Worried grandmother fights to remove grandson, 12, from Lowcountry facility

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) - A South Carolina woman is desperately trying to get her grandson out of a youth mental health facility in the Lowcountry after she says he’s been beaten multiple times, taunted and has even tried to commit suicide.

Getting the 12-year-old boy safely home, however, has proven difficult for the woman because of an eviction controversy brewing at her property.

Mary Wilcox is battling for custody of her grandson, Blake, who has severe emotional and behavioral issues. He was placed into protective state custody because of his behavior, she says, and has been shuffled to multiple inpatient mental health facilities in the past few months, including most recently, two here locally: Palmetto Summerville Behavioral Health and Palmetto Lowcountry Behavioral Health.

“He’s in a very difficult, critical place right now,” she says.

Blake has painted a violent and frightening picture of his time behind the gates of those facilities, Wilcox says.

“He expressed being attacked three times at Palmetto Summerville,” he says. “He is very afraid. He tried, in fact, to commit suicide after this very last attack against him.”

Wilcox wants him out of those facilities, and she wants him home. The courts have ruled that can happen, she says, but she’s facing a substantial roadblock first: Blake’s mom and her daughter.

“My daughter is a legal resident in my home,” she says. “The court has determined she will not be allowed to remain in my home should Blake be returned to my custody. Based upon the history, based upon her current reluctance to seek help for herself, [the Department of Social Services] has made the determination that they will not allow Blake to be in her care or in her immediate vicinity or surroundings.”

Wilcox says she’s begged her daughter to move so Blake can leave the residential facilities, but she says her attempts have been futile. Wilcox has now started the formal eviction process with her daughter all while her concerns mount over the risks her grandson is facing every day in these inpatient facilities.

“Time is of the essence,” Wilcox says. “This child is in a desperate place.”

Wilcox first provided a written eviction notice to her daughter in early March, but attorney Stephan Futeral says the eviction process can be a lengthy one.

“Best case scenario might be looking at roughly, assuming the court notice goes out swiftly, maybe a couple of weeks,” he says. “[The] worst case scenario, [it could take] a few years.”

Futeral says there’s no real way to expedite the process either.

“There’s a very specific process, and statutory deadlines that are included and are rules of process and so on,” he says. “That process has to unfold according to the time parameters or the notice requirements. Generally speaking, the court doesn’t really have the discretion to change these deadlines and periods of notification that are set forth by South Carolina statute and procedure.”

So as Wilcox waits for the eviction to run its course, the time her grandson spends in inpatient facilities multiplies.

Wilcox believes there needs to be exceptions or flexibility in the eviction process in dire situations.

“I would like it to be available to people that when they are in circumstances that they can prove that they are in need of a faster [eviction] process to happen, that there be measures in place that they could get the relief that they need,” she says.

But perhaps more importantly, Wilcox says the conditions of youth residential treatment facilities in the state need to be investigated and corrected.

“[Blake] was targeted three times viciously within a three-week period. He’s a 12-year-old child, and yet this is not an uncommon occurrence in these facilities,” she says. “There needs to be accountability for the children that are there that desperately need help and they are ending up in situations that are causing them lasting harm.”

Palmetto Summerville Behavioral Health released the following statement:

Palmetto Summerville Behavioral Health is a residential treatment facility for children and adolescents ages 7 to 18, who require a highly structured and supervised therapeutic environment. Our skilled staff uses evidence-based, trauma-focused practices, including cognitive-behavioral therapy and dialectical behavioral therapy for the treatment of psychiatric, behavior conduct, mood attachments and trauma. We have served the community for over 30 years.

Our staff is committed to delivering compassionate, individualized, high-quality care to our patients who have special, and often complex, mental health needs. Our patient satisfaction scores and further information about our facility and services can be found on our website: https://palmettosummerville.com/.

Palmetto Lowcountry Behavioral Health says they cannot comment because of HIPAA patient privacy laws.

she says, which means in the best-case scenario, her daughter will have to leave her house sometime in mid-April. In the worst-case scenario, the eviction process could stretch into May or later.

So as Wilcox waits for the eviction to run its course, the time her grandson spends in inpatient facilities multiplies. She’s now wondering how these situations can be happening simultaneously to her and why there’s not some sort of solution for both.

Wilcox believes there needs to be exceptions or flexibility in the eviction process in dire situations.

“I would like it to be available to people that when they are in circumstances that they can prove that they are in need of a faster [eviction] process to happen, that there be measures in place that they could get the relief that they need,” she says.

But perhaps more importantly, Wilcox says the conditions of youth residential treatment facilities in the state need to be investigated and corrected.

“[Blake] was targeted three times viciously within a three-week period. He’s a 12-year-old child, and yet this is not an uncommon occurrence in these facilities,” she says. “There needs to be accountability for the children that are there that desperately need help and they are ending up in situations that are causing them lasting harm.”

Neither Palmetto Summerville Behavioral Health nor Palmetto Lowcountry Behavioral Health have responded to a request for comment.

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