Serenity Dennard

Nine-year-old Serenity Dennard was last seen on February 3, 2019 in Rapid City, South Dakota.

Background
Serenity was a resident of the Black Hills Children's Home, a treatment center for kids with behavioral and emotional problems. Prior to that, Serenity lived with her adoptive father, Chad Dennard and her stepmother, KaSandra Dennard (who have primary custody of her); Serenity's adoptive mother, Darcie Gentry has secondary custody of her.

During her early childhood, Serenity lived in about a dozen foster homes for two years after she was removed from the custody of her biological parents (who are now in prison) as a toddler. She was adopted by Chad and Darcie in October of 2014; they divorced in early 2015.

According to Chad and KaSandra, Serenity suffered from trauma due to her early childhood experiences which would cause her to have behavioral issues and frequently run away from home. After years of outpatient therapy failed to help Serenity, Chad and KaSandra felt that it wasn't safe for Serenity to stay at home.

They sent Serenity to the Black Hills Children's Home in July of 2019 where she was expected to stay for about 14 months. She saw her parents 4 or 5 times a month during visits & family therapy sessions and was allowed to call them twice a week. Chad and KaSandra believed that Serenity was making good progress and described the staff at the treatment center as caring.

Serenity has been diagnosed with severe reactive attachment disorder, disruptive mood dysregulation disorder and other psychological issues. Because of her conditions, she suffers from behavioral problems, including running away and threatening to self-harm.

Disappearance
Serenity was playing in the gym at the treatment center with three other kids on the morning of February 3, 2019. Two staff members were in charge of watching the kids. One of the kids ran out of the gym, but stayed inside of the building. While one of the staff members went after the kid who ran off, the remaining staff member was left to look after the other kids alone.

Serenity ran out of the gym, but the remaining staff member didn't go after her because it was against the treatment center's rules to leave kids unsupervised. A person who came to the Black Hills Children's Home at 11:00 a.m. last saw Serenity (who wasn't wearing a coat) walking northbound on south Rockerville Road near the cattle guard in front of the home. 

Policy at the Black Hills Children's Home was if a child went missing, the staff should notifiy emergency responders within "a reasonable time." After Serenity disappeared, the staff didn't call for help until 12:26 p.m. (by which time an hour and 41 minutes had passed) and searched the area for Serenity themselves.

The Black Hills Children's Home faced extensive criticism for its handling of Serenity's disappearance. The state Department of Social Services and the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services investigated and found that the treatment center didn't provide the level of supervision that Serenity required, they lacked a sufficient emergency preparedness plan, the staff's initial search for Serenity was "disorganized", and the 101-minute delay in calling 911 did not constitute a "reasonable time."

The state gave the treatment center a Corrective Action Plan, stating that a new policy should be adopted where staff would call 911 immediately after a child disappeared. 

Numerous extensive searches of the area (involving the police, volunteers and search dogs) have turned up no sign of Serenity's whereabouts. The search was reclassified from a rescue to a recovery effort after several days because Serenity couldn't have survived for more than a few nights outside in the extremely cold temperatures.

As of 2024, Serenity remains classified as a missing person, but it is feared by authorities that she is no longer alive.