Oklahoma Department Of Human Services Abolishes Waiting List For Disability Services

Now that the state legislature approved $34 million in new funding, thousands of families will come off the waiting list for disability services.

Some of the people on the list have been waiting for help for more than a decade. The Oklahoma Department of Human Services is holding conferences where people can talk to someone face-to-face to get all their needs met, in one location. Gretchen Novak's family is excited to finally be able to get services from DHS like in-home nursing, making their home more accessible, and overnight care.

"It's important for other families to know, other Oklahomans to know, this is really a great benefit to children and families like ours,” said Sean Novak, Gretchen’s father.

Maylena Shockley's family hopes these services will help disabled children when their parents and or loved ones are no longer here to care for them.

"For us, this is a big deal,” said Shockley, who cares for her son Shane. “To be able to make sure that he has quality of life, that he continues to be surrounded by people he loves in his home environment."

These families are grateful the legislature approved millions of dollars that will finally help people get off the waiting list that they've been on for many years.

DHS says it's important to help the most vulnerable in our state.

"I have been doing this for over 25 years and this is just the most exciting time that we get to work with families,” said Amy Baustert, the Administrative Services Deputy Director with the Oklahoma Department of Human Services. “We get to say yes instead of no, we get to offer all of our services and our supports, and we get to bring families together."

Novak hopes his daughter sees her family is doing all they can to make sure she has a good life, just like many other families with disabled children.

"We hope that she sees that we're giving her the best quality of life possible, that she can be the best version of herself every day, even when we're gone," said Novak.

DHS will keep holding these conferences until they get all of the families off of the waitlist. They will work in groups of hundreds of families at a time.