ALBANY – The state budget, approved by lawmakers, has rejected the governor’s proposed closure of Rockland Children’s Psychiatric Center in Orangeburg.
Lawmakers on the state and local levels lobbied to keep the facility open to serve children in need and Senator Elijah Reichlin-Melnick (D, Nyack) said the facility will be kept open under the budget agreement.
“If they had closed this, there would not have been a facility with in-patient services between the Bronx and Utica and that puts families in my district in Rockland and Westchester County in a difficult position and puts families throughout the Hudson Valley in a difficult position,” he said.
Keeping the doors open “will make a huge difference for local families facing mental health crises by keeping children closer to home and making it easier for families to stay connected,” said Anthony Adamo, regional president of the CSEA, the union representing 130 unionized employees at the facility.
