18 Feb 2009 / Posted by cr

As the hearing approaches that will determine whether Children’s Rights’ lawsuit to reform Oklahoma’s failing child welfare agency can proceed as a class action on behalf of all of the children dependent on the agency for protection and care — more than 10,000 kids in all — the association that represents Oklahoma’s child welfare workers has come out in strong support of our efforts.

Last Wednesday, the Oklahoma Public Employees Association filed an amicus curiae (or “friend of the court”) brief expressing its belief that enabling the lawsuit to proceed as a class action is “essential.”

The brief (PDF) describes employees of Oklahoma’s child welfare agency as having worked “for years under the burdens of a crushingly excessive caseload, staff shortages, inadequate pre-service and in-service training and supervision, the inability to adequately supervise and monitor children in foster care placements and a consequent inability to protect foster children from harm.”

It says the problems plague the Oklahoma Department of Human Services throughout, and it describes the terrible result for too many of Oklahoma’s children: “physical and emotional abuse, extended placement in overcrowded shelters, excessive multiple foster care placements, a lack of adequate permanency efforts, inadequate medical and psychological care, and death.”

“We need this lawsuit and the kids need to win it,” says one DHS employee quoted in the brief. “We know what to do and we’ve told [DHS] administration what it needs to do — administration just won’t do it.”

Although this is one of the more prominent displays of Oklahomans’ support for the ongoing reform campaign, it is far from the only one. Last Friday, Children’s Rights and our distinguished local co-counsel team submitted a statement of remedies sought in the case (PDF) — itself the result of months of interviews with dozens of people involved in every aspect of Oklahoma child welfare.

Like the members of the OPEA, these people work on the front lines every day — and have seen firsthand the problems that have made Oklahoma’s child welfare system one of the most dangerous in the country. Although we will need to investigate further to be able to propose detailed solutions to those problems, their input has enabled us to trace the broad outlines of a reform plan that, if implemented, will result in significantly better results for Oklahoma’s children and families.

The ongoing developments in Oklahoma have been covered extensively in the local media. A round-up of recent coverage — including a supportive editorial by The Oklahoman and an op-ed by the executive director of the Oklahoma Public Employees Association — follows.

Meanwhile, we continue to gear up for the hearing — and we’ll be posting here as soon as we know the result.

LATE UPDATE 2/18: We’ve just received word that the hearing has been postponed to March 30. We’ll post further details as the new date approaches.

Recent Oklahoma Press Coverage

Move by Employees’ Union Could Be Boost for Lawsuit (The Oklahoman, Feb. 16)

Group Suing DHS Responds to Judge’s Request (KJRH-TV Tulsa, Feb. 16)

Children’s Rights Group Suing DHS Proposes Fixes (The Oklahoman, Feb. 14)

It’s Time to Quit Passing the Buck on Child Welfare (The Oklahoman, Feb. 7)