Company Profile
El Ranchito de los Ninos, Inc.
Company Overview
Mission Statement:
El Ranchito de los Niños is a private, non-profit organization that provides children, focusing on sibling groups, with a permanent/long-term home in a rural, family setting, as an alternative to state foster care.
Purpose of El Ranchito de los Niños:
El Ranchito de los Niños will be a safe, loving home where children grow in a supportive, family farm setting. Education, personal responsibility and charity to and from others will guide us as we strive to provide an alternative to foster care and adoption. The goals are to give children a stable home in which they may grow to adulthood and to allow sibling groups to remain together. All ages of children, 1 to 18, will be considered for admission to the home. El Ranchito de los Niños will offer family-style living. Each child will assume responsibility for various tasks required to keep the home running smoothly. Each child will be expected to keep his/her room clean and tidy. Additional responsibilities at the home may include animal care, landscaping, gardening, general maintenance, helping with meal preparation, laundry, etc.
The home is designed for 16 children with a boys’ and girls’ wing consisting of four bedrooms in each wing. House parents live in an apartment that is attached to each wing so the house parents are nearby should any child need them. The home includes a large kitchen and dining room where the family gathers for meals. The home also has a guest suite for the children when they come to visit once they have begun their own adult lives. In the center of the home there is a large, but cozy living room where the children watch movies, read and welcome visitors. A playground, barns, corrals, animals of all kinds, gardens, cornfields and an orchard surround the home. The home comes complete with handicapped accessible bedrooms and bathrooms.
Although our house parents are of various faiths, the home is non-denominational. To respect and preserve the individual heritage of our children, El Ranchito de los Niños supports each child in their desire to practice their individual beliefs. In order for our children to grow in faith, we encourage each child to attend religious services on a weekly basis and encourage additional involvement with church youth activities.
What Are El Ranchito's Core Beliefs?
El Ranchito's goal is to have every child who enters our door leave fear and abuse at the front doorsteps. When our children leave, they enter the world as productive and educated adults whose children will never need our services.
We believe these three fundamental teachings are key to providing a healthy childhood for our children:
*There is a God
*Every child is important, is treated with dignity and taught to have self-worth
*Every child receives the best education possible
Education:
El Ranchito de los Niños feels strongly that education is the key to the future success of children, the importance of education will be emphasized to all of the children. El Ranchito de los Niños will work closely with the local private schools to be certain that each child’s educational needs are being met. Tutoring will be provided for those needing special help. After the children graduate from high school, all efforts will be made to insure that they pursue a post-secondary or vocational education, depending on their individual talents and desires.
Spiritual Development:
To respect and preserve the particular heritage of the children, El Ranchito de los Ninos will strive to encourage the children to practice their individual beliefs. In order for the children to grow in faith, each child will be expected to attend religious services on a weekly basis. They will be encouraged to become involved in church youth activities.
Personal Growth:
El Ranchito de los Niños will offer many activities for the children, including 4-H, horseback riding, team and individual sporting activities, computing, crafts, baking, etc. They will be encouraged to participate in school activities such as band, sports and drama.
Discipline:
The goal of El Ranchito de los Niños is to help the child develop self-discipline. In order for a child to become self-disciplined the following significant seven are essential: having perceptions of being capable of being significant, and of having control and having intrapersonal, interpersonal, systemic, and decision-making skills. They will be taught these significant seven. We utilize The Nurtured Heart Approach when dealing with children.
Company History
In 2000, El Ranchito was built by long-time Valencia residents Mike and Kathy Mechenbier, a successful grass-roots ranching and farming family. Through their active philanthropic efforts in the community, they recognized a need for more long-term homes for children whose parents could not care for them. They saw a growing, heart-breaking population of children being placed in foster homes and institutions where they were separated from their siblings. Mike and Kathy founded El Ranchito de los Niños to prevent this tragedy from happening to so many children. The children of El Ranchito are raised as a family in a rural farm setting, taught responsibility and educated as a means of building a foundation and breaking the cycle.
What Makes El Ranchito Unique:
We accept children of all ages (0-18 years).
We accept sibling groups.
We are a long-term placement (many children stay 10 years+).
Placements can be voluntary, private or court referred.
We provide transition services such as job training, workforce introduction or college once a child has turned 18.
We have an apartment available for children over 18 for sibling visits, holiday breaks, etc.
El Ranchito is located in Los Lunas, New Mexico just south of Albuquerque. The 7,200 sq ft ranch home is nestled among 23 acres of rural farmland and home to several animals that are integrated into our program. The kitchen, living areas and house offices are centrally located in the home. Separate boys' and girls' wings are located on opposite ends of the main living space. The home also includes a two-bedroom apartment in each wing, as well as an additional apartment available for former child residents to stay during sibling visits, college breaks, etc.
Notable Accomplishments / Recognition
El Ranchito de los Niños is Making a Difference in the Life of a Child! The children who live at El Ranchito de los Niños come to us because they had to be separated from their families. The separation can be a result of physical and sexual child abuse, parents who are on drugs, are in jail, or sometimes the child has no parents and no place to go. El Ranchito de los Niños provides these kids a loving, safe home, and placement can be either permanent or long-term. El Ranchito is an alternative to the foster care system where so often kids are not only taken away from their parents but are separated from their brothers and sisters.
Benefits
Paid Sick Leave
Paid Time Off
Housing: Room, board and utilities
Annual Salary of $40,000
5 days on, 2 days off each week