix those particular areas.
“That’s why I just want to make sure that it’s very clear that’s not just left unattended, that we do have a process and we do have a facility maintenance schedule to be able to fix those key items for our kids and for our staff,” Reese said.
---> Woman describes traumatizing conditions inside abandoned ‘punishment room’ at Vista Maria
