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Grand Traverse kids sent out of state for mental health help end up in a place with a history of abuse

Lakeland Behavioral Health Systems treatment facility in Springfield, Missouri. (Photo: Jackie Rehwald / Springfield Daily Citizen)
Jackie Rehwald
/
Springfield Daily Citizen
Lakeland Behavioral Health Systems treatment facility in Springfield, Missouri. (Photo: Jackie Rehwald / Springfield Daily Citizen)

Due to recent closures of mental health facilities across the state, children experiencing mental health issues are being sent out of state for care.

In 2025, three children from Grand Traverse County were placed at the Lakeland Behavioral Health System in Missouri.

Abuse allegations were made against the facility every year from 2011 until 2024. They now have multiple lawsuits filed against them for this pattern of abuse.

IPR's Maxwell Howard sits down with Ellie Katz to discuss the details.

Also, candidates for Michigan's U.S. Senate seat turn their campaigns to northern Michigan. IPR's Claire Keenan-Kurgan takes a look at how Democratic candidate Abdul El-Sayed hopes to woo voters in the region.

And Michigan's Natural Resources Commission made a big change to the state's deer hunting policy after a 10-hour meeting in Gaylord: a limit to one buck per hunter.


Producer: Austin Rowlader
Editing: Steve Junker
Music: Blue Dot Sessions

Ellie Katz reports on science, conservation and the environment. She also produces stories for Points North.
Maxwell Howard is a freelance journalist in northern Michigan.
Claire joined Interlochen Public Radio in summer 2024. She covers general assignment news with a focus on labor, growth, and the economy of northern Michigan.