Twenty-five years after turning over the first shovel of dirt, the Utah Boys Ranch in Kearns continues to break new ground.
Since July 1964, the ranch has been providing incentive, structure and a home environment to help troubled boys find direction in their lives. Even though the ground has sometimes been shaky and close to falling in, the ranch has still managed to take care of more than 1,500 troubled boys.Executive Director Vernon C. Utley hopes the new direction of the ranch - going from an institutional program to a community program - will help it survive for another 25 years. "We call it `back to the future,' " Utley said.
The original intention of educators who started the ranch was to intervene early in the life of a troubled boy. He said most of the ranch's past troubles resulted because the ranch drifted away from that original purpose.
Utley said past contracts with the Utah Division of Family Services have contributed to the ranch's woes. Because of financial needs, the ranch contracted with DFS to house troubled youth in the early '70s. He said the DFS was assigning boys to the ranch who had already failed at other institutions and the ranch was a "last resort" for them.
The DFS canceled the contract in 1983 because it said the "treatment model" at the ranch was ineffective. A couple of years later and after the ranch hired some new personnel, the contract was renewed. However, Utley said the contract was once again canceled in the fall of 1988 - this time by the ranch, due to "administrative changes."
Utley said the contract did not allow the ranch to treat a troubled boy in the way the ranch desired. By relying on other funding - mostly private donations - the ranch can treat the problems of troubled boys early.
"We're glad to have the opportunity to jump back into early intervention," Utley said.
Utley said the ranch's goal for the future is to provide an environment in which families can help troubled boys learn responsibility.
"We're not just a place to drop a youth that's into a lot of trouble," Utley said. "If parents don't want to get involved then we don't want them in our program. Without the family involvement the ability to change the boy is decreased."
Because the ranch no longer depends on government contracts, Utley said it relies on donations from private businesses, individuals and families with boys in the program.