The Beginning
In the 1930s, during the Great Depression, business owner and former semiprofessional athlete, Cal Farley, became concerned about children who roamed the streets of Amarillo, Texas. Farley told his friends about his vision of giving boys a place to live where they could find a purpose. A rancher donated the Old West ghost town of Tascosa, located 36 miles northwest of Amarillo.
In 1939, Farley took the first nine boys to the location that would become Cal Farley’s Boys Ranch. Since that time, the ranch has helped thousands of children, all at no cost to the children or their families. From that initial land donation until now, all services at Boys Ranch have been funded by donors who believe in the ability of children to change their trajectories.
Services Today
Today, Boys Ranch serves as a healing community dedicated to helping a diverse group of children recover from trauma they have experienced. Their backgrounds might include food insecurity, domestic violence, past substance abuse or neglect.
Boys Ranch provides residential interventions in a family style setting by utilizing a live in houseparent model. We serve at-risk children (both boys and girls) ages 5-18. The average stay for children is two years, with family reunification as a primary goal.
Following more than two years of intensive certification and thousands of personnel hours dedicated to master the core concepts to implement Dr. Bruce Perry’s Neurosequential Model of Therapeutics (NMT™) in our residential setting. Boys Ranch was invited to become a Flagship Site for the ChildTrauma Academy (CTA) in 2012-2021. Now, as a Phase II NMT™ Certified Site, every employee is trained in these core principles, as well as, our Model of Leadership and Service.
Our Model of Leadership and Service addresses the six areas of need for individuals to reach their fullest potential – safety, belonging, achievement, power, purpose, and adventure.
In 1992, Boys Ranch opened its services to girls, which allows the ranch to keep sibling groups together. Children come from across the United States. Boys and girls are divided by age and gender into residential homes with primary and secondary houseparents. Residents attend church services in a nondenominational chapel, as well as go to school through a special-purpose school district on campus. Other services include counseling, medical care and many opportunities to succeed, including the ability to earn certificates that will help the residents gain employment upon graduation.
Other Services
Cal Farley’s Boys Ranch has an extensive alumni support program that helps the men and women who once lived at the ranch when they need assistance, whether they are 18 or 80. From scholarships to housing assistance or counseling, Boys Ranch is committed to the people who have been part of the program.
Boys Ranch owns an apartment building in Amarillo, where former residents can live as they transition into adulthood. A live-in life coach guides them through adult decisions. Homes scattered through Amarillo serve an additional transitional purpose with even more independence. By the time former residents have “graduated” from these two living situations, they are prepared to navigate adulthood successfully. Recently, the ranch has renewed its commitment to family services locally in Amarillo, helping families before the need for a child to be placed at Boys Ranch.
Visit Boys Ranch at https://www.calfarley.org/.
