*Important notice regarding impersonator accounts
The next in-depth installment will cover exploitation of labor in recovery housing. If you’ve worked for a sober home operator for less than minimum wage and would like to share your story, please reach out to me.
Key reform neutralized in recovery housing workgroup’s final recommendations
Dec 21, 2025
Draft proposal could rattle Richmond’s sober-home-to-outpatient pipeline
Sep 26, 2025
SB838 update 6: Complaint pathways, investigations and NDAs in recovery housing
Sep 2, 2025
SB838 update 5: Resident choice in treatment still elusive
Aug 25, 2025
SB838 update 4: Workgroup stalls on eviction safeguards
Aug 24, 2025
Police report raises new assault allegation against Starfish Recovery’s Frank Bellanger
Aug 22, 2025
SB838 update 3: Workgroup weighs safety standards, enforcement powers
Aug 20, 2025
SB838 update 2: Indigent grant discussion signals shift toward resident autonomy
Aug 16, 2025
SB838 update 1: Push for more certification options gains traction
Aug 14, 2025
Starfish Recovery owners leave multi-year trail of denial, deflection and threats
Jul 21, 2025
Sober home workgroup members tackle credentialing standards, resident rights
Jul 2, 2025
Confusion, misinformation follows RTD’s rush piece on VARR funding
Jun 9, 2025
Recovery housing oversight workgroup will hold first meeting tomorrow
May 28, 2025
Youngkin amendment would create avenue to shut down unsafe sober homes; Overall word choice might be a dealbreaker
Apr 1, 2025
‘I don’t understand why you care’
Bagby, now a candidate for Dem party chair, brushes off concerns about his close relationship with VARR
March 3, 2025
Recovery housing bill clears house subcommittee; VARR weighs in for first time
Feb 11, 2025
Sober home oversight bill approved by Senate committee
Jan 24, 2025
Zoning for Virginia recovery homes: Power, protection and everything in between
Jan 23, 2025
New sober home bill gives VARR more power, creates parallel workgroup to rein it in
Jan 6, 2025
Youngkin’s proposed budget removes VARR as controller of sober home funds
Jan 2, 2025
What’s next on The Parham Papers
Nov 8, 2024
Sober home reform on Virginia lawmakers’ radar
Oct 2, 2024
Next week: Henrico County leaders to discuss recovery homes with state legislators
Sep 20, 2024
Henrico County leaders unite behind sober home reform
Sep 9, 2024
‘He’s in his own harem’: Inside the taxpayer-funded sober home of a Virginia senator’s brother
Aug 20, 2024
‘We kind of created a monster’: How the sober home industry infiltrated Henrico courts
Jul 1, 2024
Journey House: What’s beneath the ‘Foundation’
Jun 11, 2024
Recovery house regulation open for public comment
May 6, 2024
Project update: It’s slow moving, but far from over
Apr 23, 2024
More signs Virginia lawmakers are now paying attention to VARR funding
Feb 28, 2024
DBHDS creates new position for recovery residence oversight
Jan 30, 2024
Recovery housing oversight still on the table
Jan 12, 2024
New recovery residence bill on tomorrow’s docket
Jan 11, 2024
‘All Virginians’ still come second to insider benefits
Jan 8, 2024
Project updates and some legislative news
Dec 15, 2023
He loved the women’s house ‘for all the wrong reasons’
Former female residents describe Starfish Recovery & Wellness under Frank Bellanger’s control
Sep 24, 2023
New VARR audit confirms undisclosed conflicts of interest, finds other deficiencies
Aug 9, 2023
Degraded, silenced, exiled: The quiet casualties of Starfish Recovery & Wellness
Jun 5, 2023
Starfish Recovery, River City and Medicaid: How sober home residents become outpatient hostages
May 1, 2023
Relapse, secrecy, and weak oversight shadow Richmond recovery leaders
Feb 7, 2023
VARR secures millions; VARR leaders among top beneficiaries
Jan 6, 2023
The Medicaid cash cow
Dec 8, 2022
Introducing The Parham Papers
Dec 5, 2022
RVA Recovery Community: follow along on Instagram @theparhampapers to help share these important findings on a national level. We’re already followed by a local TV news anchor and a celebrity in long term recovery. We’ll follow you back and welcome your suggestions.
For clarity: I don’t manage this Instagram account. It was created by a reader and member of RVA’s recovery community. I’m very grateful for the help spreading awareness!
Edit: For further clarity, the account owner changed the Instagram handle to @advocatesfortheparhampapers.
Edit 2: As of Aug. 6, 2025, the advocacy account was terminated following a coordinated online sabotage effort targeting this project. An impersonator account remains active, but there is currently no Instagram account affiliated with this project.
Hello I would like to stay anonymous due to the fact that I am well known in the recovery community. But I was a resident at supreme reentry for an entire year. I can’t say as to how Kelvin and Denise are now but when I was there they were amazing and really did care about you getting and staying clean. But I will say this there is a gentleman by the name of [redacted] who is a rapist in the rooms of narcotics anonymous and he works for [redacted] and runs both of their recovery houses for the females and the males and I say this because I do believe that the parent papers need to take a closer look on the men that are predators in the rooms and in these recovery houses.
Hi, the individual whose name I redacted has been on my radar for a long time. I’d love to talk with you. Please reach out anytime.