This article is a brief description of the child welfare process. After a child is removed from a home, an emergency show cause hearing is held within two days to determine whether the child should be placed in Oklahoma Department of Human Services (OKDHS) custody. Show cause varies from county to county but is based on intake and the size of the docket. If the child is placed in OKDHS custody, a petition alleging abuse, neglect, or deprivation is filed by the Assistant District Attorney (ADA) and the child is placed in an out‐of‐home placement (foster care, kinship, group home, etc.). Legal proceedings then bring the parents to court for alleged deprivation, abuse, or neglect of the child. OKDHS has legal custody of the child as long as the deprived case is open, unless custody is returned to the parent(s) and the case remains open under OKDHS supervision.
If the parents are adjudicated (found) to have deprived, abused, or neglected the child, a disposition hearing is held to put an Individual Service Plan (ISP) or treatment plan in place. The parents are required to successfully complete ISP requirements to regain physical and legal custody of the child. Child support is frequently one requirement of the ISP.
A parent may regain physical custody of a child (“trial reunification”) during the deprived case if he/she makes satisfactory progress on the ISP. If a parent does not successfully complete an ISP, parental rights may be terminated. A parent can also choose to relinquish all parental rights to a child. If both parents’ rights are terminated and/or relinquished, the child can be placed for adoption or other permanent placement.
CW workers use the OKDHS KIDS computer system, which partially interfaces with the PS2 and, therefore, the OSIS system. Some, but not all, of the case information entered in KIDS results in automatic update of the OSIS case.