El Pueblo Boys & Girls Ranch Closes UPDATED

“A child care facility in Pueblo has been shut down after reports of child abuse surfaced to the Department of Human Services.

Over the last year, El Pueblo Boys & Girls Ranch has had 11 repeat violations regarding use of physical restraints, six repeat violations regarding inappropriate discipline, 18 repeat violations of children’s rights, and five repeat lack of supervision violations.

DHS requested on September 25 that El Pueblo Boys & Girls Ranch’s license be suspended on the following grounds:

On July 20, the Department received a complaint stating that the “current Chief Executive Officer of El Pueblo inappropriately restrained a child.” The Chief Executive Officer also submitted false and misleading documentation to the Department regarding the incident.

In August, another report made to DHS stated that a child ran from El Pueblo and rode in the back of a train for at least one hour. The child claimed that he was being bullied and that the staff would not intervene. He also said El Pueblo wasn’t providing adequate medical attention.

About a month later, a third report was made that staff at El Pueblo weren’t giving a “high needs” child all the necessary medications he/she required and that the child left the facility with an unexplained burn.

Also during the month of September, a child who was supposed to be under one-on-one supervision was left alone and escaped out a window. It took at least an hour to find the child.

On September 20, a staff member allegedly physically abused a child. “Staff pulled the child’s hair, scratched the child, and elbowed and kneed the child’s body,” according to DHS’ order of summary suspension document. Staff is also being accused of punching that child in the mouth around the same time.

A day later, a child with disabilities was reportedly rolling around the ground and staff was told by administrators not to intervene. The order of summary suspension paperwork says that over a time frame of around 25 minutes, the child ended up biting their own arms and legs, resulting in bleeding wounds and pulled off his or her own skin and was chewing and eating it. 

DHS says that it has also received several reports that more than one child at El Pueblo had attempted suicide. DHS was also notified that children were showing significant weight loss after leaving El Pueblo and that the children were expressing they were hungry.

DHS sent the following statement to KRDO NewsChannel 13:

“DHS is working with the agencies who have placed children at El Pueblo, as they are moved to other placements as quickly as possible. All children and youth will be moved before CDHS staff leave the facility. While the specific locations are confidential, all children and youth will be moved to licensed facilities (other residential child care facilities, group homes or group centers), certified providers (foster care homes), or with their parent/guardian, if appropriate.”

El Pueblo Boys & Girls Ranch located at One El Pueblo Ranch Way in Pueblo, Colo. opened January 1, 1995. It applied for a license continuation around the time of March 17, 2017.

–UPDATE–

El Pueblo released the following statement on September 28:

“The leadership and staff of El Pueblo… an Adolescent Treatment Community would like to express our deep concern over recent allegations of misconduct regarding treatment of children enrolled in our clinical and education programs. We believe that every child, regardless of age or situation, deserves a safe environment. This is why we are, and have always been, dedicated to the protection and safety of youth in our care. At El Pueblo we provide safety first, followed by focused care to stabilize youth facing behavioral health crises. For over 57 years, we have worked with children struggling with very serious mental, emotional and behavioral problems from very difficult backgrounds and who are often in crisis. We focus on helping youth stabilize their thoughts and emotions, and gain skills in controlling their own behavior, with the goal of helping youth move on to the next phase of care within 90 days — and we have historically had great success in meeting that objective. All youth and their situations are unique, but every child and family that comes through our doors is approached with respect and compassion. We are thankful to the partners, supporters, families and youth in our care, and we will take a diligent approach to the resolution of this matter. We have been proud to serve the city of Pueblo and our outlying communities, and will take a step back to assess the situation and see how we can best serve this community.””

El Pueblo Boys & Girls Ranch’s license suspended after reports of child abuse

[KRDO 9/28/17 by Holly Madison]

REFORM Puzzle Piece

Update:“News 5 Investigates is asking state officials why it took years to shut down the troubled El Pueblo Boys and Girls Ranch after we discovered numerous cases of abuse and neglect at the facility.

Over the years, El Pueblo was home to hundreds of children and teens with psychiatric and behavioral issues.

An open records request News 5 submitted unlocked several abuse and neglect violations documented in 2013-2017 state inspection reports that were not publicly released until we asked for them.

“I do not want this place ever opened up again so I was very happy,” Lisa Mitchell told News 5 in an interview last month.

Lisa’s son, Sam, spent several years at El Pueblo. His mother said he suffered a traumatic brain injury at birth and struggled in school. After suffering severe mood swings, Lisa sought help for her son.

At the age of 11, a court ordered Sam to live at El Pueblo—little did Lisa know what would happen behind the brick walls at the facility.

“I feel it was so concealed,” Lisa said. “It was like a secret.”

The secrets hidden behind closed doors were revealed after El Pueblo had its license suspended.

News 5 found case after case of abuse and neglect involving staff members physically kicking and kneeing children.

On multiple occasions, state inspectors said El Pueblo staff didn’t appear concerned about the care and well-being of children in their custody.

Children also complained about being hungry. In one report, a child lost a considerable amount of weight and no one from El Pueblo could explain why.

Staff also lost medication, gave children wrong medication and failed to notify a parent after their child ran away from the center.

“I got knee striked and female staff would pinch me,” Sam said when asked how he was treated at El Pueblo. “Some staff would choke me to the point that my face was blue and I couldn’t breathe.”

Sam says as some staff members would physically assault children, other employees ignored the problems.

State inspectors confirmed El Pueblo staff failed to report suspected abuse and neglect cases to DHS, which is required by law.

“Your tax dollars went to fund this (operation), Lisa said. “You funded child abuse.”

News 5 Investigates uncovered El Pueblo CEO James “Jimmy” Cardinal was even caught covering up the abuse. In a 2017 suspension summary report , Cardinal inappropriately restrained a child and then submitted false information to the Colorado Department of Human Services when asked about the incident.

 

“When we were seeing a pattern of untruth, unwillingness to cooperate, unwillingness to adhere to rules, that is when we took adverse action and suspended their license,” Minna Castillo-Cohen, the CDHS Director of the Office of Children, Youth and Families said.

However, El Pueblo’s license wasn’t suspended until Sept. 2017.

“In state inspection reports, there was a history of violations that occurred over and over again,” Chief Investigative Reporter Eric Ross told Castillo-Cohen. “This abuse has been documented for years, but there were no consequences?”

“When we are working with a facility, it’s really important to understand whether we working with a struggling good actor who is capable of making those changes, or are we working with someone who is unable and unwilling to make those changes,” Castillo-Cohen said.

Castillo-Cohen says when violations are documented, their goal is to give the facility time to respond and correct problems first. Suspending or revoking a license is a last resort.

“We don’t want to re-traumatize kids by just going in and closing a facility,” she said. “There are placement disruptions that can be very traumatic to children.”

However, parents like Lisa argue being abused in neglected is also traumatizing.

“I don’t know who is going to hold them (El Pueblo staff) accountable but we demand a grand jury,” Lisa said.

Ross asked Castillo-Cohen, “Has any El Pueblo employee been arrested and charged with child abuse or neglect?”

“Not to my knowledge,” Castillo-Cohen said.

Ross responded, “If any parent did what some of these El Pueblo employees did to children, they would likely be behind bars.”

“I am unaware of any employee at El Pueblo that had criminal charges pressed against them,” Castillo-Cohen said. “I think you can take that up with local law enforcement.”

In cases where staff members admitted to physically assaulting or abusing children, they were either terminated or quietly resigned.

Ross asked, “What do you tell parents who say the State failed their children and failed them?”

“I would say to parents that we care deeply about all children in our state,” Castillo-Cohen said. “What happened at El Pueblo was deeply, deeply saddening to us and we want Colorado families to know that we are working tirelessly to prove our processes.”

In 2016, CDHS switched over to an annual inspection system. Prior to that, CDHS used a risk-based assessment for inspections.

El Pueblo was on a 2-year inspection cycle. However, Castillo-Cohen says that would not have prevented county DHS workers to do unscheduled visits as a result of a complaint.”

DHS explains why it delayed shutting down El Pueblo Boys and Girls Ranch for years

[KOAA 4/10/18 by Eric Ross]