Foster parents say agency doesn't follow own rules
Foster parents say DHS doesn't follow own rules

About 40 child advocates rallied at the state Capitol on Thursday to demand reforms to Oklahoma's child welfare system.

"Now is the time to act,” said J.T. Shearer, an Oklahoma foster care parent. "I believe the system is broken. It is our responsibility to fix it.”

Speakers said they were encouraged by a federal lawsuit filed last week seeking reforms in the state's foster care system.

A lot of regulations for a good foster care program are in place in Oklahoma — they just aren't followed, Shearer told The Oklahoman.

Oklahoma caseworkers are supposed to visit children in foster care homes at least once a month, and the agency claims to have better than 90 percent compliance with that regulation.

"That's their documentation,” Shearer scoffed. "I wouldn't trust anything in their documentation. I've seen their documentation.”

Shearer said 16 foster children have gone through his home in the past six years, and there are probably no more than two or three of those cases where the monthly visits actually occurred.

"One of my kids went almost three years without being visited by the primary caseworker,” he said.

It is a common practice among many caseworkers to just write down something similar to what was written the month before regarding a "visit” and to add a little information gathered through a telephone call, he said.

Shearer said he and his wife considered not speaking out, because of fear of retaliation, but decided it would probably be OK because "we have a great caseworker now who is very supportive and does everything by the book.”

DHS officials said in a news release last week that "because of high levels of monitoring and self-reporting, OKDHS is able to document whether or not an incident involving child safety may be present.”

Freeman said it's not a problem in McClain County, where she is, but she has heard a lot of complaints from Oklahoma County and other counties where caseworkers have extremely high case loads.

"There is a desperate need for more foster parents,” she said.

It's hard to recruit them because the state only pays $365 to $498 a month, depending on the child's age, and that isn't enough to cover the costs of raising a kid, she said.

Foster parents also often complain about a lack of support from DHS — both in dealing with emergency situations and in dealing with common issues, such as finding eligible doctors and dentists, Freeman said.

The U.S. lost 849 soldiers in Iraq in 2004. That same year, 1,490 children died from abuse or neglect, she said. In 2005, there were 846 soldiers killed in Iraq, while 1,460 children died from abuse or neglect.

Briggs said the numbers are dear to her heart since she has a son who fought in Iraq and her 2-year-old granddaughter, Kelsey, died from abuse.

Kelsey became the poster child for what is wrong with Oklahoma's system when she died from child abuse in 2005.

While under supervision of a judge and DHS, Kelsey continued to suffer broken bones and bruises.

Her mother, Raye Dawn Smith, and stepfather, Michael Lee Porter, are in prison.

Public outrage over the death of Kelsey and other children has prompted several changes to state law. More needs to be done, Briggs said.

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