For the past six years, Mary and Michael McDonough have spent more time visiting their daughter Rachel than living with her.
Rachel, a chatty 15-year-old with wavy blonde hair and a love of animals, has been institutionalized for her behavioral disabilities since she was 9, mostly at Bradley Hospital, an acute-care psychiatric hospital for children in East Providence. After a dozen admissions there each lasting for months, Rachel currently lives at a residential treatment center in Massachusetts.
Despite repeated efforts by Mary McDonough to care for Rachel at home, the teen always ended up back at Bradley, the only pediatric psychiatric hospital in Rhode Island.
“She essentially lived there,” Mary McDonough said in an interview with Globe Rhode Island and Rhode Island PBS. “She was there more than she was home.”
This story is part of a collaboration between the Boston Globe Rhode Island and Rhode Island PBS. To access the Globe online for free for 30 days, sign up here (no credit card required).
