ALLIANCE — After more than four decades of service to the
young men of Nebraska in need of out-of-home placement, the
Snow-Redfern Memorial Foundation Board of Directors for the
Nebraska Boys Ranch has decided it is time to re-engineer
their program.
Nebraska Boys Ranch Executive Director Stan Bills said they
are not closing their doors but are, however, temporarily
suspending their group home services.
“We don’t know, perhaps we will be a group home again but
at this point we are taking the time to re-engineer our
program in an effort to provide other services to youth and
their families,” Bills said.
The state does not intend to place children in group homes
anymore and what that means are children are going to be at
home with services wrapped around them, he added.
Bills said it isn’t always necessarily that the children
need placed out of the home, it is just they currently can’t
be at home.
“We keep hearing how there are not enough group homes but
yet in the last six weeks we have had zero referrals from
Western Nebraska,” Bills said, “and if we are not going to
get the referrals then we can not continue to operate.”
He said over the past several months, the Nebraska
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has been
negotiating with regional subcontractors who would
coordinate in-home and out-of-home services.
“The winning bidder was announced in May with a contract
between them and HHS to be signed by June 1, 2009,” Bills
said. “However, as of today that contract is yet to be
signed, which leaves other subcontractors such as the
Nebraska Boys Ranch not knowing exactly which services we
will be able to provide, nor what fees would be paid for
services.”
Referrals of youth for placement have virtually stopped and
as a result numbers have dropped to a historical low and HHS
and Office of Juvenile Services appear to not know what to
expect in the future as well, he added.
“The last time we had numbers that low was when the
facility opened 45 years ago,” Bills said. “As of this month
I will have 20 years into the facility and this has been
very difficult.”
In addition to temporarily suspending services the board of
directors have had to also pursue a reduction in force until
contracts are signed and a clear direction is given.
However, Bills said they still have their license and
contract should they seek referrals.
“We had been focusing on the intensity of out-patient
services, which is a drug and alcohol step down program,”
Bills said, “and I still believe that is where we are going
to head should we continue with group care.”
The Snow-Redfern Memorial Foundation was started by Arvilla
Snow-Redfern to serve children needing an opportunity to
make changes in their lives. Since the mid-sixties the
Nebraska Boys Ranch has provided service for about 900
children. This had long been Snow-Redfern’s dream, following
the death of her son after he was thrown from a horse.
“At one time Arvilla wanted children to experience the
ranching,” Bills said, “and we still believe that is
important along with the work ethics and traditional values
and at one time the remote area of the ranch may have been
an advantage, but it is definitely logistically hurting us
now.”
Not only being 17 miles out in the country but also being in
the western Nebraska service area because all the facilities
back east are full.
“They keep wanting us to hang on and just wait but we can’t
hang on anymore,” Bills said. “We continue to experience a
high overhead and this is the boards way to stop the
bleeding.”
Through the years The Nebraska Boys Ranch has served young
men between the ages of 12 through 17 and numerous young men
over the years had earned the GED. In fact, Bills said they
had eight youth just this last year receive their GED.
In addition, through the years many of the young men went on
to college, joined the armed forces, attended Pine Ridge Job
Corp. or sought employment.
Most people do not realize that a youth cannot go right from
court to Job Corp but must first have completed the behavior
program from a group home and be currently working towards
their GED before being allowed to make the transition.
“So many fail to see the good that comes from the boys
ranch because we are low key,” Bills said, “and we will
continue to need financial assistance and support during our
transition while we re-engineer the program and re-tool the
whole site to a new model.”
The ranching operation will continue as it currently exists
and Bills will continue to seek financial assistance for the
agency and redesign the program.
“I agree the best place for a child to be is at home for
there is no substitute,” Bills said. “However, not all
families are suited to raise children and it is not always
the parents, sometimes the children are at fault, too.”
