Montana adds $1.2 million to keep youth psychiatric care in state

Helena-area families with a child in crisis still face a painful math problem: Montana does not have enough psychiatric residential care to keep every young patient close to home. The state added another $1.2 million to expand that capacity, aiming to reduce the number of children sent out of state and the strain that comes with long travel, missed school and separated families.

The money was split between Shodair Children’s Hospital and Yellowstone Boys and Girls Ranch, with each program getting a two-year grant of about $618,500. State officials said the funding is meant to increase in-state treatment capacity for children with serious emotional disturbances who need intensive psychiatric residential care, supporting more beds, staffing, training, facility upgrades and family-centered care.

The need remains sharp. Montana reported a 41% increase in children receiving in-state care at psychiatric residential treatment facilities in 2025, but 194 Montana youth still went out of state for residential psychiatric treatment last year. For families in Helena and across Lewis and Clark County, that means a child who needs a higher level of care may still have to leave their community when local options are full or unavailable.

The latest grant sits inside a larger overhaul that began when Gov. Greg Gianforte signed House Bill 872 into law on May 22, 2023. That law launched Montana’s Behavioral Health System for Future Generations, a $300 million generational investment in behavioral health and developmental disabilities services. The commission tied to that effort held 12 public meetings across Montana over 14 months and delivered its final report to the governor in September 2024.

Montana’s Department of Public Health and Human Services said youth mental health reimbursement rates, including residential services, were aligned on July 1, 2024, and that the Behavioral Health System for Future Generations Residential Bed Capacity Near-Term Initiative expanded psychiatric residential treatment facility capacity by 52 new or reopened beds. State leaders have framed the investment as a way to strengthen the full treatment network so more children can heal closer to their families and communities.

That goal is also visible in the geography of care. Yellowstone Boys and Girls Ranch described its Billings psychiatric residential treatment facility as a nurturing, structured setting for children who need more support than community-based services can provide. Shodair said it provides specialized psychiatric care for children and adolescents and that 99% of its patients come from Montana.

A new Lighthouse Ranch facility near Bozeman, described in a Montana Public Radio report on April 21, 2026, was expected to provide high-level residential psychiatric care in southwest Montana for the first time. Even with that addition, the state’s latest funding shows Montana is still trying to close the gap between the need for youth psychiatric care and the beds available to keep it in state.