ABOUT AGAPE RANCH
WHAT DOES THE LORD REQUIRE OF YOU? TO ACT JUSTLY AND TO LOVE MERCY AND TO WALK HUMBLY WITH YOUR GOD. -MICAH 6:8
Vision Statement
Every child will experience unconditional love and understand his or her value.
Mission Statement
Many children in foster care feel unlovable because of the abuse they’ve suffered all their lives. Agape Ranch breaks that cycle by providing compassionate care, connections within the community, and now by creating a neighborhood to give them a place to call home with families that provide unconditional love.
TIM & SUSAN KLAUS
Tim and Susan's hearts for at-risk children and adoption began even before they were married. They served in the slums of Thailand in partnership with Compassion International and working with at-risk children in poverty or at risk of being sold into the sex trafficking industry. In the midst of their service to the children in these areas they realized their hearts for God's children and for each other.
They married in 2003 and have five children, three adopted children (one through international adoption and two through foster-to-adopt State adoption), two biological children, and two Doberman rescues. Over a period of several years, they've fostered ten children. They've also worked with orphan care ministries and at-risk children in Thailand, Haiti, Mexico, Ecuador, Colorado, and Texas.
Susan is the Founder and Executive Director of Agape Ranch. She serves as a Section Community Leader at New Life Church. Her background is in Educational Studies, which includes child psychology and methods in which children best learn and develop. She grew up with her parents and one younger sister.
Tim is a tenured Professor of Management Information Systems at Texas A&M University-CC and a board member and volunteer of Agape Ranch. His background is in business management and finance. He was born and raised in Japan as his parents were missionaries. He came to the United States for college and eventually completed multiple undergraduate and graduate degrees. He grew up with his parents, three brothers, and five sisters.
Conceived and founded by Susan Klaus, and grounded in her experience in -- and passionate commitment to -- working with at-risk children, Agape Ranch is a forward-thinking and compassionate community-based solution to the foster care crisis facing America today. As an example of what we are confronting as a nation, by the time many foster children age out of the system, they have lived in an average of 12 foster homes. Children as young as 4-years-old may have had up to five foster parents, as it was the case for one of Susan's sons. All too often, troubled or challenging children get passed on from one family to another, without ever being properly diagnosed and assisted with a medically-sensitive, individual treatment plan.
Exacerbating already psychologically tenuous situations, when children are removed from their family, they are often separated from their siblings and sometimes shipped to different regions of the state. Children and youth in these settings are unable to spend time with their siblings and are thereby denied what can only be described as a natural human right. We will make a concerted effort to keep siblings together, if not in one home, then within close proximity on our Agape Ranch property.
An even more dire situation exists in the foster care system. America also currently faces a shortage of housing for youth aging out of the foster system, and over 90% of these youth who age out will either end up homeless, be trafficked, turn to prostitution, become incarcerated, or die within three years. Agape Ranch will feature multiple homes that will focus on housing and mentoring young adults in order to successfully launch them into adulthood. We pledge a long-term commitment to the children in the foster community to lower that shocking 90% average. It’s a statistic that’s simply unacceptable.
The results Agape Ranch will provide may come slowly at first, but will be generationally transformative. Agape Ranch’s firm commitment is that every foster child and young person receives the help that they need and deserve. The high-quality care Agape Ranch delivers will result in life long benefits. We can’t and won’t give up on a “troubled” child. In fact, they need us the most. Our success of this result is not necessarily measured by the high number of children we serve. Rather, it will be measured by the quality of care we provide to every child and youth who walks through our doors.
Agape Ranch was created to serve and lift up the most vulnerable children in our communities. We've put together this video for you to learn more about our heart and our mission.
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Enjoy!
