About Big Oak Ranch

Big Oak Ranch is a Christian home for children needing a chance. If you know us, you’ve heard us say that before. Because that’s what we offer—a chance. To find a normal life. To find God’s love. To find that we are all more than our circumstances—we are what we have the strength to become.

Today, there are three parts of Big Oak Ranch. The Boys’ Ranch, located in Gadsden, Alabama, includes nine residential homes and a transitional home for children moving on after high school. The Girls’ Ranch in Springville has eight houses and a transition home. We have gyms, lakes, horses and livestock. We offer our children the chance to discover themselves in family, work, discipline and a loving Christian environment.

More than 100 children live on the two Ranches. Since 1974, we’ve probably seen more than 1800 children come through. We’ve had many successes; stories so compelling that no one who hears them remains unchanged. We’ve had our failures too. Heartbreaking stories that teach us again and again that we can’t solve every problem or repair every broken life.

But we keep trying. Because these children deserve to know they are loved. They deserve the chance to understand the meaning of family. They deserve the chance to find God.

Donate to Big Oak Ranch

Big Oak Ranch is a Christian home for children needing a chance. The children live in as normal a setting as we can possibly create. As many as eight children live in each of the Ranch's comfortable, two-story brick homes with a dedicated, Christian couple serving as mom and dad.

John gives some inside tips about being a better parent.