Adoption
The Adoption program promotes secure, stable, permanent adoptive homes for children in the custody of the Department who cannot be reunited with their birth parents. Adoption services identify children in the child welfare system who need adoptive placement, prepare these children for placement, recruit and assess adoptive homes as resources for these children and provide services to the child and family to maintain them in the home after placement. The Department works in partnership with the community through programs such as the One Church, One Child program to recruit homes for African American children.
Adult Protective Services
Adult Protective Services provides elderly persons and other adults unable to care for themselves protection from abuse, neglect or exploitation and offers services. The services help with proper medical care, self-maintenance skills, personal hygiene, adequate food, shelter and protection. APS provides services when the person needing protection requests help or when ordered by the courts. Oklahoma law requires all citizens to report all suspected cases of abuse, neglect and financial exploitation of elderly and incapacitated persons. The State Long Term Care Investigation Unit investigates allegations of abuse in nursing homes.
ADvantage Waiver Program
Older Oklahomans and persons with disabilities who are eligible for nursing home care under Medicaid can receive home- and community-based services. The ADvantage Waiver enables Oklahomans to remain in their own homes. Appropriate and cost-efficient services can be tailored to the needs of the individual.
AIDS Coordination and Information Services
The AIDS Coordination and Information Services unit provides a central contact point for persons with Human Immunodeficiency Virus disease and their families. The unit coordinates HIV/AIDS related activities within the Department, as well as with other public and private entities. Care coordinators, located in Oklahoma City and Tulsa, provide information and referral, client assessment, advocacy and intervention, access to contract services and follow-up services. Staff also helps develop and coordinate community resources. Case management services require no income or resource restrictions; HIV infection is the only eligibility criteria, and referrals are accepted from any location in the state.
Center for Early Childhood Professional Development
The Center for Early Childhood Professional Development serves as a statewide training program for Oklahoma early childhood educators. It manages the early care and education professional development ladder and Oklahoma director's credential system, and conducts environmental rating services for two and three star rated child care facilities. The center also administers R.E.W.A.R.D., a child care salary supplement program.
Child Care Licensing
Licensing services monitors more than 6,500 licensed child care facilities, which include child care centers, family child care homes and large family child care homes, part-day programs, school-age programs and day camps for compliance with minimum requirements. Licensed child care centers and family child care homes care for 142,000 children, ages 6 weeks to 12 years. Child care licensing specialists provide on-site inspection, technical assistance and consultation. OKDHS also licenses 115 residential and shelter facilities that provide care for children who are unable to live at home, and 60 child placing agencies that place children in foster homes and adoptive homes.
Child Care Subsidy
The Child Care Subsidy program helps qualifying families pay for child care while parents or caretakers work or participate in a job search, attend school or receive training. Child care services may also be used in a protective service plan to prevent abuse, neglect or exploitation. The child care subsidy is paid directly to the child care provider on the family's behalf.
Child Protective Services
Child Protective Services includes programs and policy relating to child abuse and neglect investigations, definitions of abuse and neglect to interpret Title 10 of the Oklahoma statutes standards, child fatality review and investigation, child abuse and neglect statistics and safety and risk assessment.
Child Support Enforcement
Oklahoma is one of 19 states that allows professional, commercial and driver licenses to be revoked or suspended for non-custodial parents who fail to pay child support. In addition, when a parent refuses to pay court-ordered child support or does not pay the full amount, OKDHS can request immediate wage withholding; refer the case for intercept of federal and state income tax refunds; file a lien on real or personal property; or refer the past due support debt to credit reporting agencies. A 1994 state law authorizes in-hospital establishment of paternity, helping ensure that a newborn child has a legal father and is entitled to receive financial support. For clients who receive Temporary Assistance for Needy Families because of a parent's failure to provide adequate support, OKDHS child support collections help reimburse the government for TANF costs.
Children with Special Health Care Needs
The Children with Special Health Care Needs program provides medical services to special needs children who are not eligible for Medicaid. These services may include food supplements, genetics testing and counseling and grants to local programs serving community health needs.
Children's Emergency Services
Children removed from their own homes due to abuse or neglect receive Children's Emergency Services. Services include voluntary placements at parents' request and care for children and their parents under age 18 who are in OKDHS custody. The Pauline E. Mayer Center in Oklahoma City and the Laura Dester Center in Tulsa serve children in crisis. Emergency foster care provides family foster home placement to children under age 10 in Tulsa and Oklahoma counties for up to 30 days.
Community-Based Residential Care
Community-Based Residential Care programs provide care and treatment for youth in the custody of OKDHS whose treatment needs can no longer be met in their own home, a relative's home or in traditional foster family care, but who do not require residential psychiatric treatment. OKDHS, an agency or individuals under contract with the Department or licensed as a Child Placing Agency or Residential Child Care facility operate these programs
Family Support Assistance Payments
Families rearing children ages 18 and under with developmental disabilities may receive $250 to $400 per month based on the number of children with developmental disabilities in the home.
Food Stamps
Food stamps help low-income families purchase food. OKDHS provides these benefits to households who meet specific U.S. Department of Agriculture requirements. The food stamp program is 100 percent federally funded. In many cases all adult household members are out of work and have exhausted all unemployment benefits and savings. Food stamp benefits are intended to help people regain self-sufficiency. Able-bodied adults without dependents between the ages of 18 and 50 must be exempt or comply with specific work requirements. The amount of food stamps received depends on the amount of income available to the household.
Foster Care
Thousands of children each year are placed by the court, for various reasons, in the custody of OKDHS. They may be infants, toddlers or teenagers, in a racial minority group or have physical, mental or emotional challenges. OKDHS uses every possible means to keep a family together, but when all attempts have failed, the child is placed in a temporary foster home until family problems can be resolved or until a permanent home can be found. OKDHS is legally responsible for children in foster home care. Part of this responsibility includes providing monetary reimbursement to foster parents for the child's room and board. Foster parents may also receive difficulty of care payments to offset the extra cost of caring for a child with special needs.
Grandparent Initiative
Oklahoma has the second highest percentage in the nation of grandparents and other relatives rearing grandchildren. The Grandparent Initiative serves as an information clearinghouse, offers training programs and conferences, develops support groups and coordinates advocacy and educational activities.
Health Related and Medical Services
The Oklahoma Health Care Authority contracts with OKDHS to determine eligibility for the Medicaid program, provide case maintenance, ensure case accuracy and data integrity and supply technical support and training to staff in Human Services Centers. Those eligible for Medicaid health benefits include TANF recipients, low-income individuals under age 19, pregnant women who are ineligible for TANF and individuals who are low-income, blind or have a disability.
Independent Living Program
The Oklahoma Independent Living Program provides services to youth ages 16 to 21 in OKDHS custody. The program helps ensure their transition from foster care and out-of-home placement to self-sufficiency and successful adult living. These services include life skills assessment; life skills training and supervised practice living, which is funded by the Oklahoma Children's Initiative. The Federal Independent Living Initiative funds services that include education and career planning for youth and training for staff and care providers.
Legal Services to Older Persons
The Older Americans Act requires that each state unit on aging provide legal assistance, elder rights and advocacy programs. OKDHS employs a legal services developer to consult with aging services and legal services providers on legal assistance available to older individuals. The unit provides public education on elder rights topics, such as grandparent rights, advance directives and other end-of-life issues and guardianship issues.
Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program
The ombudsman program serves Oklahomans living in nursing homes, assisted living and residential care homes. An ombudsman helps improve the quality of life and the quality of care available to the residents. Ombudsmen, who are specially trained volunteers, receive complaints from residents, their friends or relatives and attempt to resolve these complaints within the facility. The ombudsmen have the authority via state statute to explore problems and recommend corrective action.
Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program
The federally funded Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) assists low-income families with regular winter heating bills and with heating and cooling crisis situations.
Medicaid Home- and Community-Based Waiver programs
Through four waiver programs, people eligible for Medicaid can receive a variety of medical, therapeutic and residential support services in their own home, the home of their family or in a group home. The waiver programs include the in-home supports waivers for children and for adults; the community waiver and the Homeward Bound waiver (for Hissom class members).
Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives
The Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives encourages partnerships between state agencies and faith-based, community organizations. The OFBCI works with Oklahoma's social service agencies and religious groups to address societal problems.
Oklahoma Aging Advocacy Leadership Academy
The Oklahoma Aging Advocacy Leadership Academy (OAALA) identifies and trains volunteers from all adult age groups to serve as advocates for older Oklahomans. The nationally-recognized and duplicated model equips participants to understand and advocate on behalf of the most rapidly growing segment of the population.
Oklahoma Child Care Resource and Referral Association
The Oklahoma Child Care Resource and Referral Association is a statewide network of eight regional offices that assists families in locating child care, supports child care providers with resources and technical assistance, provides consultation and referral services to local employers and assists communities with planning around child care issues.
Oklahoma Marriage Initiative
In conjunction with the Oklahoma Marriage Initiative, which was implemented to encourage marriage and reduce divorce, OKDHS expanded Temporary Assistance for Needy Families services by providing marriage education services to low-income adults. OKDHS also partners with other state agencies to train instructors in the Prevention and Relationship Enhancement Program to provide marriage and relationship training for TANF families and low-income adults across the state.
Older American Act Programs
The Older Americans Act funds the nutrition program, information and referral, personal in-home assistance and caregiver support. Eleven Area Agencies on Aging oversee the provision of nutrition and supportive services. The Transportation program provides rides to doctor appointments, shopping, nutrition sites and senior centers. The Senior Info Line handles requests for information and assistance throughout the state. If the information and assistance specialist determines the caller would benefit from a personal visit for more extensive services, an outreach worker makes a home visit. Other available services include homemaker services and chore services.
Older Women's Initiative
The Older Women's Initiative works to enhance the quality of life of older Oklahoma women. The group strives to develop and expand programs that respond to emotional and financial needs, to build consensus among agencies on the care issues and rights of older women and to increase public awareness regarding needs.
Permanency Planning
Permanency Planning services are provided to children and their families who have become involved in the juvenile court system due to child abuse and neglect. Permanency Planning services include assessing the needs and strengths of the child; involving family members as participants in their own treatment plan; consulting with service providers to evaluate the effectiveness of the services; providing placements for children that will meet their medical, educational, and physical needs; returning children to their own homes as soon as their needs can be met in their parent's home and arranging a permanent plan when returning to the home is not possible.
Personal Care Program
Once known as Non-Technical Medical Care, the Personal Care Program is a Medicaid-funded program that provides personal care in the home of any person, regardless of age, who meets Medicaid financial and medical eligibility guidelines. These services, along with other formal and informal community supports, allow Oklahomans to remain in their own homes. Personal care services are delivered either by a home health care agency or by an individual personal care contractor.
Refugee Program
OKDHS administers federal social service grants for refugees. Contract providers in Oklahoma City and Tulsa offer employment services, English language training and social adjustment services.
Resource Centers
OKDHS operates Northern Oklahoma Resource Center In Enid (NORCE), the Southern Oklahoma Resource Center (SORC) in Pauls Valley and the Robert M. Greer Center, a specialized facility for persons with co-occurring conditions of mental retardation and mental illness. The public residential facilities provide a full array of medical, therapeutic and vocational services to residents, as well as round-the-clock care.
State Funded Programs
OKDHS offers state-funded programs for persons who are not eligible for Medicaid, including group homes, sheltered workshops and Community Integrated Employment Services.
State Supplemental Payments
OKDHS administers a State Supplemental Payment program to improve the stability of low-income individuals who are aged, blind or have disabilities. The program makes a maximum monthly payment of $49 from state funds to Medicaid-eligible individuals whose income and resources are within certain limits. More than 70,000 Oklahomans receive SSP benefits each month.
Transportation for the Elderly and Adults with Disabilities
OKDHS helps purchase and contract for vehicles to provide transportation to older Oklahomans and adults with disabilities through the Section 5310 federal transportation funds. These vehicles are used to provide transportation for trips to doctors' offices, shopping, meal sites, other essential services and special events. Applicant organizations must provide a percentage of the total cost of the vehicles and the Federal Transit Administration finances the remainder.
Voluntary Family Centered Services
OKDHS uses federal funds to provide programs that encourage family preservation and family support. The program includes parent aides and home-based services to ensure a safe and healthy environment for children and families and promote responsible, competent parenthood. The programs are available statewide and address the needs of each family.
Volunteer Services For Older Persons
OKDHS sponsors several programs that allow older Oklahomans to use their life skills and experience to assist others. The Foster Grandparents Program provides opportunities for older persons to interact with infants, children and youth to alleviate physical, mental and emotional problems or children who are at risk. Volunteers receive stipends, transportation, physical exams and meals. The Retired Senior Volunteer Programs (RSVP) provides opportunities for older citizens to serve their communities in such areas as substance abuse counseling, mental health community-based programs, adult basic education, assistance with income tax returns and home visitations. Senior Companion Programs provide in-home or community support for older adults and persons with physical, mental or emotional challenges. Volunteers are older Oklahomans who have a low income. They receive stipends, transportation, physical exams, insurance and meals.