FIVE OAKS RESIDENTIAL TREATMENT CENTER CLOSING

  

The owners of the Five Oaks Residential Treatment Center in New Ulm have agreed to surrender the license and close the facility.  State Senator Lois Kolkhorst sent out a email this (Tuesday) afternoon stating that Five Oaks will cease operation after all of the residents have been transferred to other caregivers.  The facility has been the source of numerous conflicts with the surrounding community and the Austin County Sheriff’s Office.  In January of last year, a runaway from Five Oaks set fire to a nearby home, completely destroying it.

In her press release, Senator Kolkhorst says that she held a town hall meeting in New Ulm in March of last year.  At that meeting, members of the community expressed their concerns to state health officials. Kolkhorst says that she then asked state officials to investigate Five Oaks and after months of careful scrutiny by the Health and Human Services Commission the owners agreed to surrender the license.

Full Press Release:

February 12, 2019

"In March of 2018, my office hosted a town hall meeting in New Ulm with state health officials to discuss public concerns with the Five Oaks residential treatment center.  Participants at the meeting spoke of repeated conflicts between the facility and the community, and we listened.  I then asked state officials to investigate Five Oaks and after months of careful scrutiny by the Health and Human Services Commission, the owners and operators of Five Oaks have now surrendered their license, and Five Oaks will cease operations after every child is transferred to other caregivers. As the Chair of the Senate Committee on Health and Human Services, I am dedicated to improving our CPS and foster care system and seeing that it does not fail either our children or our communities. That's why today I have filed SB 781 which will vastly improve how residential treatments centers such as Five Oaks are created, licensed, and operated."