Montana's Ranch for Kids permanently loses license over abuse, neglect of participants

Tribune Staff  |  Great Falls Tribune

An administrative law judge ruled in favor of actions taken by the Department of Public Health and Human Services (DPHHS) to remove 27 children in July 2019 from Ranch for Kids (RFK), a Private Alternative Adolescent Residential or Outdoor Program (PAARP) located near Rexford.

According to a Wednesday news release, DPHHS removed children from RFK due to serious allegations of egregious, chronic and persistent child abuse and neglect. The age of the children ranged from 11 to 17. As a result of the decision, DPHHS has permanently revoked RFK’s PAARP license.

The decision calls for the permanent suspension of the RFK PAARP license and is posted online at http://web.hhs.mt.gov/fairhearings/decisions/index.php.

“We are pleased with the fair hearing decision,” said DPHHS acting Director Erica Johnston. “But even more important, we continue to keep the children who lived this nightmare in our thoughts as they continue to heal and work to move on with their lives.”

The decision lists numerous activities that occurred at RFK that all violated state law, including:

• The use of abusive disciplinary walks, including having participants walk extreme distances, often at night and in the wilderness without weather-appropriate clothing or footwear.
• The use of restricting food for participants, withholding phone calls to parents, and withholding medical attention for participants, including for those who were expressing suicidal ideations.
• The withholding of medical attention for participants while sick or after injury.
• Physical and verbal abuse of participants and failure to report sexual abuse between participants and individuals who had direct access to participants.
• Failure to adequately inform or train staff regarding the minimum training requirements, including mandatory child abuse reporting laws.
• Forcing participants to complete labor projects of an unreasonable nature, duration, and sometimes risk, including digging trenches and construction projects at RFK staff members’ properties.

The decision states, "By preponderance of the evidence, it is clear that DPHHS made a sufficient evidentiary showing that abuse and neglect of these vulnerable children was occurring to warrant immediate suspension of RFK’s operations.

"The vivid and often difficult testimony of the former participants, employees and medical providers regarding RFK treatment of the participants was extremely disturbing...It is even more concerning given the vulnerable population that RFP supposedly served."

The ruling further states, "Given the horrors that these children likely faced as infants and their resulting mental and physical medical conditions, they needed a program that would help them create and form lasting relationships. Instead, they were retraumatized on a daily basis through isolation from adults and their peers."

The ruling concludes, "Simply put, DPHHS has carried its burden, by a preponderance of the substantial, competent evidence in the record, to show that RFK was not meeting the minimum standards required under the applicable PAARP statutes and rules. When the totality of the proven accusations against RFK are considered, this conclusion becomes strikingly clear."

The removals occurred with support from the Montana Department of Justice and local law enforcement to ensure the safety of both youth and child protection specialists who conducted the removals.

In June 2019, a call to the Child Abuse and Neglect Hotline led to an investigation revealing chronic abuse and neglect reported by multiple witnesses, included previous staff, students, law enforcement, forest service workers and neighbors in the area.

In July 2019, a new state law transferred authority of the PAARP programs to DPHHS. Prior to July 1, 2019, DPHHS did not have licensing authority over these programs. A list of currently licensed PAARP facilities in MT is available at https://dphhs.mt.gov/qad.