The teenager, born with Chromosome 9 Ring disease, was unable to care for himself and required help with tasks as easy as lifting a fork to his mouth. He died Jan. 4, 2013, at Children’s Hospital from pneumonia complications, according to the state medical examiner. But the youngster’s sister, Valerie Wood-Harber, contends he died from […]
Department of Human Services
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DHS needs meaningful oversight
SQ 765 is aimed at bringing long-overdue reforms at the Department of Human Services, which impacts more lives than almost any other agency. In the last decade, news headlines have exposed case after case of tragedy and failure by DHS. It’s clear that change is needed. Every department, program, and employee needs to be scrutinized […]
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Changes at DHS threaten progress
This legislative session the bulk of our work focused on child welfare reform: demanding change at the state Department of Human Services to better protect Oklahoma children in foster care and creating better opportunities for children of incarcerated parents. We demanded pay increases for foster care families, lower case loads for child welfare workers doing […]
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Drug testing no answer
First, some background. The state Department of Human Services already does some drug testing as a condition of receiving a check from the government. Basically, the way it works is that the applicant is interviewed by a DHS employee, and if that employee thinks you are on drugs, a drug test is ordered. (I’m not […]
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The tipping point for families
In the U.S., most of us get it. We can’t spend a trillion dollars of borrowed money every year. The more we borrow without growth, the faster we hit that tipping point. There is a different “debt bomb” accelerating the tipping point in our nation. It is the ever-growing cost of the U.S. safety net […]
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Drug-testing for dollars
According to the state Department of Human Services, 3,922 adults and 17,233 children received TANF funds in January. Most of those households are single-parent homes with low or no earned income, and the maximum time a person can receive TANF is five years over an adult’s lifetime. While only two such measures were introduced in […]
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What’s a few thousand between friends?
The news station reported that the company’s accountant read through the DHS handbook and found the part where a business that makes an overpayment should contact the agency and ask for a refund. When KFOR reporter asked Jeff Wagner of Child Support Services about the kerfuffle, Wagner said, “It’s really unfortunate that the employer submitted […]
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State offers cooling relief for needy
The federal government gave the state Department of Human Services (OKDHS) about $22 million for the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program that would help income-eligible residents are vulnerable to summer heat to pay for summertime cooling systems, according to a news release. A one-person household would receive $200, while a household of two or more […]