While Oklahoma tries to strengthen its families, what can you do to help children thrive?
The Oklahoma Department of Human Services recently received the latest co-neutrals commentary for our agency’s work on the Pinnacle Plan, a foster care reform plan the agency implemented over a decade ago. Twice a year, the co-neutrals ― three out-of-state child welfare experts — write reports examining our improvement efforts covering a range of topics that are important to child and family well-being when interacting with the child welfare system.
DHS was dismissed from all measures that were not impacted by COVID in 2023 — ensuring kids are kept safe from further abuse and neglect when they’re in our custody, reducing our need and usage for children’s shelters, getting kids to a permanent placement faster and making sure our staff have manageable workloads and are able to visit kids more frequently. That dismissal signals that others recognize our system improvements are better supporting the children and families we serve. There are seven remaining performance measures which focus on Therapeutic Foster Care (TFC) and timely permanency for children after removal from their biological homes. For this commentary, the co-neutrals again found we are making good faith efforts. We celebrate this finding and are so proud of the work our staff have done to get here.
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We are unrelenting in our determination to keep bringing more hope and resources to our families and in continuing to build partnerships in the community to strengthen them. Our ultimate goal is to offer stronger support systems earlier in families’ lives so they never have to interact with Child Welfare in the first place — a goal that’s going to take all of us pouring hope into our neighbors and finding ways to roll up our sleeves and work together.
Our Legislature and governor, along with a dedicated network of community partners, providers, advocacy groups and foster families have demonstrated their commitment to serve our state’s children and families. The community has also continued to come forward in 65 counties across the state to support our partnership with the 111 Project’s CarePortal to bring tangible support for families interacting with the child welfare system.
CarePortal is an easy example to demonstrate how a healthy dose of preventative work and community support can totally change a family’s trajectory to point them toward hope and away from court and child welfare interventions. Maybe it’s a mom fleeing an abusive partner who gets access to safe shelter and resources from community agencies, and additional beds or car seats from a local church so she can keep her kids safe. Or a single dad who’s working to keep his kids safe at home but needs a bus pass to get to and from work, family time visits and voluntary services that will strengthen his parenting skills. When we all come to the table to work together, we can overcome big obstacles for our families and equip them with additional tools that set them up for success today and long into the future. We can also positively interrupt cycles families have been facing for generations and give them pathways to a more hopeful future.
We cannot do this work alone, so we continue to ask for your help in the foster care system. Every single day, children come into our custody through no fault of their own, maybe because we weren’t successful in serving their families in a preventative way. Our kids need families and communities to say, “Yes. I see you. I’m here for you.” You don’t have to be a foster parent to help, though we hope you’ll consider that. There are tons of ways to get involved and we hope you’ll consider a few of them. To learn more, go to https://okfosters.org/raise-awareness/.
Our system has come such a long way in the past 12 years, and we can go even farther when we’re working together to solve big problems in our community. My staff and I are here for the hard work, and we’re cheering our families on while building systems that serve them well. I hope you’ll find a place to get involved. A better Oklahoma is just ahead of us.
Deborah Shropshire is the director of the Oklahoma Department of Human Services.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma families can get assistance from DHS, but they also need you
