Cookson Hills

Contact Information

60416 Hwy 10 Kansas OK 74347

918-597-2192

Organization Information

Mission: Cookson Hills exists to provide a home, a school, and therapy for children who are at-risk.

About: In 1956, 2 couples discovered that they shared a dream to establish a home and school for children who are at-risk. A year later, Cookson Hills was founded. The mission of Cookson Hills Christian Ministries is to provide a home, a school and therapy for children who are at-risk. 

Since 1957, our services have grown substantially. What began with a single home and a staff of four, is now a beautiful estate with nine homes, a staff of 65, an ACSI accredited private Christian School, recreation center, grocery store, and horse stables. We are located on 1000 acres in NE Oklahoma, about 20 miles west of Siloam Springs, AR. We are the largest private residential-childcare facility in Oklahoma. Every year, we serve an average of 85 children between the ages of 5 and 17. The children in care will either be served through a family surrogacy track or family reunification track. All of our children have one thing in common before coming to Cookson Hills: something in their life was preventing them from living successfully. For many of our children this meant skipping school, family conflict, adoption dissolution, poor behavior or peer choices, drug or alcohol usage, abuse or neglect, homelessness, or mental health diagnoses.

Services provided: Life at Cookson Hills is designed to help kids take responsibility for themselves both now and in the long-run. Therefore, we take into account every part of a kid’s world while they are with us. We develop a personalized Plan of Care for each child, which considers their physical, spiritual, educational, and emotional needs.

Our homes provide a family to all kids who come to Cookson Hills. The kids move into a home with married houseparents and nine siblings. These homes and families are a safe place for the kids to grow, learn, and receive love from their houseparents that they may have never felt before. At our school, students are understood by teachers and faculty beyond what the grades on their report card say. This holistic approach to learning gives students a fresh start. Therapy provides individual and family counseling, giving children and their custodial families the opportunity to grow and heal. In 2016, we provided 1,282 individual counseling sessions. In addition, custodial families are invited to attend monthly parenting classes to help prepare families for successful reunification when the child is ready to return home.

Volunteer opportunities:You don't have to drive far to experience first-hand the Kingdom work that is happening here at Cookson Hills. Ways you can engage with the work of Cookson Hills is to arrange a mission trip or volunteer opportunity, host a drive collecting items from our Needs List, support our us on Facebook or Instagram, or get to know us more by attending Hilltop, June 3rd. To learn more about these opportunities, visit Cooksonhills.org.