GOOCHLAND COUNTY, Va. β Chrissy Black loves looking through pictures of her 14-year-old grandson Kayden, especially seeing him happy and playing his guitar.
"He is my world," Black said.
Their journey together hasn't been easy.
Black obtained joint custody of Kayden when he was a toddler.
"His parents lived with me when he was born. It was on and off, up and down, lots of fighting, drugs involved, alcoholism involved, immaturity," Black said.
She said he lived a happy life outside Winchester until COVID and puberty hit.
"That's when all the problems started. He started becoming more defiant. He didn't want to go places in public," Black said.
The situation escalated to the point where Kayden could not control himself. After being put on ADHD medication, Black said the violence started.
"He was destroying things, tearing things up in the house, throwing punches at people, fighting at people β things he had never done. And sadly, afterwards he would get black out angry and afterwards he would just lay in my arms and cry and say 'Why am I like this? I don't want to be like this. I want to get better,'" Black said.
Black said things came to a head after police filed six different petitions against Kayden for assault and property damage over the course of a year, leading her to frantically search for a psychiatric residential treatment center.
She found a place called Hallmark Youthcare in Goochland County, which had an opening, so she took it.
"I felt he needed to be somewhere where he could be supervised by a doctor. They could take medicines off, add medicines to get him on the right thing. I knew he was not on the right meds," Black said.
Kayden entered Hallmark on March 25, 2024, where he would stay until May 12 of that year.
Communication concerns
Shortly after, Black said she grew concerned about communication issues.
"I started calling during the time frame they give you to call, couldn't get through, 10 to 15 times a night, and I couldn't get through. I would leave messages. Nobody would return my calls," Black said.
Black also said she did not get to talk to the psychiatrist on staff for more than a month.
"I wanted to talk to the psychiatrist about his meds," Black said.
Black also claims a staff member bullied her grandson.
"And then he started calling Kayden a girl, telling Kayden 'I hear you on the phone talking to your family whining like a little girl,'" Black said.
Black detailed her challenges with phone communication, reaching the psychiatrist and the alleged bullying in a complaint she submitted to the Virginia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services, which licenses Hallmark.
She said the last straw was when Kayden said he felt suicidal because he was fearful of being hurt by other patients.
"The weekend I signed him out, Kayden called really upset. Three kids had previously threatened to jump him. Those three kids jumped another resident in the middle of the night," Black said.
"It wasn't his words that prompted me to get him out of there. It was his demeanor β empty, absent, just not there anymore," Black said.
State inspection history
CBS 6 investigative reporter Melissa Hipolit took a look at Hallmark's inspection history with the state and found DBHDS conducted 28 human rights complaint inspections there since the beginning of 2024.
For context, another psychiatric residential treatment facility for children and adolescents in Virginia had six human rights complaint inspections during the same time frame.
To search complaints inspections yourself, click here.
In each of the Hallmark complaint inspections, the state found noncompliance, including:
- Employees not adhering to protocol for active supervision resulting in a resident being sexually assaulted by another resident
- An employee assaulting a resident
- An employee leaving a gate open resulting in two residents running away from grounds
In each instance, the facility submitted a corrective action plan. State records show many of the human rights inspections led the facility to terminate employees.
The state conducted an unannounced inspection and a scheduled inspection this year that resulted in zero violations, and the state recently renewed Hallmark Youthcare's license to operate.
The Virginia State Police told CBS 6 they are actively investigating two separate sexual assault calls to 911 from the facility from April and May of this year.
Moving forward
"My message to ownership of Hallmark is do better," Black said.
Black moved Kayden to another facility where she said he blossomed so much that he's back home.
But she said she is speaking out because she worries about the kids still living at Hallmark, especially those in the foster care system.
"I'm scared to death for them. There is nobody advocating for them. Foster kids don't have somebody on top of it. The DSS workers, they don't have time to be that involved," Black said.
A source familiar with Hallmark told CBS 6 the facility meets all required standards and regulations related to frequency and provision of psychiatric services.
They said the psychiatrist provides medication management, monitoring of treatment progress with weekly contact with residents and additional meetings if clinically indicated. They also said residents are given daily phone time where they have the choice of calling home.
A spokesperson for Hallmark Youthcare sent the following statement:
"Any allegation is taken very seriously and receives swift action from our teams to complete a thorough review, as well as the involvement of relevant licensing and governing agencies. As good partners to those agencies and in alignment with a shared commitment to support and empower youth, we work collaboratively on all necessary reporting and action plans. We provide 24/7 care for children and adolescents with severe emotional and behavioral issues. With such a vulnerable population, ongoing staff training and strict compliance protocols are critical to providing effective treatment. To that end, staff performance and resident care are monitored closely to ensure our residents receive quality therapeutic care."
CBS 6 is committed to sharing community voices on this important topic. Email your thoughts to the CBS 6 Newsroom.
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