Number of Children in OKDHS Custody of End of Fiscal Year 

This measure tracks the number of children in Oklahoma Department of Human Services (OKDHS) custody. This number reflects a specific point in time (June 30) versus the total number of children served by OKDHS over the fiscal year.

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Tracking this information provides data to assist in projecting the types of services and resources that will be needed to ensure the health and safety of the children OKDHS will serve in the future. This information is also used to evaluate trends so local service providers, governments and citizens can be prepared to provide support in helping keep children safe in their communities.

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Although the change between 2003 and 2012 shows only a 3% increase, the reality is that numbers have fluctuated significantly during the past decade. Children in custody increased by 38% between 2003 and 2007, dropped 35% over the next three years and have since increased 15%. Several factors can contribute to end of year totals, including substantially fewer children coming into out-of-home care (foster care) coupled with an increase in children realizing permanency through guardianships and adoptions, the climate of public policy, publicized incidents and worker caseloads.

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OKDHS Child Welfare Services (CWS) helps protect children and tries to keep them in their homes with family. When children must be placed outside of their family home to ensure safety, OKDHS focuses on placing children in accordance with their individual needs, taking into account a child’s need to be placed as close as possible to their home and community, the need to place siblings together, and the need to place children in the least restrictive, most family-like setting. OKDHS CWS does not have the authority to remove children from their homes. Law enforcement may place a child in protective custody and a judge may place a child in the custody of OKDHS. When possible, OKDHS CWS staff and law enforcement jointly respond to determine whether a child is safe.

Initiatives for fiscal year 2013 include using trauma-informed screening tools for children and families who may have experienced trauma, continuity of the same child welfare specialist visiting the family and child on a regular basis with higher frequency in the first two months of placement, increasing the emphasis on permanency for children through regularly scheduled meetings with the family to make the best decisions for their children, and increasing family visitation between biological parents and children when the case plan goal is reunification.

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