GOOCHLAND, Va. — Governor Abigail Spanberger’s administration has revoked the license of a Goochland County youth psychiatric facility, six weeks after multiple children ran away from it.
"We're revoking their license completely. Yes," Spanberger said during an extensive interview with CBS 6 Investigative Reporter Melissa Hipolit at the Patrick Henry Building in downtown Richmond.
CBS 6 has been investigating safety concerns at Hallmark Youthcare since September 2025, and our reporting has continued to drive action.
"My message to ownership of Hallmark is do better,” Chrissy Black, the grandmother of a former Hallmark resident said.
A parent of a former patient also shared concerns.
"I just hope my son don't have to return that never again,” Antoine Robinson Sr. said.
A former Hallmark employee who had witnessed conditions inside the facility was direct when asked whether it was a place where children could get better.
"No, absolutely not,” Brian Wettstone said.
CBS 6 recently uncovered a letter sent in April by Kimberly Jefferson, the head of Goochland's Department of Social Services.
Jefferson wrote to the state agency that licenses Hallmark.
In the letter, Jefferson said Hallmark had been blocking her office from conducting legally required child abuse investigations since May 19, 2025. She asked the state to take action.
But emails obtained by CBS 6 through a public records request show that by July 1, Jefferson told state social services staff she never received an update.
More than a dozen children ran away from Hallmark in the days that followed.
CBS 6 asked the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services about the letter.
A month later, the governor's office reached out to offer an interview.
"I have been made aware of this letter, and it's both an example of someone doing the right thing, right, taking action as the woman from Goochland Social Services did, and then no correct action been taken on the other side,” Governor Spanberger said.
Spanberger said the apparent failure to act on Jefferson's letter pointed to deeper problems.
"That letter speaks — I think — is one of the kind of clearest elements of a brokenness in a process that put kids in a place where they felt that their only response was to try and run away, right," Spanberger said.
When asked why the letter was not addressed, Spanberger said her administration is still working to find out.
"In that particular case, we're still endeavoring to actually get the very specific answers to that, but and we will have answers. And when we have a full understanding, I'm happy to share it with you," Spanberger said.
CBS 6 filed a public records request with DBHDS for emails related to that letter and we were quoted a cost of more than $9,000 to fulfill the request due to the large number of emails.
"I commit to you that we will provide clear information and an accounting of what we uncover," Spanberger said when asked if we would be provided those emails and a full picture of what happened.
The state's Medicaid agency told Investigative Reporter Melissa Hipolit that since 2022, the amount it paid Hallmark annually more than doubled — from nearly $7 million to nearly $15 million.
When asked why the state was sending more and more money to Hallmark if there were what Spanberger termed "alarm bells” going off over years, the Governor pointed again to systemic failures.
"Yet another indicator of a system that is broken, and so as we are endeavoring to conduct that full audit of all that occurred and all of the places where there was potential either negligence or somebody just missed those alarm bells," Spanberger said.
Spanberger conceded the system had enabled Hallmark to continue operating.
"Enabled, didn't stop. Yeah," Spanberger said.
Spanberger said she will push the legislature to change how Virginia delivers residential psychiatric care for young people. She also raised broader questions about who should be delivering this kind of care.
"When we're talking about Hallmark, we're talking about a for-profit company owned by private equity that was tasked with keeping kids safe," Spanberger said.
When asked whether facilities funded through private equity are the future of the industry in Virginia, Spanberger expressed skepticism.
"I believe, just as a basic issue of principle, there is a misalignment if your deliverable is shareholder profit or money to be made, and your day-to-day activity is protecting the most vulnerable children in need of aggressive behavioral and mental health interventions. To me, that is a clear misalignment," Spanberger said. "What that ultimately means for how we deliver care in Virginia, I'm still working through the details of that.”
Spanberger said the stories shared by families made a difference in bringing about change.
"I know that you've long reported on this facility, and I thank you for the work that you've done in bringing so much of this, the realities of people's real experience with Hallmark. I thank you for bringing that to light," Spanberger said.
A spokesperson for Hallmark told CBS 6 the company disagrees with the revocation and is evaluating its options, including an appeal. The spokesperson said the Commonwealth's action will remove 102 badly needed beds from Virginia's system of mental health care for young people in need.
The spokesperson added that the state's actions raise serious concerns about the immediate well-being of current and recent patients and the ability of the Commonwealth to meet the needs of Virginia youths for the foreseeable future.
The spokesperson also said that as recently as last year, DBHDS reviewed and approved Hallmark for a three-year license, and the intensive process involved a full licensing survey and the determination that Hallmark demonstrated full compliance with all applicable regulations.
Hallmark Youthcare's full statement:
Hallmark's first priority has been and always will be the safety, health, and well-being of the patients we serve. Today's action and other recent actions by the Commonwealth raise serious concerns about the immediate well-being of current and recent patients, and the ability of the Commonwealth to meet the needs of Virginia youths for the foreseeable future.
In recent weeks, Hallmark has been working in good faith with Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services (DBHDS), the Department of Social Services, the Secretary of Health and Human Resources, and other stakeholders to address certain acute concerns. Hallmark submitted publicly available corrective action plans to address the Commonwealth's concerns, which are actively being implemented. Hallmark also entered into a Consent Agreement with DBHDS to demonstrate its commitment to being a good partner in meeting the needs of Hallmark's patients moving forward and has fulfilled every requirement of that Agreement.
Despite active, ongoing, and good faith efforts by Hallmark to address concerns raised by DBHDS, the Commonwealth has now discharged nearly every resident from Hallmark. It did so over Hallmark's expressed concerns that doing so could compromise patient safety and well-being by discharging patients into unstable or unsafe environments without proper planning. Hallmark understands that a number of those discharges were over the objection of parents who wished to have their children remain at Hallmark because of the progress they had been making. At the end of the day, the Commonwealth's intended action would remove 102 badly-needed beds from Virginia's system of mental health care for young people in need.
As recently as last year, DBHDS reviewed and approved Hallmark for a triennial license. By law, this intensive process involved a full licensing survey and the determination that Hallmark had demonstrated full compliance with all applicable regulations.
Hallmark disagrees with the grounds expressed by DBHDS for the intended revocation and is evaluating its options including an appeal of the actions taken by DBHDS. Hallmark remains committed to working collaboratively with relevant stakeholders to be part of the solution in meeting the needs of patients in the future.
This is a developing story. Email the CBS 6 Newsroom if you have additional information to share.
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