Residential treatment centers for teenagers battling with substance use have disappeared across New Jersey. Daytop Village in Mendham is one of the two remaining in-patient treatment programs available for teens, but it might not be available much longer.

In a recent article, James P. Curtin, president and chief executive officer of Daytop New Jersey, said the residential adolescent program will most likely close by the end of the year. He said that the issues with adolescent residential facilities began in 2014 when the state decided to move adolescent treatment programs to the N.J. Department of Children and Families, and there was widespread belief that keeping children with substance use problems in their homes rather than in institutions, such as Daytop, were sufficient. But as Curtin explains, there are some young adults whose drug use is too bad to treat at home and are in need of in-patient treatment.

If these residential treatment facilities continue to close, young adults will no longer have the option for these kinds of treatment services. As we have learned over the years, treating substance use disorders is not a one size fits all process and New Jersey families and teens deserve all options, including in-patient treatment programs like Daytop and others who have decades of success in savings lives and keeping families together.