Southwestern Youth Services will close its doors on May 13 after 27 years of providing residential treatment and education for troubled youth in the former Magnolia school building.
“It is with great sadness we are advising our dedicated community supporters that we are closing our doors May 13,” the SYS Facebook page announced April 19.
“We would like to say one final thank you for your continued support in our mission of aiding and caring for the youth in our charge.”
Executive director Jeremy Hough said Monday that the number of young people referred to SYS had dwindled to the point where the facility could no longer afford to stay open.
He said pandemic changes in youth treatment prompted many agencies, such as corrections or human services, to stop ordering residential treatment at facilities like SYS.
Instead, youth in need of rehabilitation were outsourced to community-based programs like mental health counseling that could be administered online.
Meanwhile, as fewer referrals came to Magnolia, the ones more recently seeking SYS help were beyond the scope of SYS treatment.
“They needed a lot higher level of mental health services than we could provide,” Hough said.
For example, SYS is geared to help 10- to 19-year-old males convicted of non-violent crimes such as truancy and shoplifting.
But lately, he said the only referrals seeking SYS services are for those needing a higher level of mental health services than what’s offered in Magnolia.
A frustrating consideration for Hough is that SYS never closed its doors during the pandemic. “We were often commended for our Covid practices, and we never had an outbreak,” he said.
Even before the pandemic, however, Hough noticed a trend of younger offenders committing more serious offenses.
“They used to steal a piece of bubble gum, but they’re not being held accountable for their actions, so they up the ante,” he said. “… They didn’t get in trouble for that, so they’ll do something worse. Now I’m seeing 10- and 11-year-olds joining gangs.”
He's not the only one noticing the trend.
A Star Tribune investigation published Sunday looked at hundreds of juvenile court records of youth arrests in the last four years in Minneapolis and St. Paul.
They show one-third were teens who had been arrested at least once in the previous year by the same law enforcement agency.
Records show that, in Minneapolis, 22 children were either arrested or sought in connection with six or more carjackings or robberies since January 2020. Some suspects were as young as 12 or 13.
The report states a changing approach in courtrooms for prosecuting minors that spares them a tough sentence but fails to deter future criminal activity.
LaVearl Timmer, Luverne, has been a youth supervisor at SYS in for more than 17 years and said he’s also seeing repeat offenders return to Magnolia.
“But we don’t judge them,” he said. “We start over and hope they do better. … We get them back to where they need to be, but it’s hard to watch them go back to their old environment.”
His role with the students is to help them with routine tasks — getting up and getting ready for their day, doing homework, helping in the kitchen, staying on a schedule.
But more than that, Timmer said he tried to be a role model for them, a positive influence.
“I think they come here from homes of broken promises,” he said. “When they come here, we show them how it can be.”
Some complete their program (sometimes three to six months, sometimes six to nine months) and end up coming back, but many others go on to do well.
“It’s very rewarding when we hear back from them and find out they’re doing well,” he said. “That they have a job, a family.”
Timmer is one of only a handful of staff remaining on payroll through May 13. The others — at one time more than 20 working in a full house of 28 youth — have all been let go.
At 62, Timmer has worked with SYS for more than 17 years and said he planned to be there until he retired. “They say you can’t teach an old dog new tricks, but we’ll see,” said Timmer who is also employed with Rock County farmer Greg Gabrielson.
But he said he’s more concerned for the young people who will no longer get help in Magnolia.
“It’s about helping them make better choices in their lives. It’s about being there and being a consistent person in their life,” Timmer said.
“If you can show up every day and be a consistent person for them, they trust you.”
Hough said he worries that by the time policymakers realize residential facilities like SYS are better treatment options, it will be too late.
“We’re not the only ones that have closed,” Hough said. “They’ll end up sending kids out of state, and that won’t be good for anyone involved.”
He said he feels bad for everyone in Magnolia, too.
“It’s very, very disheartening because the community has been there for us for the holidays, for life skills,” Hough said.
“And it’s not just this facility. It’s the people who have supported us that we are grateful for.
“It’s how it affects the kids, the families … they’re missing the steps to becoming productive members of society. And it’s the staff – we have a ton of them who have been here for 18 to 20 years. Some of them don’t know what they’re going to do.”
Now Hough wonders what he himself will do next.
He has a bachelor’s degree in corrections with a minor in business, along with an associate’s degree in community support for people with disabilities.
The building in Magnolia is owned by Pinnacle Programs in Mitchell, South Dakota. It’s unknown what the plans are for the property.
