Experts call state DHS mismanaged agency

Experts call state DHS mismanaged agency | Tulsa World

Using evidence shared in a federal class action lawsuit over the state’s foster care system, two experts commissioned by New York-based Children’s Rights condemned the Oklahoma Department of Human Services as a mismanaged agency.
The experts released reports Monday through Children's Rights.

Children’s Rights filed a lawsuit in February 2008 against DHS seeking wide-ranging reforms in its foster care system. A trial is expected to begin as early as October.

The reports released Monday state abused and neglected children taken into custody by DHS are further harmed by holes in communication and the agency's flawed computer tracking system.

The study claims the problems have led to high rates of maltreatment while in care, inadequate and untimely investigations, extreme placement instability, unsafe and inappropriate placements, poor efforts to maintain relationships with biological families, inconsistent visitation by caseworkers and denial of access to essential services.

“Given the overwhelming evidence that continues to mount, there can be little question that the well-documented and pervasive mismanagement of Oklahoma’s foster care system is directly tied to the harm that children in its custody suffer,” stated Marcia Robinson Lowry, executive director of Children’s Rights, in a press release.

The Department of Human Services could not immediately be reached for comment.


By GINNIE GRAHAM World Staff Writer

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