SD SD - Serenity Dennard, 9, Children’s Home Society, Pennington County, 3 Feb 2019 #4

[Steelslady]

They have retained dignity in all of the horrendous things said about them. They have an infant so going out there is admirable.

I wish people could understand what children in trauma are like.I doubt if most people could handle the lives of these children for more than a day.

I don't think that this is what folks are referring to. At least I am not.

 

[Steelslady]

I am a bit curious- we've never heard the worker's side on this as to exactly what happened. I don't want their names or anything personal, but I would like to hear their side of the story- although, that would be breaking HIPAA privacy rules. I wonder if they still work there. I wonder if they noticed anything different that day about Serenity- was she agitated, scared, angry, or happy go lucky? Allegedly, Serenity would get upset after her family would spend time with her, then leave her at the home. I believe I read that the day before, KD and CD came to visit with her.

I can imagine it has to be devastating to see your family leave and you just want to go home with them. In some cases, the children actually get attached to the staff and their little friends and don't want to go home, to the heartbreak of parents. Looks like Serenity just wanted to go home. Maybe that's where she thought she was heading- home.

 

[SkipperKey3]

They have retained dignity in all of the horrendous things said about them. They have an infant so going out there is admirable.

I wish people could understand what children in trauma are like.I doubt if most people could handle the lives of these children for more than a day.

Hard to say one way or the other who has and who has not retained dignity. I see that there is more familial drama going on now. Meanwhile, Serenity is still missing.

 

[ilovechili]

Yes, Serenity is still missing. We can all agree on that. I think.

Jmo.

 

[ilovechili]

Well I am going to guess that once winter hits SD, the searches for this little girl are over. It saddens me.

I personally do not believe she is out there and if she is, that it was not due to her running that far.

Jmo though.

 

[SkipperKey3]

Well I am going to guess that once winter hits SD, the searches for this little girl are over. It saddens me.

I personally do not believe she is out there and if she is, that it was not due to her running that far.

Jmo though.

Regarding the searches, it depends largely on what the current status is. Are the dogs still picking up possible scents that they are trying to zero in on? If so, they will continue as long as possible. But once there is snow on the ground, this becomes more problematic. I don't know if they have eliminated areas because of scents or not. I do know that with the limited manpower they are using, it is possible in that terrain to miss something.

I do believe that she is out there somewhere, and I think she could have gotten a fair distance before the temps dropped below 20. But it is also possible that when she got cold, she found a little cubby hold to hole up in and try to get warmer, not realizing just how drastically the temps were going to drop. Or she found a place to hide, like the hollow trunk of a tree or something, which is what it has been said she does, and that place just hasn't been found yet. I think the odds of her being somewhere "not due to her running", as you put it, are pretty low. There was only about a 3-minute window in a remote area. I won't discount the possibility, and neither is LE, as they have said they are checking all leads, but it seems unlikely.

Like I said, I think she is out there. Unfortunately, the area is very difficult to search. And she isn't the first person who has gone missing in that area, and not been found despite searches.

 

[ilovechili]

Regarding the searches, it depends largely on what the current status is. Are the dogs still picking up possible scents that they are trying to zero in on? If so, they will continue as long as possible. But once there is snow on the ground, this becomes more problematic. I don't know if they have eliminated areas because of scents or not. I do know that with the limited manpower they are using, it is possible in that terrain to miss something.

I do believe that she is out there somewhere, and I think she could have gotten a fair distance before the temps dropped below 20. But it is also possible that when she got cold, she found a little cubby hold to hole up in and try to get warmer, not realizing just how drastically the temps were going to drop. Or she found a place to hide, like the hollow trunk of a tree or something, which is what it has been said she does, and that place just hasn't been found yet. I think the odds of her being somewhere "not due to her running", as you put it, are pretty low. There was only about a 3-minute window in a remote area. I won't discount the possibility, and neither is LE, as they have said they are checking all leads, but it seems unlikely.

Like I said, I think she is out there. Unfortunately, the area is very difficult to search. And she isn't the first person who has gone missing in that area, and not been found despite searches.

I can't disagree and that is your opinion and that of others.

My opinion differs however.

Neither has anything truly to back it up for the public. No video, no employee who has talked to the media, no passerby, etc. that we have seen anyhow.

I also can believe there was a longer time frame.

Jmo though and yours is as likely as any.

 

[watcher9]

Regarding the searches, it depends largely on what the current status is. Are the dogs still picking up possible scents that they are trying to zero in on? If so, they will continue as long as possible. But once there is snow on the ground, this becomes more problematic. I don't know if they have eliminated areas because of scents or not. I do know that with the limited manpower they are using, it is possible in that terrain to miss something.

I do believe that she is out there somewhere, and I think she could have gotten a fair distance before the temps dropped below 20. But it is also possible that when she got cold, she found a little cubby hold to hole up in and try to get warmer, not realizing just how drastically the temps were going to drop. Or she found a place to hide, like the hollow trunk of a tree or something, which is what it has been said she does, and that place just hasn't been found yet. I think the odds of her being somewhere "not due to her running", as you put it, are pretty low. There was only about a 3-minute window in a remote area. I won't discount the possibility, and neither is LE, as they have said they are checking all leads, but it seems unlikely.

Like I said, I think she is out there. Unfortunately, the area is very difficult to search. And she isn't the first person who has gone missing in that area, and not been found despite searches.

How long would the scent last? Would the scent travel up or down on the side of a mountain? Would it just hang in some pockets longer?

 

[PommyMommy]

Regarding the searches, it depends largely on what the current status is. Are the dogs still picking up possible scents that they are trying to zero in on? If so, they will continue as long as possible. But once there is snow on the ground, this becomes more problematic. I don't know if they have eliminated areas because of scents or not. I do know that with the limited manpower they are using, it is possible in that terrain to miss something.

I do believe that she is out there somewhere, and I think she could have gotten a fair distance before the temps dropped below 20. But it is also possible that when she got cold, she found a little cubby hold to hole up in and try to get warmer, not realizing just how drastically the temps were going to drop. Or she found a place to hide, like the hollow trunk of a tree or something, which is what it has been said she does, and that place just hasn't been found yet. I think the odds of her being somewhere "not due to her running", as you put it, are pretty low. There was only about a 3-minute window in a remote area. I won't discount the possibility, and neither is LE, as they have said they are checking all leads, but it seems unlikely.

Like I said, I think she is out there. Unfortunately, the area is very difficult to search. And she isn't the first person who has gone missing in that area, and not been found despite searches.

It snowed last night. Wolfpack was out first thing this morning to search for Mr. Genzlinger, though. Day 5 (sigh). MOO

 

[PayrollNerd]

It would be a good thing to have trail cameras in the Black Hills and maybe panic buttons with blue lights like they have on collage campuses. If someone stumbled across one trying to find their way out they could get help quicker. Just trying to think of ways to prevent such losses in big parks where people hike, hunt, etc.

 

[Rocco]

It snowed last night. Wolfpack was out first thing this morning to search for Mr. Genzlinger, though. Day 5 (sigh). MOO

Snow is in the forecast again for Thursday. Predicted high of 22 and low of 15.

Searching for her seems more hopeless all the time. I thought for sure they would have found her by now or some trace of her.

 

[K9Enzo]

It would be a good thing to have trail cameras in the Black Hills and maybe panic buttons with blue lights like they have on collage campuses. If someone stumbled across one trying to find their way out they could get help quicker. Just trying to think of ways to prevent such losses in big parks where people hike, hunt, etc.

Putting this small child aside or a moment.

Many prepared hikers in wilderness areas (especially) carry a PLB (personal locator beacon). I own a Garmin InReach. In the event of an emergency, lost or severely injured, as an example- LE would get my coordinates and any information from my profile that I put in about myself. They could then share that info with SAR. It's a subscription service which turns many people off but it's the best insurance (IMO) when venturing outdoors in remote areas.

This of course would not have helped in this case but your post reminded me of emergencies.

 

[SkipperKey3]

I can't disagree and that is your opinion and that of others.

My opinion differs however.

Neither has anything truly to back it up for the public. No video, no employee who has talked to the media, no passerby, etc. that we have seen anyhow.

I also can believe there was a longer time frame.

Jmo though and yours is as likely as any.

Agreed, there is really nothing to rule out any theory at this point. And like I said, I don't rule out the idea of abduction completely, I just think it is less likely.
As for timing, I'm only going by what the couple said as indicated in one MSM article (which one I can't remember at the moment), that the time between seeing her and actually going up in their car to try to find her was only a matter of about 3 minutes. Of course it may have been longer - it's hard in hindsight to say exactly how long anything actually was.
She was apparently adept at hiding quickly. It wouldn't surprise me if a quick search would have missed her, if she had squeezed in some small space somewhere.
But then again, we also know that abduction can also happen quite quickly as well.
And that is why LE continues to check out any and all leads - although I would think at this point the number of leads has diminished greatly. All they can do is keep looking where she might have run to, and to check out any other possibilities. No (reasonable) possibility is really off the table at this point.

 

[human]

I was looking for a security camera. I was surprised to see a top line model said it needed a minimum of 32degrees F to work.

So the caneras they had may have had issues withtemoersture

 

[aegarner1]

It would be a good thing to have trail cameras in the Black Hills and maybe panic buttons with blue lights like they have on collage campuses. If someone stumbled across one trying to find their way out they could get help quicker. Just trying to think of ways to prevent such losses in big parks where people hike, hunt, etc.

that would be hard in the black hills. The area is so vast. There is private owned land and bureau of land management land. You also have national and state parks. The only thing I could see is for everyone to be wise enough to carry a gps trafficking system that they could alert if they were lost.

 

[misgrn]

"Eight months ago, Black Hills Children's Home was scrambling trying to get Serenity Dennard back after running away from the home.

She is still missing.

It's a challenge the new CEO will have to deal with as she assumes the role Monday."

...

But Lavallee is going to take on a challenge coming into this role with an ongoing search and investigation for Serenity Dennard.

"It is all about the kids and we do have one missing still. And I have to tell you I could just see that everybody's hearts are still broken here," Lavallee said.

Lavallee said she will continue to enforce the new protective policies like calling 911 immediately if a child runs away. "

...

Children's Home Society gets a new CEO

 

[ilovechili]

Bumping.

Serenity. I have loved her name from day one.

 

[PommyMommy]

OCT 12, 2019
Pennington County Sheriff's Office
Weather conditions are severe.

 

[mickey2942]

I have never believed the timeline or the story from the employees. Nor was I aware of any real time video that corroborated their story.

The weather is something else, for this time of year. We have already had 2 blizzards.

 

[borndem]

Yes, you are correct. She will be the Exectutive Director for Children's Home Society...overseeing the entire organization and its many programs throughout South Dakota. She will be based out of Sioux Falls where Colson was often in the Rapid City area.

Other similiar organizations in this state have treatment centers, other agencies or programs throughout the state too with the Executive Director or President offices located in Sioux Falls or Rapid City. They travel to other locations and do video conferencing. Not sure if that is a national thing or just common around here. Most programs have separate program directors that actually run the individual programs or maybe a group of programs.

That being said, in my opinion the first person responsible for ensuring staff training should lie with the program director or associate program director (depending on how CHS delegates that duty.) Fitzgerald was the Program Director of BHCH when Serenity went missing...not sure if he still is. He should have been aware of how the BHCH program and staff were operating. He would also likely be responsible for updating policies or changing them, once approved. If I remember correctly he was quoted in the reports too. Fitzgerald should have been involved in the day to day operations of that program.

Obviously, Colson has fault too with regards to the lack of staff training, outdated policies, etc. since he is the CHS Executive Director. Colson also worked onsite at that location at times too but Fitzgerald also should have accountability too. Colson did seem to be pretty hands on at BHCH though...maybe I am reading that and other interviews wrong though.

CHS was ran a bit differently than the place I worked but from my knowledge of them and other similiar organizations, I don't think I am too far off on this. The people I knew that worked at SFCH reported a similiar hierarchy to what I described. Granted that was a few years ago so things may have changed. I just don't see how an executive director could be hands on in every program though and still be efficient.

My experience was that the overall leader of the organization I worked for was not hands on with the staff, program, or residents. Their office was in the same town but not in our building. We only saw the head of our organization a few times a year.

I still don't understand completely how they got away with the outdated policies and lack of training since it seems to be so different from my experiences during licensing and inspections. I worked for a similiar organization here and there were so many checks on that type of stuff. I do know the organization I worked for had someone in charge of the training schedules, plus supervisors made sure staff were current with training hours and subjects, then our Associate Director also double checked and made sure all that info was in the employee personnel files as well as to the head office. Our Program Director also made sure that was all completed properly. Maybe our inspectors were more thorough too though since I know that stuff was checked then too.

Not sure if that helped explain anything but I tried.

Serenity where are you?????

MOO

Edited for spelling and spacing errors

Thanks for all the info, @misgrn -- I am not at all familiar with those type facilities. Your post was very informative -- it's always helpful to hear from a professional on things like this.