Vista Maria

I was about 12 when i was here so it was 2017-2019 i was there. I was placed in rose hall. I think about the only good thing there was my therapist. The staff were very rude and i have witnessed staff members getting into physical fights with the residents. Staff would also love to make fun of residents and they thought they could do it because they had power over us. The pictures are nothing like the experience (which is horrible). And the way we were treated was not fair at all. I have seen about 4 hospitalizations when i was there. And you can say they encourage good behavior and all that bullshit but they do not care. I personally would not recommend sending your children here. I mean like there are so many horrible experiences i have went through when i was there. Not to mention when someone was sexually assaulted you would just get a peer separation, your caseworker was not informed of this either. I feel like this place needs to seriously be investigated or shut down because it was absolutely disgusting living there also. There were roaches in my room and in the shared bathroom. If you really want to continue to keep this place open i suggest really rethinking and considering who you hire and keep a close eye on them. There was only one staff member I appreciated there besides my therapist and he was my primary at the time. But again i do not recommend

I live here now , just moved to Shepard hall. The staff here refused to take me to the store for 3 days . I have no food , I’m feelings dizzy , I’m sick and throwing up. And I can barely walk . They laugh and talk about me because of my situation. Caseworker doesn’t respond to any of my text when I need her to . I weighed 130 before I came here now I weigh 103 . This place is buns . ALSO Ms , Stevenson from Shepard hall is the best staff I met here

This place is a very scary place you definitely do not wanna be.. can’t trust anyone, or anything. If you do or think you can DONT. Especially the creepy male staff, and the fact that there are roaches 🤢 This place needs to be shut down immediately There is not an option for “no stars on negative stars” unfortunately DO NOT GO TO THIS PLACE

I was a girl at vista Maria. I was in Beata hall. I can honestly say there are staff there when I was there that cared, but at the same time we were treated like animals and some days they didn’t have staff so we had to sit in our tiny rooms. I also lost my tooth due to being restrained wrong. Which is something I have to live for for the rest of my life . Overall I think places like this should be shut down

I’ve been involved with them for around 5 years. In the recent months I’ve had nothing but major problems. A new foster worker monthly, and adoption workers are being caught in lies. Feel as I can’t trust this place anymore after 5 years. Which is really sad. A child’s life is in its hands not toys. Wondering how to contact the main director at this point.

I was almost sent here when I was 17 years old due to extensive trauma, behavioral and mental issues. They were talking to the placement about it. But my therapist at the place (that was only meant to be for about 40 days) advocated for me to stay. I stayed for 7 months until I turned 18. I thank God everyday for that. If not for that, I fear my life would be very different and not good. I've heard from girls I've lived with that it's a terrible and frightening place to be, with creepy male staff and cockroaches. Needs to be shut down or heavily reformed.

My experience with Vista Maria has been a nightmare. I just wanted to help a kid that was couch surfing at 15. I took the child in almost a year ago. We lost our apartment in the spring because money was so tight and then I lost my job from the stress of homelessness. I begged for financial assistance that only came after we lost our place and I had to leave the state and move in with my boyfriend because I have no family. The money owed to me at the time would have saved our place. I was told I could not take the child with me because the adoption was not final. I had to leave the kid with an Aunt who has extreme mental issues and does not buy food, because there is a shortage of foster families. I am still waiting for the adoption to go through, its been many months. They want the child to do independent living but the kid is too afraid too live on-site so the child stays with a friend's family and begs me for food money. I feel so helpless. I tried to get the workers to fix the situation but was told that "I am no longer an active participant" and "thanks for bringing this to our attention, we will look into it". There is so much more but it would take hours to explain. My advice is don't get dragged into this place trying to help a kid, they will use and abuse you and then throw you away. (I would put no stars but that was not a choice).

The pictures do not show how the children are kept! Or the rules! I never had that luxury in those pictures of any kind! They do not even seem to be from there! That place is awful! I about died when they thought I was going to escape! I laid on a bathroom floor to get the cold but also left alone!