DHS Horror Stories
Newsok.com coverage of the Oklahoma Department of Human Services continued on Sunday with two interesting reports.
The first DHS slow to close day cares lays out the crux of the problem while the second Examples of day cares that stayed open a while despite serious problems should send a cold chill down the spine of anyone that cares about children.
The horror stories which are the subject of the second report cover both ‘in home’ and ’store front’ day care operations and each is a story of blatant failure on the part of DHS to protect children in day cares. Day cares which can only be described as downright dangerous.
Time and again DHS, in spite of knowledge of adverse and in some cases outright dangerous conditions, permitted day cares to remain open for months, if not years, after the agency became aware of serious problems in their operation.
Second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth chances have been “standard operating procedure” for DHS in dealing with day care operations for so long that it takes the death of a child to get DHS to wake up and smell the coffee and realize that not only are some day cares putting children at risk, so is DHS, with its policy of tolerance for errant day care operators.
The death of Joshua Minton in a Tulsa day care has not only shaken up DHS, it has focused public attention on a state agency which has a long and miserable track record for utter failure. A failed state agency that is leaving dead children in its wake.
In spite of pledges to ‘do better’, to ‘re-evaluate procedures’ and to ‘improve services’ the current management of DHS is simply trying to deflect attention away from a bureaucracy which should have been replaced as Oklahoma’s child protection agency following the death of Ryan Luke many years ago.
When it comes to child protection services DHS can not be ‘fixed’.
It is hopeless to try yet again, as we have tried far too many times before.
And too many children have died as a result.
When the Oklahoma Legislature convenes for its 2008 session one of the first items of business should be enacting a law to set up a real child protection agency for Oklahoma. One with real investigative authority, real police power and a mandate to protect the children of Oklahoma.
A new agency where no prior or current DHS employee need apply…
