More than 1,000 abused, neglected or abandoned children have called St. Jude's Ranch for Children home since it was founded in 1967 by an Episcopal priest.

Some have stayed at the 40-acre Boulder City ranch for only a few days while others have lived nearly their entire lives in one of the eight campus homes that are run by teaching parents and a teaching assistant, said the Rev. Steven Mues, the nonprofit's chief executive officer.

Currently, 45 children ages 7 to 18 live in the homes; five to seven residents ages 18 to 22 live in an independent living center where they learn skills they will need to go out on their own, Mues said.

Children are usually placed at St. Jude's by the state, Mues said, although some have been privately placed by parents or relatives.

The campus has an annual operating budget of approximately $3 million, funded by the state and private donations.

"The point of our program is that we don't just warehouse kids," Mues said. "We have a treatment program and a life skills program" that are designed to prepare children to either return to their own home or be placed successfully with traditional foster parents.

The program works by a point system. Each child receives weekly tasks and is rewarded points based on their completion. That could be learning to manage anger, accept responsibility, do homework or improve self-confidence. The teaching parents review the points with the youth every week. A youth care professional also reviews the progress that the children are making, Mues said.

The teaching parents live full time on the ranch and serve as foster parents to the children. They try to make it as nearly homelike as possible.

"It's very noninstitutional," Mues said. The families raise pets together, vacation together, do chores together and share other activities.

The independent living center enables young people to make the transition from campus resident to independent adult, Mues said. It's a necessary program, providing the young adults with a larger degree of freedom, because the failure rate of foster children is high, he added. One-third of girls from foster environments end up with an unwanted pregnancy, while one-third of boys get in trouble with the law, Mues said.

The ranch is named after St. Jude, the patron saint of hopeless causes.

"People pray to St. Jude when things are impossible, that's what a lot of these kids' situations are like," said Becki Powell, spokeswoman for the ranch.

Though it is a nonprofit organization not affiliated with any religious group, every CEO of St. Jude's has been an Episcopal priest, Powell said.