A new report is highly critical of the Oklahoma Department of Human Services. It says the D-H-S is not living up to the agreements made in a court settlement of a foster care lawsuit.
The report is by the court mandated watch dog group called the “co-neutrals”. Tulsa Attorney Fred Dorwart brought the original lawsuit. He says the report points-out lots of problem areas. Among those areas are:
· Very high caseloads. The report noted “DHS’ caseload-carrying workforce is churning, beset by high turnover and high caseloads. . . Only 27.8 percent of caseworkers had caseloads that complied with the standards set forth in the Pinnacle Plan…”
· The state’s failure to develop an adequate supply of foster homes for children. Although the co-neutrals had set benchmarks for the state’s performance, as they were required to do under the settlement agreement, DHS only reached 64 percent of that benchmark and approved fewer foster homes than the previous year, although the report also found that the need for additional foster homes remains very high.
· Long delays in the state’s response to reports of abuse and neglect. The report noted that the statewide hotline for receiving reports of abuse and neglect is significantly under-staffed, with 33 out of 72 positions unfilled, resulting in increasing delays in conducting investigations and unacceptably long delays, sometimes up to two hours, in even answering phone calls from those seeking to report allegations of abuse or neglect.
· Overuse of shelters for children age 6 and older. Although the state made a commitment to reduce shelter placements generally, the number of children between 6 and 12, and youth over 13, has increased by 11 percent and 21 percent, respectively.
· Permanence for children has declined.
“The Co-Neutrals are authorized to require DHS undertake and maintain diagnostic and remedial activities for any performance area if the Department fails to achieve positive trending or begins to trend negatively,” said Fred Dorwart, counsel for the plaintiffs in the action which successfully obtained the court-approved settlement. “The facts provided in this report cry out for the Co-Neutrals to exercise that authority and for the federal court to enforce their orders if the Department continues to fail.”