Ramey-Estep history lesson at Ashland Rotary

Apr. 11—ASHLAND — Ashland Rotary Club convened on Monday before representatives of Ramey-Estep Home to hear the history and ever-evolving programs provided to youth and families throughout Kentucky.

Ginny Anderson, Chief Executive Officer, and Chief Operating Officer Tish Evans took turns outlining the rich history of the organization, rewinding all the way back to 1951.

Evans, who has been with Ramey-Estep for 30 years, told the club on Monday that former Boyd County Jailer Hack Estep launched a refuge for boys 69 years ago.

As the legend goes, a young man by the name of Bill came to Estep one night at the jail and requested to be "locked up" for the night in order to get warm as he had no other place to go.

After that, Estep later created the Boyd County Boys Farm in 1954.

The farm was later relocated to the current location of the residential program in Rush in 1957, according to Evans.

Following Estep's death, the Boyd County Boys Farm became the Hack Estep Home for Boys.

In the meantime, Gertrude Ramey, who was later dubbed the Mother of 5,000 Children, operated a boarding home and orphanage in Catlettsburg across from the old courthouse in the 1940s.

Upon the request of a judge, more and more children cycled through the orphanage, which was entirely supported by church donations.

Evans said Ramey was a devout Christian and took no salary for her work — to her, it was all simply for the kids.

In 1960, Ramey moved the orphanage, or "The Ramey Home" to Bob McCullough Drive.

When the board of directors told Ramey she must transition from an orphanage to a residential treatment facility, she was upset at the time — concerned for the girls and babies she had spent so many years overlooking.

Evans said as the girls moved out and the boys came in, she came around, saying those boys needed her just as much as the girls did.

Back at the Estep Home for Boys, the farm had fallen into disrepair by the early '90s. The two boards later came together to preserve the home for boys and utilize the services at Ramey's residential treatment by combining the two, thus Ramey-Estep was born in September 1992.

The campus later evolved to house three 4,000-square-foot "cottages," a school and an administration building.

Anderson said by 2003 the programs continued to grow, resulting in three more cottages and a training facility, all encompassing space for 174 boys and girls.

With certified foster care making its way into Ramey-Estep in the late '90s, the need for housing wasn't as necessary — thus another transformation was needed.

When Anderson began her journey with Ramey-Estep 20-plus years ago, she said she saw things missing.

One glaring issue she identified: when the youth would complete their stay in six to nine months, they would return to the exact same environment that had troubled them from the beginning.

In 2011, Ramey-Estep began dabbling in outpatient work and "wraparound services" for families, Anderson said.

Through this research, Anderson said KSTEP — Kentucky Strengthening Ties and Empowering Parents — was implemented to provide families with services that would aid in either keeping their children at home entirely or aiding them with the transition back into biological parental care.

Anderson said that while substance abuse is a large issue and an even larger reasoning for the removal of children from their home settings, with KSTEP, children are in the care of a sober caregiver (whether foster or biological) and parents are in treatment within 48 hours.

Despite the trauma and complications that arise by growing up around addiction, Ramey-Estep and KSTEP believe removing a child from that environment only heightens trauma and its undesired effects.

Anderson added the KSTEP model uses evidence based statistics and by implementing wraparound services, the agency has effectively kept more than 1,000 children out of foster care and safely in the care of their biological families.

By allowing children to remain with their families, the state has saved $50 million by avoiding foster care, Anderson said.

Last month, Ramey-Estep announced it would cease student enrollment resulting in similar apprehension as Ramey felt when her orphanage for boys and girls would switch from that to a residential treatment for boys.

However, Anderson believes this is but another metamorphosis.

Anderson said residential treatment requirements began to dwindle and as of this Friday, the last student will be discharged.

With the state now focused on after care and adult residential work, Ramey-Estep is merely adapting with the times.

Anderson told Rotary that Ramey-Estep hoped to expand adult recovery and open a woman and baby program to aid addicted mothers who ordinarily wouldn't seek treatment without their child.

Ramey-Estep now has its Rush campus, an office in northern Kentucky, a Grayson office and every intention on growing larger than its current 240 employees.

Anderson also said the overlapping programs and services provided have now allocated an avenue into schools as Ramey-Estep is working with students who may struggle with behaviors by providing support and crisis intervention to 42 area schools.

Ramey has a 90% success rate in uniting safe and healthy families, Anderson said.