Red Dirt Diaries: Ranch Offers Foster Children New Path

Chores on a ranch can teach you a lot about hard work. But it’s what guests are learning about themselves at a ranch in Jennings that has helped them blaze new trails.

Dale Adix is a therapeutic foster parent licensed through Eckerd Connects. He and his family open the doors of their ranch to some of the most troubled kids.

“A lot of them are scared to death. You just got to teach them, to help them get over their fears,” said Adix.

That means teaching the foster kids how to ride and care for the horses on the ranch. Many compete in rodeos, even though many arrive having never ridden a horse.

“It gives them purpose and shows them they can actually do something for themselves,” said Adix, who has trained horses for decades.

“It fills your heart when they do something right,” added Adix.

Between the Jennings ranch and their previous ranch in Kansas, the Adix family has opened their doors to some 300 foster children.

“His grades when from C’s and D’s to A’s and B’s. It has changed his life,” said Sheila, the grandmother of an 11-year-old who stayed on the ranch for nearly a year.

Adix has no plans of slowing down. He said he’ll continue to foster children until the day he dies.

“It makes me feel good,” said Adix.