History
In 1985 while a student at Samford University, Scott Hilton served as a volunteer mentor at a juvenile detention center. It was there that he met Bruce, a 15-year-old son of a prostitute/drug dealer, who was facing a long-term detention sentence. After several months mentoring Bruce, Hilton says that God began to give him an unshakeable burden for Bruce and others. “I asked myself where I would be if I had been raised in the type environment Bruce came from,” Hilton said, “and I realized it was only by the grace of God that I was not.” It was then that the vision for Eagle Rock was born. Hilton went on to finish college and enter a prosperous career as a counselor but this burden for the “Bruce’s” of the world would not go away. Finally in a step of faith in 1993, he incorporated a non-profit organization known as Etowah Youth Services Inc. With $10,000.00 in savings, Scott and his newly wed wife, Diana, acquired an abandoned recreation center in Ridgeville, Alabama. For several months they worked, with the aid of volunteers, to revitalize the center and convert it into living space. Finally, on March 17, 1994 the first child, a 13-year-old named John came into their care. Soon there were five more boys and one houseparent. In 1997 Etowah Youth Services purchased a 24-acre farm with one house on Burgess Road near Attalla, Alabama. With the help of a growing number of supporters and with generous gifts from Alabama Power and the Gadsden Kiwanis Club, the ministry paid $91,500.00 cash for the property. It was named Eagle Rock Boys Ranch after a board member suggested we were teaching boys to soar as eagles with God as their rock (foundation). The Hilton’s served as live-in house parents until May 1, 1999 when the first houseparent couple was hired. In November 2001, due to a high turnover rate with house parents, the decision was made to hire a group of individuals to work rotating shifts as house parents. Hilton says, “This was one of the most difficult moves I have ever made because we lost much of the family atmosphere we had tried to maintain but it was our only choice.” Currently Eagle Rock is staffed by an Executive Director, Program Manager, and eight full time houseparents.
The organization was incorporated on October 13, 1992 under the name “Etowah Youth Services”. In July 1993 non-profit status was granted. This continues to be the legal name of the entity but in 1997 the name “Eagle Rock Boys Ranch” was officially adopted as the operating name. Licensure to operate a residential childcare facility was first granted in March 1997 by the Alabama Department of Youth Services. ERBR continues to operate as a private non-profit corporation providing residential child-care and treatment for youth. Prior to October 2004 the program was licensed by the Department of Youth Services. At that time the Department of Human Resources took over licensure responsibility and licensed Eagle Rock as a Residential treatment program.
Etowah Youth Services was initially housed in an abandoned recreation center in Ridgeville, Alabama just outside of Attalla. The block building was in deplorable condition but through the work of volunteers and community service convicts it was restored to minimum licensing standards. A lease was acquired for 30 months at $200.00 per month. Conditions during those 30 months were difficult. In March 1997, the 24 acre farm on Burgess Road was purchased for $90,000.00. It included an old farm house, a garage, an old shed and a small barn. In 1998 the garage was converted into an apartment. In 1998-1999 a 900 square foot addition was added to the house and the older portion was completely remodeled. In 2000, a new driveway was built, the barn was recovered, an office building was started and the two-year construction of a Director’s house was completed. In 2001 the office was finished and a fence was placed across the front of the property. In 2002 more parking spaces were added and two portable classrooms were bought. No major building projects occurred in 2003 or 2004 but a number of maintenance related projects were undertaken. In October 2004 one of the portable classrooms became a class-room and renovation of the apartment began. There has been a continual battle to replace and repair septic tanks and field lines since 1998. In January, 2006 the board decided to relocate in order to expand.
The ministry was started with $10,000.00 initially given by Scott Hilton. During the first three years it operated on contributions, foster care payments, and income generated from Scott’s counseling practice and paid to the organization. The first few years’ operating budget was $50,000.00 per year. In 1997 the Department of Youth Services advised ERBR to begin charging a daily fee for services. At this time an informal contract with The Department of Human Resources was established and the Department began paying $60.00 to $80.00 per day for children they placed in the care of ERBR. At this time the Board agreed that dependence upon this money would not be wise. In March 2001 ERBR was asked to enter a formal contract with DHR to provide care for nine boys at a rate of $83.25 per day per child. Following this contract, but unrelated to the contract, the state licensing and oversight authorities began making blanket changes across the state in the way licensing was handled. Numerous restrictions and regulations were put in place on all residential treatment facilities. These regulations caused the cost of operating to “skyrocket”. It was also at this time that ERBR began to realize that having live-in House parents were not going to be a long-term realistic method of staffing. Live-in House parents were ”burning out” and leaving at a rapid rate and it became impossible to find couples willing to live in with children who present such behavioral and emotional problems. The problem eventually resulted in the decision being made to hire House parents who would not live-in but would work in shifts. This resulted in even more “skyrocketing” of the expenses. Due to the aforementioned circumstances the program struggled to meet the budget that had reached over $300,000.00 per year by 2002.
The mission and target group for the organization has remained the same from the first day until today. From 1994 to 1997 Etowah Youth Services was home to six boys at a time. When the facility moved in 1997 that number dropped to four briefly due to space limitations. In 1998 the Transitional Living Program (TLP) opened and was in operation but due to lack of staffing and funding it was closed in 2001 and all children were moved to the main house. The number of licensed beds rose gradually until it reached eleven in 2004. In January 2004 a major move was made when the Academic Coordinator, Robert Dobbs began home-schooling four of the boys. Additionally, in August, 2004 the decision was made to send capable students to Coosa Christian School. By this time no students were involved in the public school system. In October, due to a change in licensure requirements the number of licensed beds was reduced to ten. However, ERBR obtained a license to operate four transitional living beds beginning in October 2004. The current total capacity is fourteen. Staffing has been a major challenge from the beginning. For the first year of operation a young college graduate, Scott Dillard, lived at the home with the six boys.
Scott and Dianna Hilton were also in the home regularly but did not spend nights there except on weekends. When Dillard left an attempt was made to hire individuals to work at nights and as much as possible during the evenings. An attempt was also made to hire a house parent couple but due to facilities and pay this was not successful. The Hiltons were the only stable staff for the next two years and finally became fulltime live in House parents in December of 1996. They remained in that capacity as the only staff members until May 1999 when Mark and Donna King were hired as full-time live-in House parents. It was also at this time that a secretary was hired to work ten hours per week. When the Kings left in February 2000 a single lady known affectionately as “Grannie Bee” moved in with the boys. She was with the organization for five months as live in House parent and was the first TLP house parent. In May 2000 Tim and Donna Lisenbee were hired as live-in House parents. They left in May 2001. In October 2000 Jim and Kim Vanvoltenberg became TLP House parents and then moved to the main house in May. They left to become missionaries to Scotland in June of 2001. From June 2001 through December 2001 Scott Hilton lived in the main house with nine boys. It was during this time that an intensive search for House parents took place but no one was found to take the job. It was also during this time that the TLP apartment was closed and all boys were moved into the main house. Realizing that the idea of having full-time live-in House parents was not realistic, Hilton began hiring and training rotating shift House parents in December 2001. In October 2002 the part time secretarial position became a full-time Administrative Assistant position. From December 2001 until mid 2004 the staff consisted of the Administrative Assistant, a part-time Academic Coordinator, a contracted Consumable Goods Manager (hired in March 2001), and four to five rotating shift House parents. In October 2004, under the new contract the staff began growing to its current capacity.
