OKLAHOMA CAPITOL --The Oklahoma Department of Human Services has released the following fact sheet about the number of Oklahomans who received OKDHS and services.

• 17 percent fewer children were in foster care at the end of state fiscal year 2009 compared to the previous year.  Of the children removed from their homes, more than 72 percent were reunited with their families after receiving OKDHS services.
  
  
• Oklahoma was one of only eleven states to receive an “A” on its legal representation of children in out of home care, according to A Child’s Right to Counsel, a national report card on legal representation for abused and neglected children.
  
  
• OKDHS saw a decrease of 5 percent in the number of children who are alleged to be victims of abuse and neglect. This is a result of many efforts to improve child safety.  
  
  
• OKDHS responds to more than 30,000 reports each year, which includes allegations of serious or immediate threats to a child’s safety. More than 8,000 of those reports are substantiated, and were the subject of Agency action.

Children’s Rights Facts:

• Children’s Rights, Inc. collected a total of $3,224,498 in legal fees during the three year time period of 2005 to 2007, according to the organization’s Form 990 filings. The Form 990 for 2008 has not yet been posted on GuideStar. 

• Children’s Rights Inc. and the Atlanta law firm of Bondurant, Mixson and Elmore received an award of $10,522,405 for their work on behalf of children in Georgia’s foster care system.  This award is currently on appeal in the U.S. Supreme Court. 

• Children’s Rights Inc. attorneys in the Dwayne B. v. Granholm case in Michigan were awarded $6.2 million for services and fees.

• Children’s Rights attorneys in the Olivia Y. v. Barbour case in Mississippi were awarded $4.8 million for their services and fees from 2002 to 2008.

• In Connecticut, the Juan F. v. Rell case brought forth by Children’s Rights cost the state $665,000 in court monitor fees in fiscal year 2007.

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