Shelter Use. The state of Oklahoma and Plaintiffs agree that children should not be placed in shelters. In the Pinnacle Plan, Oklahoma committed to eliminating the use of shelters for children under 13 years old by June 30, 2014, with interim targets to eliminate shelter use for children of younger age groups, and strict limits on the use of shelter care for adolescents. DHS reports to the Co- Neutrals the number of children with at least one child-night, defined as one child in a shelter at midnight, and the total number of child-nights presented by the following age groups: under two; two to five; six to 12; and over 12.
Shelter Use. The CSA requires that DHS establish performance targets related to shelters (CSA Sec. 2.10). In the Pinnacle Plan, DHS committed that it would “ensure all children are cared for in family-like settings” and “stop its use of temporary placement in shelters for all children under 13 years of age.” In addition, DHS made specific commitments to children of different age groups related to shelters including: • By December 31, 2012, all children under two years of age will be placed in family-like settings; • By June 30, 2013, all children under six years of age will be placed in family-like settings; • By June 30, 2014, all children under 13 years of age will be placed in family-like settings; and • By June 30, 2014, children ages 13 years of age and older may be placed in a shelter, only if a family-like setting is unavailable to meet their needs. In the Metrics Plan, the number of “child-nights” spent in shelters was chosen as the metric to assess Oklahoma’s progress in eliminating shelter use. One “child-night” is defined as “one child in a shelter at midnight.” The total number of child-nights is calculated by summing the number of children in shelters at midnight for each night of the reporting period. The Metrics Plan identified the baselines and targets for each of the above metrics except for children age 13 and older. The Co-Neutrals and DHS finalized a target for shelter placements and nights for children age 13 and older using a dual variable metric: the first variable is based on a percentage reduction in the total number of child-nights and the second variable is based on the rule established in the Pinnacle Plan Section 1.17, which states that, “By June 30, 2014, children ages 13 years of age and older may be placed in a shelter, only if a family-like setting is unavailable to meet their needs. Children shall not be placed in a shelter more than one time within a 12-month period and for no more than 30 days in any 12-month period. Exceptions must be rare and must be approved by the deputy director for the respective region, documented in the child’s case file, reported to the division director no later than the following business day, and reported to the OKDHS Director and the Co- Neutrals monthly.” This metric assumes that there will continue to be a need to place older children in congregate settings but the target ultimately focuses on reducing child-nights in a shelter for children ages 13 and older by more than 50% and ensuring Pinnacle Plan ...
Shelter Use. This period, DHS’ efforts to reduce shelter care resulted in fewer children in DHS custody experiencing fewer nights in a shelter than last period. Most notably, for the youngest children in custody (ages 0 to 1), DHS has successfully ensured no child in this age group has experienced a shelter stay for the fourth consecutive period. While DHS has not yet eliminated shelter care for children between the ages of two and five, DHS has continued to ensure such placements are rare, with five children in this age group experiencing a shelter stay this report period. Lastly, and importantly, for children six years of age and older, DHS achieved an important reduction in shelter care this period after consecutive periods of declining or stagnant performance. The primary two practices DHS has utilized to reduce shelter care are: multidisciplinary staffings, which are used to identify needs-based placements for children placed in shelters, and a heightened authorization process, which requires DHS leadership to sign off on shelter placements for all children. Last period, the Co-Neutrals found that DHS had not maintained sufficient efforts to implement these practices adequately to reduce shelter care. This period, the Co-Neutrals report that DHS’ targeted and revitalized efforts resulted in a finding that DHS made good faith efforts in all of its shelter work. In the area of multidisciplinary staffings, this period, DHS developed and implemented an enhanced statewide staffing model that establishes a series of clear protocols staff must complete before, during and after a child’s staffing to expeditiously identify and secure a needs- based placement outside of a shelter. The development of this statewide staffing model, which is administered by shelter leads in each of the state’s five regions, has created a uniform framework to guide and support each region’s efforts to reduce the length of time children remain in shelters. As discussed later in this section, the new shelter staffing model establishes heightened expectations that all children placed in shelters must be consistently and rigorously staffed, and if implemented and assessed well, the new model should support DHS’ efforts to urgently secure needs-based placements for children outside of shelters. In the area of preventing shelter placements, DHS undertook an analysis, finalized in March 2018, of the shelter authorization process and found in some cases the department did not adequately exhaust all pot...
Shelter Use. For this report period, the Co-Neutrals find that DHS made good faith efforts to achieve substantial and sustained progress toward the Target Outcomes for each of the five shelter measures. As outlined below, DHS continued through this report period to implement new and ongoing strategies to prevent new shelter placements and reduce the lengths of stay for children who experienced a shelter placement. Over the last seven years, DHS has implemented numerous strategies and efforts that have allowed the department to successfully reduce by 75 percent the total number of shelter nights experienced by children of all ages combined (see Table 6 below). This includes closing Oklahoma’s two DHS-operated shelters, which were the largest shelters in the state, and establishing heightened oversight of shelter placements by requiring the Child Welfare Director to authorize placing any child under 13 years of age in a shelter and requiring Regional Child Welfare Directors to approve shelter placements of youth 13 years of age or older. DHS committed that such approval would be given only after ensuring caseworkers had exhausted and clearly documented on a shelter authorization form all efforts to secure an alternate, needs-based placement to prevent a shelter stay. Importantly, DHS has achieved a 100 percent reduction in shelter-nights for children five years of age and younger. Compared to the baseline period, DHS has reduced shelter-nights for children ages six and older by 27,530 nights and reduced child-nights in a shelter for children of all ages combined by 39,306 nights, which is three times the total number of nights reported this period. For the first time since the Co- Neutrals have been monitoring this metric, DHS achieved during this report period the Target Outcome of fewer than 8,850 shelter-nights for youth ages 13 and older. TABLE 6: NIGHTS IN SHELTERS BY AGE, JANUARY 1 – JUNE 30, 2021, AND CHANGE FROM BASELINE Child-Nights in Shelters by Age Baseline Performance Change (n) Change (%) (Jan 2012- June 2013) (January 2021-June 2021) 0 to 1 2,923 0 -2,923 -100.0% 2 to 5 8,853 0 -8,853 -100.0% 6 to 12 20,147 4,561 -15,586 -77.4% 13 & Older 20,635 8,691 -11,944 -57.9% TOTAL 52,558 13,252 -39,306 -74.8% Performance Standards DHS committed to “ensure all children are cared for in family-like settings” and to “stop its use of temporary placement in shelters for all children under 13 years of age.” In the Metrics Plan, the Co- Neutrals selected the number of “ch...
Shelter Use. All groups agree that they will ensure that all event participants leave the shelter after the event.
