Oklahoma

Oklahoma is looking for people from marginalized backgrounds who want to influence the state’s child welfare and juvenile justice systems.

In Oklahoma, if a sibling group of three kids is taken into foster care, there is about a one-in-three chance they will be split up. A few years ago, one of the state’s child welfare providers decided to do something about it.

Marcia Lowry, the crusading child welfare attorney, works out of an office on Hardscrabble Road. She didn’t name this leafy suburban New York lane, but it suits her reputation: The slew of big-ticket settlements she’s secured against large foster care systems made her one of the nation’s most respected, winning and – in some quarters – loathed attorneys for vulnerable youth.

Two more states have joined the ranks of those that have acted legislatively to guarantee the right of faith-based child welfare contractors to discriminate against parents – and in some cases children – whose lifestyles do not comport with the religious views of the organization.

Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin (R) signed into law a bill that permits the state’s faith-based child welfare partners to discriminate against same-sex couples, single or unmarried people, and possibly even LGBTQ youth.

The Oklahoma State Senate has passed a bill to enable faith-based child welfare providers to discriminate against LGBTQ couples, and perhaps even children in the system. Senate Bill 1140 is authored by State Sen.

This month, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services released a brief about the efficacy of differential response (DR) and child safety in six states that have implemented this child protection strategy for over ten years.

In 1952, the Oklahoma Lions Boys Ranch (OLBR) opened as a family-style group home to serve young men in trouble. The ranch evolved to serve boys who could not be maintained in a foster home because of their behavior.

This OU Medicine Conference's goals are to provide professionals who work in the area of child maltreatment with current research and best practices to better respond and provide appropriate services to children and their caregivers in the area of child maltreatment.