Women Who Inspire: Sarah Curry – Sharing the Story of Cookson Hills Children’s Home

Nestled in the hills of Northeastern Oklahoma is a refuge for kids who are in dire need of God’s love and direction. It is a place for hope and encouragement. Cookson Hills Children’s Home provides an atmosphere that will encourage love and hope. One of the storytellers at Cookson Hills gave Christian Women Living magazine an insight as to what Cookson Hills has to offer kids in need of hope, stability, and encouragement. Sarah Curry allowed me to conduct an interview in order to bring awareness to what God is doing at Cookson Hills.

Cyndi Kay: If you would, can you give us basic background on yourself?
Sarah Curry: My name is Sarah Curry and I am the Storytelling Group Manager here at Cookson Hills. My husband, Josh and I have been best friends and partners in ministry for 10 years. We have two kind, loving, brave, and hilarious children 🙂 I grew up in the small town of Jamestown, Ohio, but came to Cookson Hills from Portsmouth, Virginia. When I’m not in the office, you can bet I’m either spending time with my awesome family, channeling creativity through art and design, playing volleyball, or planning our next family adventure.

CK: Can you give us some history about Cookson Hills? How did it start?
SC: Cookson Hills was founded in 1957 on love of God and love for humanity, especially children who were hurting, abandoned, or abused. Noticing a great need for this type of care in rural, Northeast Oklahoma, Howard and Joyce Dillon purchased 400 acres of heavily wooded land, which now accounts for half of the property of Cookson Hills. The Dillons visited with friends Arnold & Eva Kernan and learned that they had a shared dream, to open a home for children to come and be surrounded by the love of a family, receive a good education, and learn the skills they needed to succeed in life. While our programming and buildings have certainly changed in the past 63 years, our mission has remained the same; to provide home, school, and therapy for kids who are at-risk.

Since that time, Cookson Hills has provided a nurturing home, quality Christian education, and therapy services in a safe and trauma-informed environment. Located in the rural Cookson Hills region of Northeast Oklahoma, we serve kids ages 5-17 who want to write a better story for their lives. We offer a no-cost solution for kids who have faced challenges with family life, school truancy, homelessness, poor peer relationships, or experienced abuse and neglect. Our staff of 48 and many volunteers come together to fulfill our vision – to raise up healthy individuals who are empowered to positively impact future generations.

All kids come to Cookson Hills to live within a family. They enroll in school, they play sports, they make friends, they help set the table, they laugh, they ride horses, they heal, and (we hope) they leave better than they came.

CK: What are the qualifications for families to have their child seek assistance that is provided at Cookson Hills?
SC: Cookson Hills accepts kids who have at least one of the following criteria:
• Lack a safe and stable home environment
• Are living in single parent, adoption, grandparent, or other family member household
• Have experienced abuse, neglect, or other traumatic experiences
• Have low income or live in impoverished circumstances
• Are beginning to make unhealthy choices in behavior or with poor peer groups
• Struggle with school due to home, school, or community issues

CK: Does the staff stay on property as well?
SC: About 90% of our staff live on campus. This of course includes our houseparents, but also includes many of our directors, social workers, maintenance crew, and teachers!

CK: How long have you been with Cookson Hills?
SC: I have been serving at Cookson Hills for 4 years.

CK: Do you see the impact that God has on the children that are at Cookson Hills? Do you see the impact on the houseparents?
SC: Do we ever! That’s one of the things that drew me towards serving the Kingdom of God here at Cookson Hills. We like to call our work, “a long work”. Sometimes, we get the blessing of seeing the fruit of our service while the kid is still living here. They might turn their grades around, begin thinking with a clear and sound mind, accept Jesus as their Savior, and leave us empowered and ready to positively impact future generations! But sometimes, kids leave with only the seed of God planted in their hearts. But even then, we will have former kids find us after they’ve been gone for 10 years to share all of the ways God used their season here at Cookson Hills to lay a foundation that has shaped their life today. We’ve heard stories of how foundations were laid that help them now in parenting, healthy relationships, healing from trauma, and knowing that we serve a God much bigger than this world!

CK: What are the biggest challenges facing our youth today?
SC: Well this is a pretty big question. Our youth today face much of the same challenges as generations before them when it comes to things such as abuse, neglect, broken families, low self-esteem, and peer pressure. But what makes it different for kids today is that, thanks to our digital world, those challenges follow them.

I often joke with my husband and say, “I’m glad social media wasn’t a thing when I was a kid.” It would be so embarrassing to see my awkward middle school self, being overly confident as I recorded a Tik-Tok for all of the world to see! I am so thankful that those embarrassing moments are stored only in memory banks of my best friends!

But the youth of today don’t have that opportunity.
They gave into peer pressure one time, well someone in their circle of friends recorded it because they thought it was funny and now the whole world knows. The “anonymous” users on social media virtually follow you home to make sure that you remember that all of the things you hate about yourself are all you can think about. Your ‘family secret’ is leaked and it’s not just your town that’s making speculations about your family, it is out there for anyone to know.

And in the mind of a kid, they believe that everyone knows and that nobody else has gone through this before. So, they are followed, silenced, and scarred by their shame.

CK: What are the rules of family visitation while the child is residing at Cookson Hills?
SC: For the first 30 days of placement, there is no contact between the child and the family of origin. This is tough, but it helps the child to adjust to their new environment. Families that wish to visit their child at Cookson Hills are given opportunities during school break weeks and are invited to join our community during on-campus activities such as sporting events, fall festival, meet the teacher, and open house. All visits must be arranged with the child’s Cookson Hills social worker.

CK: Does Cookson Hills stay in contact with the kids when they leave?
SC: As an organization, we let the kids take the first step at reconnecting. However, the vast majority of our kids build strong relationships with the adults at Cookson Hills during their time here. Maybe it’s their houseparents, teacher, coach, or Bible Study leader; the kids (and adults) look forward to keeping in touch after their time here at Cookson Hills ends. We want our former kids to know that if they ever need someone, we will be there for them.

CK: Is there a time when God was evident in any of the situations/life of a child?
SC: Any and every breakthrough we have with a child, we give credit to the Lord. He is the one who orchestrates such moments of life change. God is constantly at work on this campus. Sometimes, it’s in the really small moments that you could entirely overlook, like a kid really needs a specific item and it just happens to be donated the next day. Sometimes, it’s a little more noticeable, like when our once tough-as-nails, Bri, wept because the Lord had developed such a heart of compassion and care within her.

CK: What would you tell a parent who is fearful for the future of their child?
SC: You’re not alone. Recently, the mother of one of our former kids shared her perspective on sending her son to Cookson Hills. She recalls the destructive path her son began walking down after her husband abandoned the family during an affair. She was terrified that she would lose her boy forever. But after 3 years at Cookson Hills, here is what she’d like to say to you:
“Leaving my son at Cookson Hills was the hardest thing I have ever done in my life. If you are going through something similar, know that while it is heart-wrenching, God can do far more than we can comprehend. Trust that we all need help to fix the brokenness this world causes. While the outcome of each student is not guaranteed, Cookson Hills will exhaust every option to give them the best opportunity possible. My gratitude and thankfulness for Cookson Hills and the staff can never be fully expressed.”

CK: Has there been any changes through the Covid-19 pandemic?
SC: In the best interest of the children placed in our care and our staff, we had to make some big (temporary) program adjustments.

For school, our kids began doing work at home. Our teachers created learning boxes, packets, and even held Zoom tutoring meetings to continue meeting the educational needs of each kid.
Our kids already need therapy to help them process life’s hurts, but then throw in a lot of sudden changes plus the unease of a global pandemic; our kids needed their counselors more than ever! Thanks to teletherapy, our kids have been able to continue receiving therapeutic services with the same counselors they’ve already built strong relationships with.

CK: Has the recent riots affected any of the children or staff at Cookson Hills?
SC: The protests following the death of George Floyd have given our nation the opportunity to lean in, listen and learn about the ways those around us have experienced racial injustice. The kids at Cookson Hills come from all walks of life, which means we have quite the diverse little rural community. Therefore, we are using this as an opportunity to learn: To learn about how we can become more culturally sensitive and how we can do our best at helping each of our kids and staff live out Jesus’ second greatest commandment, “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

On behalf of Christian Women Living Magazine, I would like to thank Sarah for the chance to learn more about Cookson Hills and the amazing way that God has created a place for kids who need that place for reassurance and encouragement.