Toolsview all


Oklahoma kids in DHS care face dangers, report finds

 
BY RANDY ELLIS | Published: November 12, 2009    Comment on this article Leave a comment

TULSA — Treatment of children in Oklahoma’s child welfare system has been "incomprehensible, unimaginable, outrageous and immoral,” a child welfare expert stated Wednesday in a report filed in Tulsa federal court.

Multimedia

Child welfare consultant Peg McCartt Hess wrote that she reviewed the case files of five children in custody of the Oklahoma Department of Human Services and was extremely alarmed by the "neglect, physical abuse and sexual abuse” the children experienced while in state care.

One foster care child was routinely "hit with tree switches” by his foster parents, Hess reported. She quoted one of the foster parents as stating, "If you don’t beat them down they will run all over you.”

Hess described other children in state care who had been scalded in bath water, beaten with a belt or sexually molested.

One 5-year-old boy was so emotionally distraught after being bounced around various DHS placements that he repeatedly threatened to harm himself by jumping out of a van or window "to go to heaven,” Hess wrote.

Page 1 of 2

Toolsview all



Related Topics: Culture and Lifestyle, Crime, Welfare Policy, Domestic Policy, Social Policy, Political Policy, Politics, Child Abuse, Family, Foster Care, Crime and Law



Leave a Comment

Thank you for joining our conversation on NewsOK.com. We encourage your discussion but ask that you stay within the bounds of our commenting and posting policy. Please help by flagging comments that violate these guidelines. Posts that contain obscene or vulgar language will be immediately flagged and not posted.

If you prefer your thoughts to appear in The Oklahoman, we encourage you to submit a letter to the editor.

Would you like to leave a comment?

Log in or sign up (it's free).

comments powered by Disqus

Ads by Yahoo!

53-Year-Old Mom Looks 27
Follow this 1 weird tip and remove 20 years of wrinkles in 21 days.
SmartConsumerMagazine.com
53yr Old Mom, Looks 25
53yr Old Mom publishes 1 simple wrinkle trick that has angered doctors.
www.ConsumerLifestyleMag.com

News Photo Galleriesview all