Sometimes, it seems that the at-risk youth of our province have nowhere to go. Ranch Ehrlo’s Emergency Receiving Program is here to help address the problem in the Regina area, no matter the time of day.

Typically, the program receives children one or two at a time. Sometimes a situation will arise where the numbers are much higher. At the end of October, emergency services intake staff received a call at 4 a.m. and learned of five youth who needed a safe place to stay. In spite of the late hour staff were immediately available to receive the youth, who were placed in group homes at the Pilot Butte campus.

For employees involved in the program the priority remains the same, regardless of the numbers – to provide the highest quality of care for the youth until a suitable long-term solution can be worked out.

“Someone from Mobile Crisis Services or the Ministry of Social Services will call us after they’ve searched for family or other places the youth have lived, to see if they can return there. If it’s determined that there is no safe place for the youth to go, they come to us,” explained Shayne Logan Rorison House unit manager.

“From the point of view of Mobile Crisis Services, this partnership has been a resounding success,” said Jan Thorson, MCS assistant executive director. “For many years, finding temporary placements for youth in this age group was a constant struggle for our agency.  We rarely had enough placements, and often found ourselves in a position where we had no placement at all.”

When a youth arrives, a staff member is there to greet them and explain what Ranch Ehrlo is and that the Emergency Receiving Program provides temporary emergency care to youth awaiting placement. First-timers to the program are often apprehensive, but staff work to help them realize that the Ranch is a safe place to stay while the Ministry searches for a long term placement – be it family reunification, a group home, or a foster home.

Without Ranch Ehrlo’s emergency receiving program, both MCS and the Ministry would be left with almost no options for urgent, short-term placements.

“Since we began to partner with the Ranch, placement is simply a phone call away. The staff of Rorison House are unfailingly helpful, and available, no matter what time of day we contact them,” said Jan.

“For our staff, there is the additional bonus of knowing that the youth being placed will be in a modern, age appropriate facility which will provide for their immediate needs and where the staff will advocate for them.  The youth are welcomed, and made to feel at home quickly. “