St. Jude’s Ranch for Children a transformed nonprofit

On Jan. 4, the Review-Journal published an article, "Slaying suspects' childhood ties," about two young men arrested on suspicion of murdering a promising young woman. In 1998, both young men were boys living at St. Jude's Ranch for Children in Boulder City. One of them filed a civil lawsuit related to alleged sexual abuse that occurred while he was a resident at the ranch more than 10 years ago.

This is horrific. It never should have happened. There is nothing good in either of these stories. Both are extremely distressing, disturbing and difficult.

And it should never happen again because St. Jude's Ranch -- 11 years later, in 2009 -- is a transformed, accountable and transparent organization after a publicly recognized turnaround that began in 2006.

St. Jude's Ranch for Children in Boulder City provides foster care to more than 65 children who live in nine homes with live-in staff in a safe, secure and nurturing family environment. More than 80 percent of the children live at the ranch with a brother or sister -- some in groups with as many as seven siblings -- part of the more than 1,000 children who have called the ranch home since it opened in 1967. Most of the children who have lived at the ranch over the years have the same hopes and dreams as other kids: graduate from high school, go to college, get a good job, have a family. There are many success stories.

Eleven years later, in 2009, ranch operations are dramatically different than in 1998. In 2006, the ranch was on the brink of closing its doors forever with only two months' cash on hand. The board of trustees restructured itself and immediately undertook an operational and financial turnaround. Today the ranch is a dynamic, disciplined and re-energized organization focused on providing the highest quality care to children, with the underpinning of a solid financial foundation.

Just about everything is new: the composition of the board, the management team, the direct care staff, the children and program and business infrastructure with additional controls. The new position of internal auditor was established to protect the health, safety, welfare and well-being of all children in care and to manage compliance with all regulatory standards.

The culture always puts kids first, as evidenced by the "zero deficiencies" licensing and contract reviews from the Clark County Department of Family Services for each of the past three years since the turnaround started.

The Department of Family Services established specific standards and screenings that must be met before an agency such as St. Jude's Ranch can hire staff to care for children.

Some of these include five personal references, fingerprinting and psychological/sociological evaluations for direct care staff. St. Jude's Ranch complies with all department requirements and, on its own initiative, in an effort to further safeguard children, has since 2006 implemented numerous additional hiring requirements that go above and beyond those required by the department: drug and alcohol testing (pre-employment, random, reasonable suspicion, post-accident); both local and FBI criminal clearance screening (pre-employment and annually); three business references; confirmation of academic degrees; 24/7 confidential hotline and 24/7 confidential Web site for both the children and employees to report anything going on in the home that they think should not be going on; the phone number for Child Protective Services prominently posted in each home for children and employees to file any report; a whistleblower policy to protect employees from retaliation for reporting wrongdoing; additional in-home oversight by case manager and management staff; additional training and education on policies and procedures on the therapeutic program and professional boundaries.

Since 2006, the ranch has worked hard to regain the trust of the community and its generous donors. It is something the ranch continues to work on every day.

A reporter from the Review-Journal visited the ranch a few weeks ago, and after touring the campus, one of the homes and meeting the children, he commented that "The St. Jude's Ranch of today is not the same one as 10 years ago. What happened then would not happen now."

Christine J. Spadafor is chief executive officer of Boulder City-based St. Jude's Ranch for Children.