Peppers Ranch Takes A New Approach To Foster Care

Everyone needs a place where they belong, a place where they fit in and for foster children and foster families, that place is Peppers Ranch.  

The community of 15 homes opened in 1999, on 240 acres in Guthrie, as a means of support for foster care families  

“Foster care homes that are available for families to live on this campus 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and they provide safe, quality, loving homes for children that are in care,” said Malia Smith, director of development for Peppers Ranch.  

Currently housing 92 foster and adopted kids, the ranch not only offers housing for families it also provides support for kids to help them better understand the world they live in.  

“Art therapy, music therapy, dance therapy are just some of the programs offered at the ranch,” said Smith.  

Homes are 1,300 square feet, and there is no cost to families that meet the criteria.  

“We offer a home, where kids are able to look around the community and feel normalized,” said Smith.  

The ranch is not state funded, they rely strictly on donations from the private and business sector.  

“I certainly don't feel that foster care and adoptions are something that we just push off on the State of Oklahoma,” said Dr. Kyle Rickner with Primary Health Partners.  

“It was clear to me the system is very stressed in Oklahoma,” said Rickner.  

Rickner, a foster and adoptive parent, knows how a place like Peppers Ranch can really make a difference in a child’s life.  

“These kids do so much better because they're living in normalcy, they're living in community, they're living in love quite frankly,” said Rickner.  

Primary Health Partners are currently purchasing Christmas presents for the kids at the ranch, and challenge other businesses to support them as well.  

“Being on this campus all of our foster families understand and support one another,” said Smith.  

The ranch just broke ground on four new houses, with lots more land to continue to build more.  

To support or find out more about Peppers Ranch visit their website www.peppersranch.com