Norman, May 9th
DHS forced Clarence W. Cooper II to sign away his parental rights to his children in 2007. Today, he gets to hang out with his 17-year old son.
VIDEO:Michael Runyan. Runs 2:05
In 2010 the United States had 408,000 children in its foster care system. Of that number, 254,000 children, or about half, represented new entries (Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services). The total amount of children in foster care has decreased about 115,000 since 2002, while the number of children entering the system increased to a high point in 2005 with 307,000 children and decreased to its low point in 2010 at 254,000 new arrivals.
However, if the number of children in foster care and entering it have decreased, there are still too many of them for the number of foster homes available to the Oklahoma DHS. According to a 2010 article by the U.S.A Today, the state of Oklahoma had around 9,000 children in foster care, but only around 5,000 foster homes ready for use. The number actually in use in 2010 was not included in the article.
According to a 2009 audit of DHS by the Oklahoma House of Representatives, only Nebraska sent a higher percentage of its children to foster or group care. By the numbers, 13 out of every 1000 Oklahoma youths reside in some form of DHS care every day. The nation sends 7 out of every 1000, for contrast. In Oklahoma's last federal Child and Family Services Review, the state did not meet national standards in the six categories based on all children residing in somewhere in DHS's care. The state was in the bottom half of the nation in two of those categories: number of moves in foster care, and efforts to reunify splintered families. Part of this problem lies in family foster turnover. In a five-year study done of foster parents who started in years 2001, 2002, and 2003, these numbers were found. With the first year of getting licensed, 23 percent of new foster homes are no longer available. Within three years, 56 percent of the families are no longer available. The percentage grows to 74 percent within five years.
Jonathan Cooper, who is Clarence's son, knows first hand how unstable foster care can be. "I was physically and verbally abused in a few homes while I was in foster care... I was moved to fifteen different places." Those fifteen homes, he said, were not all differant places. Sometimes he would be shuffled back to a home he had previously left. Out of all those homes he visited, though, there was only one foster house where he felt like part of the family, a place where he would want to live.
Oklahoma Department of Human Services will be implementing parts of the revised Pinnacle Plan (Source: newsOK) by the end of the year. The plan is a reform effort developed as a part of the settlement of a class action lawsuit. Parts of the plan that were moved up to December 31st of this year include halving the time for home studies, decreasing the time spent in the certification process, and no longer putting infant victims in state shelters. The complete reform process will go on until 2017.
However, if the number of children in foster care and entering it have decreased, there are still too many of them for the number of foster homes available to the Oklahoma DHS. According to a 2010 article by the U.S.A Today, the state of Oklahoma had around 9,000 children in foster care, but only around 5,000 foster homes ready for use. The number actually in use in 2010 was not included in the article.
According to a 2009 audit of DHS by the Oklahoma House of Representatives, only Nebraska sent a higher percentage of its children to foster or group care. By the numbers, 13 out of every 1000 Oklahoma youths reside in some form of DHS care every day. The nation sends 7 out of every 1000, for contrast. In Oklahoma's last federal Child and Family Services Review, the state did not meet national standards in the six categories based on all children residing in somewhere in DHS's care. The state was in the bottom half of the nation in two of those categories: number of moves in foster care, and efforts to reunify splintered families. Part of this problem lies in family foster turnover. In a five-year study done of foster parents who started in years 2001, 2002, and 2003, these numbers were found. With the first year of getting licensed, 23 percent of new foster homes are no longer available. Within three years, 56 percent of the families are no longer available. The percentage grows to 74 percent within five years.
Jonathan Cooper, who is Clarence's son, knows first hand how unstable foster care can be. "I was physically and verbally abused in a few homes while I was in foster care... I was moved to fifteen different places." Those fifteen homes, he said, were not all differant places. Sometimes he would be shuffled back to a home he had previously left. Out of all those homes he visited, though, there was only one foster house where he felt like part of the family, a place where he would want to live.
Oklahoma Department of Human Services will be implementing parts of the revised Pinnacle Plan (Source: newsOK) by the end of the year. The plan is a reform effort developed as a part of the settlement of a class action lawsuit. Parts of the plan that were moved up to December 31st of this year include halving the time for home studies, decreasing the time spent in the certification process, and no longer putting infant victims in state shelters. The complete reform process will go on until 2017.
