El Pueblo Child Abuse Problem May Be Systemic In Colo.: Ombudsman

PUEBLO, CO -- Multiple complaints were filed about the El Pueblo Boys and Girls Ranch children's home, shut down in September by the Colorado Dept. of Human Services, but those complaints never made it up the chain to the agency or to authorities who could make changes. These are the assertions of the Colorado's Child Protection Ombudsman's office, an independent agency tasked with investigating any child protection organization or system that receives state dollars.

Ombudsman Stephanie Villafuerte's office announced Tuesday that an investigation has been launched into the circumstances that were allowed to fester at the home for troubled adolescents and why those problems were never acted upon. The report said that the investigation would examine "a number of policy and practice concerns that extend beyond El Pueblo."

The El Pueblo Ranch is a 12-building mental health and adolescent substance abuse center built to house 150 at-risk adolescents, but was down to 37 children when it was shuttered in September. Complaints seemed to fall on deaf ears. The institution had been sued numerous times by parents of children alleging sexual and physical abuse by staff. In 2013, the ACLU filed a complaint that El Pueblo Ranch punished children with solitary confinement in "reflection cottages" described as "small concrete rooms with no furniture other than a concrete slab that serves as a bed. Children are forbidden to speak with others and must ask permission to use the bathroom," the complaint said.

When the Dept. of Human Services swooped in to suspend the facility's license, the list of complaints was sobering: Multiple children had attempted suicide. Children repeatedly complained about not being given enough food and being physically assaulted by staff.

A child escaped the facility and rode alone on the back of a train for hours, telling investigators he ran away because he was always hungry and was bullied at El Pueblo. Another child with mental deficiencies escaped through a window and disappeared for an hour before being found two streets away in a park. One child came home with unexplained burns. Another lost a significant amount of weight. Children said staff allegedly did not interfere in fights and told them to fight away from the security cameras.

The ombudsman's office said staff had examined the past year's worth of complaints to the county human services department and found "a consistent and dense log of reports dating back more than a decade." The office said Colorado's system currently sends all abuse complaints about a residential center to the local county branch of the HSD, which decides whether to investigate. If complaints are valid, they are supposed to go up to a state-level "floating" 10-person monitoring team, responsible for 230 facilities.

Villafuerte's office is exploring whether the statewide team is large enough to "provide effective oversight."

"The CPO’s investigation has centered on how state and local agencies respond to reports of abuse or neglect
at residential child care facilities, such as the El Pueblo Boys and Girls Ranch, and whether these agencies are
effectively identifying practices impacting the safety and well-being of children. Additionally, the CPO is studying whether these systems are providing a timely and appropriate response when issues are identified," a statement from Villafuerte's office said.

Read the Colorado Dept. of Human Services suspension order for El Pueblo Boys and Girls Ranch here:

El Pueblo Boys & Girls Ranch - Order of Summary Suspension - 9.26.17 - R... (2) by JeanLotus on Scribd

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