ACTIVE SEARCH SD - Serenity Dennard, 9, Children’s Home Society, Pennington County, 3 Feb 2019 #2

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Did I miss something, why is LE waiting until next week to search? I thought the weather had improved.

Yes, and a few weeks ago they said they were using all of these snow filled weeks they could not search due to weather to coordinate it all so they would be ready to go in an instant and immediately when they could? I thought at the time grudgingly well, at least when the weather does break, they will be out there pronto. It does not seem to be the case... It is still another week before their search...

Maybe they do know something the public does not...
 
Yes, and a few weeks ago they said they were using all of these snow filled weeks they could not search due to weather to coordinate it all so they would be ready to go in an instant and immediately when they could? I thought at the time grudgingly well, at least when the weather does break, they will be out there pronto. It does not seem to be the case... It is still another week before their search...

Maybe they do know something the public does not...

When snow melts the ground is ridiculous, It is not easy to traverse. They may be giving it a week to dry out.
 
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nati...4f948cc0605_story.html?utm_term=.ad0c9dacee6c
Parents: Missing South Dakota girl had history of escapes

A 9-year-old girl missing from a South Dakota residential youth home for nearly two months has a history of running away, her parents said in an interview published Sunday.

Chad Dennard, 37, tells the newspaper he’s “100 percent” certain that Serenity planned an escape from Children’s Home by having another child run away first.

“That’s just her MO (mode of operation),” he said. “She’s just going to wait until everything is calmed down.”

The couple said Serenity runs away because she doesn’t know how to process her emotions, or because she begins to feel too comfortable in a place.

Serenity’s parents said their daughter would hide from staff inside Children’s Home and threaten to run away. She may have run away Feb. 3 because she started to feel too comfortable at the home, was no longer the new girl and was ready for something new, the couple said.

Authorities said finding Serenity remains a top priority. The Pennington County Sheriff’s Office plans a search next weekend, Sgt. Todd Battest told The Associated Press.

Edited to include title
 
Last edited:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nati...4f948cc0605_story.html?utm_term=.ad0c9dacee6c

A 9-year-old girl missing from a South Dakota residential youth home for nearly two months has a history of running away, her parents said in an interview published Sunday.

Chad Dennard, 37, tells the newspaper he’s “100 percent” certain that Serenity planned an escape from Children’s Home by having another child run away first.

“That’s just her MO (mode of operation),” he said. “She’s just going to wait until everything is calmed down.”

The couple said Serenity runs away because she doesn’t know how to process her emotions, or because she begins to feel too comfortable in a place.

Serenity’s parents said their daughter would hide from staff inside Children’s Home and threaten to run away. She may have run away Feb. 3 because she started to feel too comfortable at the home, was no longer the new girl and was ready for something new, the couple said.

Authorities said finding Serenity remains a top priority. The Pennington County Sheriff’s Office plans a search next weekend, Sgt. Todd Battest told The Associated Press.

i honestly cannot believe this man is claiming he knows with "100 percent certainty" that a 9 year old planned this and is just "waiting" (where?!?!) until it calms down. what the f.... so sketch. or am i missing something? MOO.
 
i honestly cannot believe this man is claiming he knows with "100 percent certainty" that a 9 year old planned this and is just "waiting" (where?!?!) until it calms down. what the f.... so sketch. or am i missing something? MOO.
I totally believe him. He knows his child, like I know my child. Until you’ve lived with someone who struggles with mental illness, you can't understand. There are some behaviors, you just know, expect and are prepared for.
 
They didn't find her....
No, they didn't. From her FB post:
Well, we didnt find Serenity. We had about 75 people show up and we covered a lot of ground. So many places to look. Darcie was there, Serenity's bio father who has been quiet throughout this ordeal, came also.
The weather made it difficult with rain and fog. Our volunteers worked hard and came back to camp wet and exhausted, but full of gratitude for the chance to look. Everyone agrees, will not give up, we will search until she is found.​
 
i honestly cannot believe this man is claiming he knows with "100 percent certainty" that a 9 year old planned this and is just "waiting" (where?!?!) until it calms down. what the f.... so sketch. or am i missing something? MOO.

Exactly. She is nine years old. Nine.

The home is in a wild place miles from anything.

Young children with severe issues can formulate a plan together and no one knows about it.

Maybe. Highly unlikely
 
I totally believe him. He knows his child, like I know my child. Until you’ve lived with someone who struggles with mental illness, you can't understand. There are some behaviors, you just know, expect and are prepared for.

i'm sorry @PayrollNerd, i did not mean any disrespect to anyone on this board. and for the record, i do live with someone with mental health issues (myself), as well as my son. i was only stating that i felt it was sloppy for this man (her dad) to say that he believed with 100 percent certainty that she had just taken off to become missing, and would come out one day in the near future, when she's not feeling so scared. that sounds to me, just a regular websleuther, that if he's 100 percent sure she ran off, then where did she 100 percent run off to? and above all, WHERE IS SHE NOW? SHE'S 9! this 9yo has been missing for about 2 months now, so if she really ran away, then where is she? i think that's all we really wanna know and are trying to help come up with ideas on how to find her. i apologise if my comment was harsh. i'm sorry.
 
Working with children with severe emotional and behavioral disorders, elopement (running away) is a common reality. In most cases, it’s an attention seeking maneuver. In other cases, it’s an attempt to get away from (avoid) a situation. Sometimes it’s a combination of both. It’s a temporary solution to a fast trigger for the child, without much ability to think of the long term consequences of this action (elopement).

What’s hard is the staff at the facility spent so much time looking inside the building, not realizing she was outside until she was spotted by the folks dropping of another kid.

If she was expecting attention, that attention was all indoors for some time while she was outside the facility waiting for someone to chase her and find her...

I agree with most, with the weather conditions, she didn’t get too far, unless there is some kind of savior situation we could never imagine until more information is released.

Hopefully, this case provides more supports for these unique issues and successful treatment centers for kids who have Reactive Attachment Disorder, among other mental health diagnoses, and better funding and coordination with juvenile justice and the department supervising kids in state care, or who have gone through foster care and those who have uneven adoptions. Also, 911 is a community service and should be called as soon as there is a missing child in any facility. Hindsight is 20/20 though.

IMO
 
Working with children with severe emotional and behavioral disorders, elopement (running away) is a common reality. In most cases, it’s an attention seeking maneuver. In other cases, it’s an attempt to get away from (avoid) a situation. Sometimes it’s a combination of both. It’s a temporary solution to a fast trigger for the child, without much ability to think of the long term consequences of this action (elopement).

What’s hard is the staff at the facility spent so much time looking inside the building, not realizing she was outside until she was spotted by the folks dropping of another kid.

If she was expecting attention, that attention was all indoors for some time while she was outside the facility waiting for someone to chase her and find her...

I agree with most, with the weather conditions, she didn’t get too far, unless there is some kind of savior situation we could never imagine until more information is released.

Hopefully, this case provides more supports for these unique issues and successful treatment centers for kids who have Reactive Attachment Disorder, among other mental health diagnoses, and better funding and coordination with juvenile justice and the department supervising kids in state care, or who have gone through foster care and those who have uneven adoptions. Also, 911 is a community service and should be called as soon as there is a missing child in any facility. Hindsight is 20/20 though.

IMO

How often would LE be called? What could they do? Assemble a search team ? And then the child is found hiding under a bed within half an hour?

Two hours seems long to call LE, though.

I don’t think LE would go for using resources like that very often
 
How often would LE be called? What could they do? Assemble a search team ? And then the child is found hiding under a bed within half an hour?

Two hours seems long to call LE, though.

I don’t think LE would go for using resources like that very often

I can only respond from personal experience, but it provides an early intervention and additional personnel to help early on in the search, and provides the staff more accountability that all resources were utilized. Not sure if calling law enforcement in would’ve found her. Yes, two hours was probably too long, but not sure about the protocol in place.
 
She ran away on a Sunday. I can’t imagine there would be the same amount of staff, teachers and administrators on premise as that of a weekday. Maybe staff thought they could handle it for some time until they realized they needed to contact the administrator for advice on what to do. Also, weekend staff may have been less experienced in this type of situation in moo.
 
No doubt, everyone who works at or has regular contact with the home has been investigated carefully. Just thinking about things in a different way, though, what if she conspired with someone who had access to the school in some way on that day? What if, after being seen running away, she did return to the school and that was why she was seen at the gate fifteen minutes after making her escape? What if someone had left a car door or car trunk unlocked for her? I maybe grasping at straws but for this baby to still be missing is heartbreaking and a crime within itself.
 
She ran away on a Sunday. I can’t imagine there would be the same amount of staff, teachers and administrators on premise as that of a weekday. Maybe staff thought they could handle it for some time until they realized they needed to contact the administrator for advice on what to do. Also, weekend staff may have been less experienced in this type of situation in moo.

Working in a group home before I graduated college, that is likely. The weekend staff are there to support more recreational activities and the training and experience may have been less... not sure here, though, because to be honest, I don’t know the credentials needed to be a weekly worker. When I worked at a place like this, I was required to submit evidence I had read two books on the conditions kids like this have. There was no direct training or supervision, but that was a while back.

It’s hard to imagine to most how serious these kiddos’ issues can be. I do go back to her young age and the seriousness of her condition and all she has been through. It seems lessons could be learned here.
 
I can only respond from personal experience, but it provides an early intervention and additional personnel to help early on in the search, and provides the staff more accountability that all resources were utilized. Not sure if calling law enforcement in would’ve found her. Yes, two hours was probably too long, but not sure about the protocol in place.

ETA: Many officers in the field are now getting more training on kiddos with disabilities and how to respond.
 
Oh that poor little girl. I am praying for her. 12 foster homes, parents in prison, adoptive parents broke up, she didn't have a chance. I wish I could adopt her. Why in the heck didn't they find her right away. This is sick, really sick.
 
I think some people realize how difficult it is to work with children with difficult issues.

The reason these treatmnet centers exist with multiple staff is i dicative of how hard it is. Really, often almost impossible.

I cannot fault any of the adoptive parents.
 
Dennards laser-focused on finding Serenity
[...]

The couple has searched for Serenity near the Black Hills Children's Home, which she ran away from Feb. 3., and they speak to someone at the Pennington County Sheriff's Office each day to learn if there's anything new to learn about the search and investigation.

[...]

The couple says they've received fake threats from people telling them that they have Serenity and need to send ransom money if they want her back. A stranger wrote on Facebook that because Kasandra used an exclamation mark in a post about Serenity, she must not really be upset. Someone else discovered Chad's military background and wrote that he should have a psychological evaluation. Strangers found photos of their children standing together and wrote that Chad must be forcing them to stand at attention.

"They just sit behind the keyboard and say what they want," Kasandra said.

"They need to feed their CSI needs," Chad said of the "keyboard investigators."

[...]

While the family has been discouraged by some online comments, they've also found support through strangers and from friends and family.

National Guard members brought the family meals during the first week Serenity went missing. Neighbors ran errands for the family, plowed their driveway, and donated cash and necessities such as toilet paper. One of the couple's close friends searches for Serenity at least once a week, and hundreds of people prayed for their daughter after someone created a Facebook prayer event.

[...]

The couple said while they're upset that Serenity hasn't been found, they believe the search and rescue effort has been appropriate.
 
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