Attorneys involved in a civil rights case against Oklahoma’s foster care system say the state should be monitored at least another year.
Marcia Lowry represented children in the 2008 case and acknowledged the work is not easy.
"When you're dealing with children's lives, it shouldn't be easy. It should be hard," Lowry said. "It should be hard work, and the state should be working hard to do it. Oklahoma, in many instances, is not."
Sheree Powell with the Department of Human Services said the attorneys’ call to extend the settlement is premature.
"The decision about whether or not the state will be subject to further monitoring is up to the neutral monitors who are monitoring our progress, and they haven't made a determination yet," Powell said.
The monitors, referred to as “co-neutrals,” said DHS has failed to make good-faith efforts in four areas — decreasing the rate foster children are abused or neglected, developing therapeutic foster homes, housing fewer older children in shelters and permanently placing kids — but it has made progress in lightening social workers’ case loads and getting more foster homes.
The co-neutrals' latest report on Oklahoma’s progress in a five-year settlement to fix the state’s foster care system says kids in state custody are still being abused and neglected. The three court-appointed child welfare experts said 230 kids experienced maltreatment in the last year, 177 more than the state’s goal under the so-called Pinnacle Plan.
"What is the state doing? What are the citizens of Oklahoma doing with their tax money if they're not even taking care of the children that they've taken away from their family homes so that they will be safe?" Lowry said.
Powell said abuse and neglect is more likely in group settings, so adding foster homes and closing state-run shelters will help.
