PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) — Rhode Island’s top child welfare official says her agency is willing to work with U.S. Attorney Zachary Cunha’s office, after he threatened to sue over the state’s yearslong practice of warehousing children with behavioral and developmental disabilities at Bradley Hospital.

Cunha last week released findings from an investigation into the problem, telling state officials they had 10 days to let him know whether they want to work with him or else face a legal challenge in federal court.

R.I. Department of Children, Youth and Families Director Ashley Deckert responded Wednesday in a one-page letter, expressing a willingness to cooperate while also shifting the blame from Rhode Island specifically.

“We appreciate your willingness to engage in a collaborative dialogue with us and share your commitment to finding a mutually agreeable strategy to address what we believe are nationwide mental health staffing challenges,” Deckert wrote in a letter to Assistant U.S. Attorney Amy Romero.

“I will be calling you shortly to establish a framework for our collaboration going forward,” she added.

Cunha’s team is cracking down on the state after the yearslong investigation his office conducted with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The probe revealed teenagers and children under DCYF custody — some as young as 5 years old — have been getting placed in the East Providence acute-care psychiatric hospital and at times been left there for more than a year.

The typical treatment at Bradley lasts one to two weeks.

“DCYF has timely responded to the government’s letter of findings,” Cunha spokesperson Jim Martin confirmed Thursday. “As with any case or matter, it would not be appropriate for us to discuss the content or nature of any discussions regarding a potential resolution of the government’s claims.”

Cunha last week said the warehousing of children violates multiple federal laws as well as the Olmstead decision, a landmark 1999 U.S. Supreme Court ruling. He also rejected the state’s suggestion that children are getting stuck at the hospital because there aren’t enough beds, money or staffing in the state.

Federal prosecutors examined a four-year window from 2017 through the first half of 2022, during which time 527 children under DCYF care were admitted to Bradley. Cunha said 116 of those children were hospitalized for more than 100 days, while 42 were hospitalized for more than 180 days and seven were hospitalized for more than a year.

“The state failed to meet that obligation — not in isolated instances,” Cunha said last week. “Not sporadically, but repeatedly, unjustifiably and with dire consequences.”

In one specific example, Cunha said a 9-year-old girl spent 826 days — more than two years — living at the acute-care psychiatric hospital over five admissions.

The federal government didn’t find any fault with Bradley, saying instead hospital officials have tried over the years to discharge children but the state has pushed for them to stay.

“We look forward to working cooperatively with the U.S. Attorney’s Office and HHS to address the findings” from the investigation, Deckert wrote in her letter.

Eli Sherman ( esherman@wpri.com ) is a Target 12 investigative reporter for 12 News. Connect with him on Twitter and on Facebook .

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