The Oklahoma Department of Human Services has been found to be providing its “best overall performance to date,” but national experts charting its progress warn that the situation for foster children in need of therapeutic care will continue to worsen without new efforts by the state.
“Since the outset of this reform, DHS has seen a 77 percent decline in specialized foster homes for children in DHS’ custody who need therapeutic care, and without urgent, aggressive action, the situation will worsen,” an oversight panel comprising three national experts, called “co-neutrals,” stated in a new report released Friday.
The experts chart the Department of Human Services’ progress every six months on 31 performance measures of the state child-welfare system. For the first time, DHS was found to have made “good faith efforts” in 29 of the 31 measures.
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The assessments are part of the Pinnacle Plan, the name for the settlement agreement of a 2008 federal class-action lawsuit against the Department of Human Services that alleged abuses of state foster children.
“In nearly all areas, DHS is heading in the right direction, owing to strong legislative support and investment in DHS, and implementation of core improvement strategies by DHS leadership and staff in many areas of child welfare practice. The Department must bring this same level of effort to its recruitment and retention of foster homes for children who need therapeutic care in DHS’ custody,” states the new report, which covered the period of July 1 through December 31.
In two areas regarding the number of foster homes for children in DHS’ custody who need therapeutic care, the experts found that DHS “did not make good faith efforts to achieve substantial and sustained progress toward the Target Outcomes” as of Dec. 31.
As part of its settlement agreement, the Department of Human Services is obligated to pass all 31 performance measures or be found to be making good faith efforts toward achieving them consistently for two full years.
DHS issued a press release Friday with praise from Gov. Kevin Stitt and DHS Director Ed Lake, but a lead attorney in the lawsuit that led to the Pinnacle Plan called the praise premature.
In a written statement, Stitt said: “I applaud the continued efforts of DHS staff and partners who are working every day to improve our state’s foster care system as outlined by the Pinnacle Plan. I am pleased with the agency’s progress and believe they are very close to fulfilling those commitments to the children and families they serve.”
Lake, who was appointed by then-Gov. Mary Fallin in November 2012, said: “We are continually encouraged by the steady progress we see every day and are pleased the co-neutrals have recognized our efforts. This achievement is a testament to the hard work of our Child Welfare Services staff, providers, and partner agencies that provide services to the children in our care.”
But Marcia Lowry, a lead attorney in the lawsuit that led to the Pinnacle Plan, called DHS’ track record for serving children with the greatest therapeutic needs “abysmal.”
“The state has consistently failed to do anything about planning and developing new homes for these kids. It affects older kids who are staying in shelters, and it means other kids are moving around a lot and kids are inappropriately placed,” said Lowry, executive director at a national child-welfare advocacy group based in New York City, called A Better Childhood. “This is a very serious problem and one the state has failed to come to grips with.”
Lowry said she last spoke with Oklahoma DHS representatives in December and they assured her they would be meeting about that very topic the following day.
“The number of specialized homes has declined. They said they needed 300 new homes,” she said. “Some kids may be getting better services — the maltreatment in care number is getting better and good faith efforts have been found in other areas. But they have never, from the beginning of the settlement agreement, addressed this issue. It’s a serious problem.”
