New developments in a class action lawsuit against Oklahoma's Department of Human Services.
It was two years ago when the group Children's Rights filed the lawsuiton behalf of all of Oklahoma's 10,000 foster children. Attorneys are asking the Governor's office... to turn over records of child welfare workers' caseloads.
The group says DHS does not properly track cases, leaving some case workers with many more cases, than they can handle. The result? Children suffer.
"When a caseworker has excessive case loads, it's bad for kids. It's bad for kids because reports of abuse fall through the cracks and aren't attended to. It's bad for kids because caseworkers don't have the time and resources to pay attention to these children in the manner in which they need to be monitored," says attorney for the Plaintiffs, Paul DeMuro, of Tulsa.
DHS has not yet responded to our attempts to get a comment. The next court date for the class action lawsuit is this Friday, when the judge will determine the next step.
