License permanently suspended for Ranch for Kids near Rexford

An administrative law judge has ruled in favor of actions taken by the state Department of Public Health and Human Services to remove 27 children in July 2019 from the Ranch for Kids, a private alternative adolescent residential/ outdoor program located near Rexford.

The decision also calls for the permanent suspension of the ranch’s license to operate.

The children, ages 11 to 17, were removed from the ranch to due to serious allegations of egregious, chronic and persistent child abuse and neglect.

“We are pleased with the fair hearing decision,” DPHHS acting Director Erica Johnston said in a press release. “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.”

A call to the Ranch for Kids was answered by a recording that said it was not currently accepting applicants. A call to ranch owner Bill Sutley was not immediately returned.

The decision lists numerous activities that occurred at the Ranch for Kids 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 thoughts;

The withholding of medical attention for participants while sick or after injury;

Physical and verbal abuse of participants. Also, a 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 Ranch For Kids staff members’ properties.

A Jan. 9, 2020 story in the Missoulian reported three lawsuits were filed against the ranch and included claims of physical and emotional abuse, practices of hiring unqualified staff, and treatment methods that set children further back, rather than improving their conditions.

The story also said the plaintiffs in the two of the lawsuits allege their children were put to work at Sutley’s ranch, as well as Fire and Slice, and the Majestic Theater, two businesses located in Eureka, both of which were owned by Sutley or his family members.

Those suits are pending and not scheduled to be heard by juries before well into 2021.

The decision also states: “By preponderance of the evidence, it is clear that the Department of Public Health and Human Services 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, employee, 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 stated “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.”

It concluded that “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 law enforcement, including the Montana Department of Justice and local law enforcement agencies, 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. The hotline call led to an investigation revealing chronic abuse and neglect reported by multiple witnesses, including previous staff, students, law enforcement, forest service workers and neighbors in the area.

In July 2019, a new state law transferred authority of the private alternative adolescent residential/ outdoor programs to the DPHHS. Prior to July 1, 2019 DPHHS did not have licensing authority over these programs. A list of currently licensed PAAR facilities in MT is here https://dphhs.mt.gov/qad

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