Oklahoma's DHS To Settle Class Action Lawsuit

The Oklahoma Department of Human Services voted Tuesday evening to authorize its chairman to sign settlement papers if the Contingency Review Board also approves a settlement over a lawsuit that alleged abused children in the agency's care were at a continued risk of harm.

The vote was 6 to 3.

Director of the Oklahoma Department of Human Services Howard Hendrick issued the following statement:

"While the terms of the settlement remain confidential, I can say that the terms are unique in this kind of litigation.  Both sides were willing to entertain a new approach to resolving class action civil rights claims involving child welfare systems.  The strength of our defense and the excellent work our child welfare workers do every day changed the conversation about how these kinds of cases should be resolved.  The future improvements, the details of which must yet be developed, are outlined in a framework that both sides hope will satisfy our shared desire to meet the needs of vulnerable children and families."

The New York-based group Children's Rights filed the lawsuit seeking class action on behalf of 9,000 children in DHS' care.

Children's Rights Executive Director Marcia Robinson Lowry issued the following statement:

"This is great news for the more than 8,000 abused and neglected children who are in foster care in Oklahoma. The vote shows that DHS commissioners are coming to grips with problems in the system and are taking first steps toward the wide-scale reform that Oklahoma's children so desperately need. We are grateful for the leadership that the governor, attorney general and the new members of the commission have demonstrated to move this agency in the right direction. We are hopeful that the state Contingency Review Board and the federal judge will also approve this landmark settlement."

DHS Director Howard Hendrick says the settlement requires the agency to make improvements but the details of the plan still have to be developed.  Hendrick says the settlement terms are confidential.

The Contingency Review Board consists of the governor, state House speaker and state Senate pro tem.  They are set to meet Wednesday in Oklahoma City.

It's a civil rights case that claims DHS didn't do enough to protect children in state custody. It was filed by a children's advocacy group with a record of major settlements in other states.

The state has spent millions of dollars in legal fees defending Oklahoma Department of Human Service only to reach the point where a settlement could be close.

In other states where this same group has won, or settled, the state has been forced to implement major reforms and revamp their entire systems of foster care.

In Oklahoma, just less than 10,000 children are in state custody - either in shelters or foster care.

There's a long history of problems connected to overloaded case workers and problems with abusive foster parents who are allowed to hurt children because there's not enough monitoring of the children.

The record is what led to the lawsuit, and those original claims were: 

• DHS placed children in unsafe foster homes and overcrowded, understaffed shelters.
• Children in custody were abused and neglected and that DHS didn't do enough to stop it.
• Poor monitoring of foster parents, which led to abuse -and inadequate recruiting of new foster parents.

The DHS commissioners went into executive session at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, and they were still in there later in the evening.

If they vote to settle, a judge would still have to approve it. The case was set to go to trial in February.

12/2/2011:  Related Story:  Oklahoma DHS Claims Victory After Judge Throws Out Part Of Suit