UPDATED: Pinnacle Plan approved by child welfare expert panel

Recommendations to Oklahoma agency are sent out

(ASSOCIATED PRESS) — The Oklahoma Department of Human Services must review plans to develop new foster homes, prepare weekly caseload reports and develop a remediation plan to reduce a Child Protective Services backlog, a new report released Monday states.

Doerflinger outlines details of Fallin budget plan

Gov. Mary Fallin’s budget plan for FY 2015 provides less than what most agencies want, but it manages to balance the state budget and increase funding for schools and human services while reducing the state income tax, says state finance Secretary Preston Doerflinger.

DHS officials outline successes, program funding needs

Although funding has been fairly flat since FY 2010, the agency’s rising productivity rates show that the Department of Human Services is doing more with less, but it has some critical needs to address, Director Ed Lake told lawmakers Tuesday.

No children under 2 years of age in state shelters, DHS announces

With exceptions for emergency needs, sibling groups and teenage mothers with babies, no child under 2 years of age is spending the night in a state shelter, Department of Human Services officials said Wednesday.

Buckle up: From ‘fiscal cliff’ to tax cuts (and credits), difficult issues await 2013 legislative session

When 20-plus new legislators hit the ground for the 2013 legislative session in February, they and their more-experienced colleagues will face a stack of issues from the familiar (taxes) to the unique (the “fiscal cliff”) to the heartbreaking (abuse of veterans in state facilities) to a few on the “let’s try this again” list (a bond issue to shore up …

Former Tennessee DHS deputy commissioner accepts Oklahoma director’s job

Edward Lake, a retired deputy commissioner with the Tennessee Department of Human Services, has accepted the position of director of Oklahoma’s DHS agency, effective Nov. 1, officials announced Monday.

Lake offered DHS director post

Retired Tennessee Department of Human Services deputy commissioner Edward Lake has until Oct. 15 to decide whether to accept the position of Oklahoma DHS director, which was offered to him Wednesday by the Oklahoma Human Services Commission.

Senate panel traces DHS progress under Pinnacle Plan

By the summer of 2014, Sen. Greg Treat said Wednesday, there should be no children under the age of 13 in Department of Human Services shelters, as the agency moves forward in complying with the Pinnacle Plan.

Restructured DHS division focuses on oversight of child welfare services

Although the Pinnacle Plan is not yet fully in force—its approval by co-neutral experts was announced Wednesday—the Department of Human Services has already begun to revamp its child welfare structure, focusing on services families are likely to encounter.