Complaints Aired About DHS Foster Parent Guidelines

Saturday, August 25th 2007, 7:26 pm

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) _ A published report says guidelines that allow Oklahoma Department of Human Services workers to also become foster parents have led to some complaints. They include one from a former DHS supervisor who reported to the DHS inspector general that a worker was allowed to be a foster mother even though she once punched another woman and her husband had an assault conviction.

Another complaint came from a mother trying to get her three sons back. She claims she is being treated unfairly because the boy's foster mother was a DHS worker. One boy was seriously injured this year while in foster care.

The Oklahoman reports in Sunday's editions that the agency banned workers from becoming foster parents until 1999. The ban had been in place to avoid the appearance of favoritism and conflicts of interest.