Buckeye Ranch settles dispute with watchdog
A disability advocacy group that was prevented from conducting a full investigation into complaints about improper restraint at The Buckeye Ranch has settled its dispute with the Grove City-based treatment program for children.
Disability Rights Ohio had sued Buckeye Ranch last year in federal court in Columbus, saying the residential center that provides emotional, behavioral and mental health services denied investigators access to video and wouldn’t let them speak to children.
Administrators at 60-yearold Buckeye Ranch then questioned the authority of Disability Rights and sought a restraining order, but Chief U.S. District Judge Edmund A. Sargus Jr. denied that request in March.
The settlement agreement filed this week resolves thelawsuit and says that Buckeye Ranch will provide reasonable access to residents when Disability Rights Ohio needs to investigate incidents of abuse or neglect.
Disability Rights is the state’s federally designated protection and advocacy system for people with mental illness and disabilities and, as such, is permitted to monitor service providers and investigate abuse or neglect. Buckeye Ranch had questioned that oversight and said that Disability Rights was hasty in its demand to interview children.
“Disability Rights is happy to have reached this important agreement with The Buckeye Ranch,” director of advocacy Kerstin Sjoberg said in a joint release. “With the health and safety of children with disabilities foremost in all of our minds, we are looking forward to working with The Buckeye Ranch toward this goal.”
Vickie Thompson-sandy, who recently took over as Buckeye Ranch CEO, said in the same release that her organization also is pleased to have settled the matter.
“Our goal is the same as our colleagues at Disability Rights Ohio: ensuring the safety of children,” Thompson-sandy said. “We are excited to have reached an agreement that allows us both to live out our mission, and in a manner that supports the therapeutic environment for children.”