Final shelter residents move
TULSA — The final two kids exited the doors of Laura Dester Children’s Center on Wednesday, three days before a deadline imposed by an oversight panel that is supported by a federal court order for the state to end its shelter operations.
The Department of Human Services asked for an extra 60 days past the June 30 cutoff to carry out the best transitions possible to alternative placements. The agency also wanted to accelerate the timeline to turn Laura Dester into a private treatment facility for children with co-occuring disabilities for which some of the shelter’s population would have been immediately eligible.
However, a federal judge sided with the oversight panel, which cited a substantial increase in child maltreatment as reason to shutter Laura Dester sooner rather than later.
Laura Dester director Andrew Robertson reflected on the relationships staff formed with kids, the sense of normalcy staff established for them and the myriad of fun activities.
In achieving accomplishments, he said the most important work at the shelter was to create healthy relationships with kids after they arrived from environments of abuse and neglect.
“Kids in the system coming from abusive backgrounds, it’s not easy to form a relationship with them,” Robertson said. “They’re guarded, they’re scared and they don’t trust adults. We broke through with so many kids, and that’s the lasting memory I’ll have.”
In March, the facility was home to 42 children when the oversight panel imposed its deadline and ordered DHS to stop accepting kids there. That number was at nine when the court order was issued three months later on June 5.
In all: Two are in trial reunifications with their families, 13 went to foster homes, 13 went into group homes, five were sent to specialized treatment facilities, six entered disability companion homes and three were put into youth services shelters.
“It’s bittersweet, but I’m excited for the kids,” Robertson said. “I’m gonna miss them.”
Robertson explained that mix of emotions as sweet in that DHS touched a lot of lives in a positive fashion. The moment was bitter to see that chapter close for himself, staff and the children.
Ultimately, he said, DHS wants foster kids to find home-like settings and not have to stay in shelters.
“I feel like we did a lot of good here,” Robertson said.
Outlined in a 2012 settlement from a federal class-action lawsuit alleging abuse of state foster care kids, DHS agreed to reduce its use of children’s shelters. DHS announced more than three years ago it would stop operating those shelters.
But as shelters began shuttering, agency officials discovered a population of foster children with complex issues — such as trauma, medical, emotional and developmental — who had nowhere to go except for Laura Dester.
In securing the court order, Tulsa attorney Frederic Dorwart in a statement said DHS hadn’t met “a significant number of crucial goals” in seven years that were established by the case’s settlement terms. Dorwart is a co-lead plaintiffs’ counsel in the case.
“While progress in some areas has been made, the system failures resulted in a disturbingly high number of substantiated incidents of maltreatment in care which left the national experts no choice,” Dorwart said of the oversight panel’s deadline order.
DHS staff have worked feverishly to find appropriate placements for Laura Dester’s population to comply with the court order. Notably, some of those who were turned away from Laura Dester or relocated by the deadline may end up back at the facility for a temporary stay.