Boys Ranch Survivors Plan To Protest New Film "Edge Of The World"

Saturday, March 2, the film "Edge of the World" will be shown for one night only in Amarillo. The showing of the film kicks off a celebration of the 80th anniversary of Cal Farley's.

Some, however, are calling this film a propaganda piece and are planning on protesting the film's showing.

According to a press release from the Child-Friendly Faith Project, survivors of alleged abuse at Boys Ranch will be protesting at the screening:

A group of abuse survivors of Cal Farley’s Boys Ranch will protest the 7pm showing of the film “Edge of the World” which features the residential facility. These men say the film is another example of Cal Farley’s Boys Ranch trying to cover up for decades of egregious physical, emotional, and sexual abuse suffered by children in its care.
“We’re offended by this film because it is another fairytale spun by Boys Ranch which refuses to tell the truth about its abusive past,” says survivor Steve Smith who lived at the ranch in the 1960s. “The history of this place is packed with horror stories, yet Boys Ranch has never shown that any abuser has been made accountable.”
“Edge of the World” was produced by Tascosa Films whose President is Boys Ranch CEO Dan Adams.
Other survivors of Boys Ranch—many of whom interact in a 90-member Facebook group—say that, by sponsoring the “propaganda” film, Boys Ranch is failing to take abuse allegations seriously. CEO Dan Adams has personally acknowledged and apologized for past abuses, but no one on the board of directors has commented publicly about them.
Survivors also say the ranch has not done enough to help them; many are destitute and suffer with mental health issues, such as PTSD, depression, and suicidal thoughts as a result of childhood trauma they experienced while at the mercy of Boys Ranch staffers.
The Child-Friendly Faith Project, a child advocacy nonprofit organization based in Austin, Texas, has spoken out on behalf of survivors since 2017. On August 31, 2018, the CFFP hosted the first reunion for Boys Ranch survivors and created a video commemorating the occasion.
CFFP founder Janet Heimlich says Boys Ranch still has not shown that abuse is in the past. “We have been contacted by survivors who lived there from the 1950s all the way up through the 2010s,” she says. “So that begs the question: Is the facility safe for children today? Boys Ranch claims it has very good abuse prevention policies but refuses to show them to us.”
“Like the Catholic Church is demonstrating, Cal Farley’s Boys Ranch—which claims to operate in a ‘Christ-centered atmosphere’—needs to be honest about the past and not spread more false marketing. It has vast resources, some of which should be spent on helping survivors,” says Heimlich. “Too many people are suffering.”