We are Kathey and Rob Raskin of Las Vegas, and we believe the care of our country’s children is the #1 priority. Clear progress within the Oklahoma Department of Human Services Child Welfare Division has been made, but it’s not the lasting effect the system and culture needs.

Recently, the monitors of the Pinnacle Plan released a bi-annual report of the agency’s reform endeavors, which launched in 2012. These efforts were begun following a settlement in a federal class-action lawsuit which alleged foster care abuses.

The three-person panel traces 31 foster care system areas including shelter use, foster home recruitment, child placements, and maltreatment. The report indicates that the DHS made good-faith efforts to reach or sustain goals in 24 of those areas. It withheld judgment in seven others which fall into the categories of shelter use, therapeutic foster care, and placement stability. The DHS has met the goal in seven areas and reached continued, positive trending position in 14.

The report is mostly positive while cautioning how the ongoing state budget crisis would set back improvements and hinder future reforms.

Oklahoma faces a budget hole of $215 million in the present fiscal year. The DHS, Oklahoma Health Care Authority, and the Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services are all straining under this weigh, and this follows several revenue failures which triggered previous cuts.

The report states, “The advancements made to date are fragile, […], particularly with respect to manageable caseloads and an adequate array of placements… Budget pressures loom large […], and threaten the […] progress of the […] reform effort at a critical time. DHS […] efforts to maximize available resources will continue to be […] important to ensure […] gains […] are not lost.”

The panel recommends the continuance of funding the core approaches in the DHS to help “the state’s most vulnerable children,” including supports to foster homes and efforts to maintain controllable caseloads.

“A material reversal […] is likely to compromise the still tenuous foundation [the] DHS has sought to build this reform, and undermine […] years of public investment,” according to the report.

Of great concern was a fall in therapeutic foster homes, which care for kids with special needs. Since the start of the reform work, monitors have noted the difficulties in meeting goals in this area. However, the agency had developed new approaches in December of 2016 concerning directed recruitment via partner organizations, lessening of maltreatment in care, and improvements in personalized services for children.

In regard to the need of therapeutic homes, the report states, “Given the [ongoing] struggle to recruit or achieve net gains in new homes, DHS must […] assess not only the recruitment capacity of the agencies but also additional approaches to ensure […] children in need of family-based behavioral and mental health services receive quality therapeutic services.”

Unfortunately, all the work they’ve done could fall to the wayside if the department is hit with another round of cuts. The state needs to invest in children, not reduce the funding of these already overburdened facilities.

When you see an issue with foster care, report it on the Kathey and Rob Raskin Stop DHR webpage. Then, do your part to get your state officials to give our children a fighting chance. Contact your state representatives here.