A little girl, 11 years old, came into the dining room for breakfast one day last week. She had tears running down her cheeks, and her face was red. Christy, a phenomenal cook with a kind spirit, saw one of our Ranch employees trying to comfort her while making sure the other kids got their breakfast.…
psychiatric residential treatment
North Dakota Community Foundation (NDCF) granted $5,000 to Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch to underwrite the cost of an innovative remodel at Dakota Memorial School (DMS), Minot, the Ranch’s on-campus school. The funds are part of the NDCF’s Statewide Greatest Needs Fund.…
I’ve told you before, working at Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch is hard work. Good work, but hard. It is hard to hear the kids’ stories of trauma, abuse, and mental illness. It is hard to be distrusted by these hurting kids and hard to earn their trust. That’s why it is so important that our folks always support each other, cheer each other on, and share successes.…
The Otter Tail Corporation Foundation awarded $3,200 to Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch to complete safety upgrades on its Fargo campus.…
Most of the children who come to Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch have not been treated with respect. Most are trauma survivors. The very definition of a trauma survivor is someone who has suffered because of an absence of power. Perhaps it was an abuser, or poverty, or drug addiction, or death, but something in their lives exercised extreme power over them. That disparity led to them being abused, neglected, injured, and suffering. They are deeply hurt.…
Finding every single way to help children understand themselves, heal from their experiences, and become their best selves all depends on communicating in a way they can grasp. Since every child starts in a different place, professionals at Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch use many different tools and approaches.…
“Kids don’t really think about suicide, do they?” or “Kids just want attention, they can’t really want to die.” Even with all the media coverage of children’s mental health, I'm still asked questions like these.…
I have shared before in these messages about our Chaplain, Rev. Rick Jones. Chaplain Rick has been with Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch for 11 years. He is the best person ever to be a Chaplain at a place for hurting children. He is strong in his faith, compassionate, and relatable. The children love him.…
I am not an athlete. Oh, I work out. That’s not the same as being an athlete. An athlete has grace, stamina, field awareness, and coordination. Those I don’t have. I can lift heavy things, but that’s about as far as it goes.…
I don’t want to nag you… but you really need a will. If you don’t have one, the state has one for you. It’s called “probate,” and it’s a slow and painful process that ignores any wishes you may have had for whatever you left behind.…
Karen, a woman I work with, uses a term I love—“God wink.” I don’t know for sure how she would define it, but when she says it, I imagine God with a smile, nodding just a little and tipping a hat. A gesture of “I see you. Well done.”…
On August 3rd, I celebrated my eighth Ranchiversary! I came to Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch in 2015 after spending over 22 years at another human service organization. Before that I worked in the corporate world and I’ve also done some university teaching in communications and business.…
I am frequently amazed by the people who choose to work at Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch. They are a compassionate, courageous bunch. One such person is Jan. Jan came to the Ranch looking for a very part-time experience to augment her corporate banking job. She had plenty of work in her “real” job but was looking to find a way to impact kids and families in a more hands-on way. We are very grateful she found us.…
I have a new cross in my office. It is made of bigger than normal popsicle sticks… I think they are called “craft sticks.” The vertical stick has seven pink fingerprints in a row, covering the length of the stick. The horizontal stick is painted a bright pink with random geometric shapes. It’s a little off-center, but not too bad. Overall, you get the definite impression it was made by a child. On the back, printed in felt tip marker, it says, “I CAN, through Him.”…
At the end of the school year, I was on our Bismarck campus for board meetings. In between meetings, I was walking through the school when I heard my name from one of the classrooms. I stuck my head in the door, the teacher nodded, and a trim boy in a suit and tie came into the hall and gave me a hug.…
I had dinner a while back with some people like you. Well, I guess I don’t know if they are really like you, but you do have some things in common. You care about the kids at Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch. You choose to believe these hurting kids have value, can heal, and are all God’s children.…
Jeremiah* yells a lot. He deserves to. Jeremiah came to us with a history of horrendous, unspeakable trauma at the hands of his biological parents. He was too little to do anything to protect himself except cry and yell.…
My 94-year-old mother-in-law hasn’t led an easy life. She had nine children before she was 30 years old. She and my father-in-law built a small dairy farm on a piece of land that no one else really wanted. She worked “off the farm” for many years to bring in some much-needed income and to ensure the family had health insurance.…
I was reading information on a child that was coming into care at Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch. One of the notes was to notify nursing, and all staff, that this child had POTS. I didn’t know what POTS was. So, I looked it up.…
I just sold a warehouse. Actually, I didn’t, but Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch did. In the Fargo, ND Industrial Park, right off I-29. Great location. The remarkable people who came before me and built a loving place for children to heal and thrive, knew this place had to survive for generations. They knew that there would not be, in this world, an end to the need.…
This is the season of graduations, and that is true at Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch as well. Our on-site school, Dakota Memorial School, celebrates our graduates in style! Most of the children who come to the Ranch return to their home school districts when they leave our care. Some continue their education here through graduation. Others come here only for Day School, never being in residential care. Each one works incredibly hard to graduate. They are smart, but most learn differently than other schools teach. Here they can find success.…
I bought a really crazy red coat. People donate wonderful things to the Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch Thrift Stores. The Thrift Stores have a two-pronged purpose. First and foremost, each year the thrift stores generate income for Ranch programs which provide hope and healing for troubled, complicated, and amazing kids.…
He just about knocked me over. I was going into the front door of our school on our Bismarck Campus and struggling to get my keys organized when a strong, athletic 15-year-old body slammed into my side and wrapped me in a bear hug. In high heels and a heavy winter coat, I almost lost my balance, much less my breath.…
Everyone has a story. That is the mantra that we repeat at the Ranch. Every child, parent, staff person comes with their own history. What came before does not define their future, but it certainly does inform their future. The trauma-informed care at Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch is summarized as, "We don't ask what is wrong with a child, we ask what happened to the child."…
Dakota Memorial School teachers and staff have specialized training in teaching children who have experienced significant trauma. I am always amazed at the ability of these wonderful people to teach very rigorous curriculums, the same requirements as any accredited school district, to students who have been largely labeled as “unteachable.”…