Between May, 1991 and April, 2020, the Aichhorn Center operated two residential treatment facilities for very disturbed adolescents. These programs are described on the our programs page of our main website. When the programs ended, a total of 392 individuals had been admitted to the older and larger Manhattan Residential Treatment Facility (RFT-M). The "Manhattan" cohort includes the 370 who had been discharged before the facility was closed. The Brooklyn program (RTF-B), where admission was limited to adjudicated delinquent youngsters who had been securely placed with the State juvenile justice agency, had discharged 127 of the 143 who had been admitted, and that is the group included in the "Brooklyn" cohort.

Since the programs closed, we have undertaken a follow-up study to determine what happened to these cohorts after discharge. Efforts have been made to locate and contact former patients using publicly available information on the internet, social media, and, where possible, extensive semi-structured in-person interviews.

As of August, 2025, 100 in-person interviews had been conducted with former residents of the RTF-M. We continue to update the follow-up information, while beginning the task of organizing and reporting our findings. Preliminary results are posted here:

--Who Enters Residential Care

There is substantial variation in the populations who enter various children's residential programs.

--Restrictiveness of placement following RTF discharge

It appears that there was a substantial reduction in the restrictiveness of placements after discharge.

--Excess mortality in the RTF population

There have been substantially more deaths than expected in the relatively young RTF population.

--Criminal Justice Involvement

The portion of the cohort that is imprisoned on a given date is generally below 10%.

[updated 10/15/2025]