Kids waiting to be adopted
TRICIA Howell, the Department of Human Services' deputy director for foster care and adoptions, makes the case for adoption plainly: “No child should have to grow up without a family.” Yet in Oklahoma, more than 600 children in the foster care system are doing just that, and waiting to be placed with a “forever family.”
During the 2017 fiscal year, which ended June 30, DHS found permanent homes for 2,577 children and youth — the highest total in a single fiscal year since 1998. The agency would like nothing more than to exceed that total this year.
November is National Adoption Month, which is meant to bring awareness to the needs of young people in foster care. In Oklahoma, Howell says, the need is especially great for families who are willing to adopt sibling groups, teenagers and youngsters with special needs.
Placement in a permanent home increases the chances of a foster child breaking the cycle that led to him or her winding up in foster care in the first place. There are other benefits too.
“A loving and stable family provides the nurturing and healing that will forever change not only the child but the family as well,” Howell says.
If you’re interested in adopting or becoming a foster parent, contact DHS at (800) 376-9729 or visit https:// okfosters.org/.
Shirley’s new post
Natalie Shirley has worn many hats during her professional career. Her newest will have a distinctively Western feel. In January, Shirley will become the first female to serve as president and CEO of the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, founded in 1955. The museum’s board announced her appointment this week. Shirley let it be known in June that she would be resigning at year’s end as president of Oklahoma State University-Oklahoma City, where she’s been since 2011. She also is Oklahoma’s secretary of education and workforce development, and has served as head of the state Department of Commerce and as secretary of commerce and tourism. In her new post, Shirley said, she hopes to share “the story and values of the American West with the world.” The museum, a longtime Oklahoma City gem, is in good hands.
Special elections
It’s telling that it now feels like an upset when a Republican wins an Oklahoma special election in a district that normally favors the GOP. This week, Republicans won two of three special elections. Democrats narrowly won Senate District 37 in the Tulsa area. That district last elected a Democrat in 1996. Meanwhile, Republican candidates prevailed in the Tulsa-based House District 76 and Oklahoma City-based Senate District 45. Yet all three districts favored the GOP, at least on paper. In the seven special legislative elections held so far this year, Democrats have won four races. It’s true one can read too much into special election results, which tend to be atypical. But it’s also true Republicans continue to struggle to turn out their voters. This week’s results suggest the bottom has not completely fallen out for Republicans, but GOP candidates also continue to underperform.
Hyperbole alert
In politics, hyperbole is red meat for each party’s base voters, but indulging in too much of it can leave one looking untethered from reality to everyone who is not already firmly in your camp. Consider the recent comments of U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing. Murphy declared, “We are concerned the president of the United States is so unstable, is so volatile, has a decisionmaking process that is so quixotic, that he might order a nuclear weapon strike that is wildly out of step with U.S. national security interests.” That comment might win praise from attendees at a Democratic Party rally, but it also prompts an “are you serious?” response from everyone else. Most people think President Trump has insufficient impulse control when it comes to tweeting, not launching a nuclear war. Murphy’s comments raise as many questions about his judgment as Trump’s.
Out of touch
What does it say that even Democratic politicians in deep-blue states now refer to teachers’ unions as “out of touch”? Those are the words recently uttered by New Jersey Senate President Steve Sweeney. A Democrat, Sweeney declined to lobby for a ballot question that would guarantee teachers’ pensions be funded by the state. In response, the New Jersey Education Association vowed revenge and backed Sweeney's opponent in this month’s elections, spending at least $4.5 million on the race, according to filings. Sweeney easily prevailed, and now promises he won’t be seeking the union’s input on many education issues in the future. While details may differ, the story is the same in many other states, including Oklahoma, where teacher union groups have expended large sums on causes that are overwhelmingly rejected by voters. How many defeats does it take before the unions reassess their strategies?
Revisionism
This week the Legislature voted to address a $215 million shortfall through a combination of spending reductions and use of one-time funds. House Democrats denounced the plan and, in a news release, claimed the “Republican leadership team failed on their promise to bring 75 percent of their caucus in support of a recurring revenue package that included a modest increase in the gross production tax.” House Speaker Charles McCall, R-Atoka, never made such a promise. He did promise to deliver three-fourths of his caucus for a bill that raised fuel, tobacco and beer taxes — but not the gross production tax. McCall delivered. House Democrats opposed that plan and killed it. Both political parties played a role in this week’s outcome. That Democrats are resorting to revisionist history to deflect blame for some of their actions shows they know that’s a problem for them.
Shoe story
An item highlighted by The Oklahoman’s Ben Felder on his education blog this week will bring a smile. Felder touched on a story out of Tulsa, where a first-year kindergarten teacher’s assistant at Sequoyah Elementary School wants to buy new shoes for every child in the school. Bethany Martin started out looking to help kids in her grade. Martin told television station KJRH that early in the school year, she bought a pair of shoes for a girl whose toes were sticking through her only pair. Soon Martin noticed several other students were in need. She initially set out to get shoes for all 80 kindergarteners, but expanded her goal to help all 600-plus children. A GoFundMe account (https://www.gofundme. com/4p0h5hc) generated more than $1,000 in three days. “The fact that there’s been so many strangers that I will never meet donating to kids that they will never meet is just the most amazing feeling,” she said. Kudos to her.