Hillside Childrens Center – Cortland

I was a kid there 5-6 year ago I was 15-16 it’s a bad place to send kids to. I was told by a staff that I was fat and I started to act up (like a traumatized kid with PTSD does) I asked them to send another staff in to… help me calm down they told me that if I didn’t that they were gonna put me in a restraint and I told them listen. I’ll lay on the floor and calm down as long as the staff who just called me fat leaves the room and doesn’t touch me and she touched me and we got into a fist fight. My like second day on campus, the (staff) held my hands down while another girl was hitting me just because I told them that the table wasn’t clean and asked who it. They put you on a lot of medication’s without actually diagnosing you with anything or trying to see what you have in one of the medication’s that I was put on made me extremely violent and they put that in my paperwork. If you refuse to take your medication, you’re not allowed to leave the house you’re locked in to even go outside to the park on campus with the (staff). I was on raise the age and Multiple staff would antagonize girls and play favorites and get you to get upset to the point where they can call her restraint on you. They’re supposed to teach you DBT skills, but they don’t have any DBT skills themselves. I had three staff that knew my biological mom‘s ex-boyfriend who I was not allowed to have any contact with biological or family members because I had been adopted to a different family who was extremely abusive, but they knew my biological mom‘s ex-boyfriend and I was forced to stay there and that’s a HIPAA violation. I could go on and on about why you shouldn’t send your kid here or why the county shouldn’t send your kid here

Oh I could go on and on about the medical abuse… psychological abuse…oh and don’t forget taking out my wisdom teeth when I was underage (11) and not telling my parents and doing it without their consent (my mom till… this day is pretty midffed yall gir away with that) The 13-17 meds y’all had me on screwed my up for life Oh, and let’s not forget the time that y’all refused to let me have tampons because you guys thought I was doing things with them and in all reality I now suffer from extreme endometriosis that started during childhood and you guys just drugged me up to keep me quiet… let’s talk about the Seroquel the trazodone the gabapentin oh, what about the citalopram and clonidine in the multiple stomach medication’s? You had us on because you guys were over drugging us to the point where we couldn’t use the bathroom so you just were putting more meds into us you guys remember that cause I sure do Also, do you remember whoever the Seneca unit department supervisor at the time was do you remember calling all of us kids fat all of us girls fat do you remember making fun of us and telling us all that we need to go on diets yeah you started a huge eating disorder with me by the way just an fyi hugeeeeeeee Don’t send your kid here if you don’t want them to suffer even more than they already were

Friendly enough for a children center.

Fast service. Food was delicious

I'm going to be honest with you about this facility. I lived there in the early mid-90s, I was 13 years old. This place is supposed to help traumatized children (like myself). We were far from "helped" here...They… should re-label this as a prison for children, because that is exactly what it was. Zero personal freedoms, watched while using the bathroom, locked in padded rooms for days at a time for the crime of swearing, or perhaps being rude to a staffer. Does anyone remember OP? That is where a child is confined to a hard wooden desk and chair in a hallway from 12 to 48 hours (depending on the offense) with no writing or reading materials, only allowed to leave to use the bathroom (supervised of course) with meals eaten at the desk. I was put in OP for 48 hours once for throwing my hair scrunchie at someone...yes, you heard that right....HAIR SCRUNCHIE. I hope that over the last 30 years this place has changed, no traumatized child should ever be forced to live there.

Wonderfully staff

this honestly was not a bad place i wish i had stayed some people are just not strong enough to get professional help but i loved it the only thing i have tk say is it does have a lot of restraints i cant begin to be… more greatful for this placement i love most of the staff it was like a second family i love them my scars are healing my mind is still processing and it was amazing i aant to thank all the staff who helped me..taylor hinds bogart lafluer mcnabb baker murray austin and i cant say them all but i wish i could i love yall. thank you!!

I was one of the kids there, twice. Definitely was good with activities and the staff cared about us. I was in Seneca, and it was pretty good compared to other places I've been.

Hi my name is Isaiah I was at this specific Hillside as a client on the Otisco unit which is the Otisco Otters from aug 11, 2021 to the middle of feb 2024 and there is a lot of great staff if you work there you can say… whatever you want about it but I changed a lot there and I vouched for kids even my friends I didn't like everyone was equally my friend I had the best staff of my time there which included: miss Kabaki which I have always thought about as my mom she also had a child which I would say she is my god sister, miss H who you could never forget about took care of me amazingly and I would be here all day if I kept going but others were McMillen, Bracht, Jacob, and a lot more but there has been a lot of memories there that I will never forget and if you ask a lot of the staff there about a kid named Isaiah Sparks they will probably start crying cause how much I was popular there I will love them forever and always and they will never forget me or any kid that goes there please believe in the staff there if you want your kid to have a future and any past clients who read this can say the same thing you should work or have your kid go there if you want them to have a future and if you want to have a future with them this is what I believe and know.

This place is a zoo I was a kid there 4-5 years ago and there is staff I respected that showed us that they cared and put so many hours with us kids when they could have did other stuff on there time off. I would like… to recognize Mr. Santana, Mr. Stanton, Mr. Love, Mr. McKoy, Mr. Warner, Mr. Wright, Ms. Green, Mr. Wilson, Ms. Tillman, Ms McDougle, Mr. Woodward, Mr. Klino, Mr. Lovering, Mr. Hammer, Mr. Festa, Mr. Martens and Ms. Alexander you guys we’re awesome and I appreciate everything you guys did for me. The rest of the staff there we’re just all about there paychecks and very miserable and didn’t help me achieve anything. What I really liked the most is when all the kids on my unit got to go home for Christmas and I was stuck on the unit because I couldn’t go home Mr. McKoy spend all Christmas with me and also made some chicken and rice from home and bought in a big pan of it for me to eat I really appreciated that and the food was super delicious and that was the best food I ate there ever and that meant a whole lot to me and I will never forget that.

My name is Lawrence Truillo I lived at hillside in the awosko unit from 2003 into 2004 and I have so many good memories there I was there when they had the best staff team mr.rase mr.satana Mr. Mackey tall mr.willson… and the short Mr.willson and mr.pool ms.mairite and mr.razinco I wish I could go back in time and relive those memories.

There was alot of supportive staff and nice kids there.I got a job and learned to do independent things.I even got a phone .

When I was a resident there in the 90s locked us in the school wing all the time abuse leave us in there at night wt the light off still suffering trauma from that today from all the physical and mental abuse I suffered… from being in that facility as a child do not send your kid there

I was a client there from 2003 til 2005 i was there when the best staff were there Mr simmons mr jackson mr collins RIP Mooch Mr mallon Ciras Ms ball Mr race Mr wilson ( Noonie) just to rattle off a few names lol but it… was very pleasant while i was there and staff were very respectful things must of changed and good staff must a left but this place used to be very good