Protecting the Stability of Oklahoma Foster Families
Parenting a child can be one of the most difficult and the most rewarding endeavors anyone might choose. To become a foster parent can double the difficulty. As a foster parent you open yourself to the greatest hardships any parent can face, with only a vague hope of enjoying the usual long-term rewards of being a parent.
A Tulsa foster parent attorney knows from experience the legal hardships Oklahoma foster parents often face. Children in foster care almost universally bear the weight of a complex family background. Foster care agencies administer support and protective services with only limited insight into a foster child’s background. Conflicts often arise when DHS child protective services workers fail to recognize how foster care providers look out for kids in foster care.
Fortunately, for children in foster care and those who shoulder the burden of fostering displaced children, Oklahoma law defines some very specific foster parents rights. As attorneys for foster parents in Tulsa, Wirth Law Office’s family lawyers fight to protect the rights of foster caregivers in Oklahoma. Our foster care lawyers know that secure, stable foster families provide the best hope for youth whose childhood has been damaged by loss, conflict, or abuse.
Oklahoma Foster Parents Rights
In every civilized jurisdiction anywhere in the world, at least one agency has the job of catching children who fall out of stable family environments. Oklahoma is no different. Oklahoma’s statement of foster parent’s rights emphasizes a very clear purpose when the state places a child in a foster home. The goal is to prevent the displaced child from bouncing from caregiver to caregiver.
The Oklahoma Children’s Code enumerates 24 specific rights to which Oklahoma foster parents are entitled. They include a right to respect, a right to necessary information, and a right to prior notice when the Department of Human Services (DHS) plans to terminate a foster placement.
Regardless the good intentions of those employed by child placing agencies, busy caseloads, burnout, and bureaucratic rigor sometimes cloud child welfare specialists’ view of foster children’s best interests.
For all the good reasons a state must employ child protective workers, those state employees sometimes lack the insight of foster parents who spend long days and nights working to meet the physical, social, and emotional needs of a foster child. Mistakes happen on both sides.
Foster parents’ legal rights include a right to object to changes in a foster child’s placement — specifically the right to request a hearing about changes in certification retention or child placement. That is when a Tulsa foster parents attorney often steps in.
Legal Counsel for Foster Families
A foster care lawyer helps foster families preserve precarious bonds that can be essential to a troubled child’s future. A foster family attorney protects foster parents from false allegations, including allegations against the foster parent or against other children in a foster home. A Tulsa foster parents lawyer can help you become a certified foster family or retain your foster family certification.
Those who care for displaced children selflessly share their stability and good fortune for nominal foster payments, usually in hopes of making the world a better place if only for one child. Foster parenting need not be a litigious endeavor. A foster care lawyer who understands the reasons our state has codified in law very specific Oklahoma foster parents rights can sometimes resolve conflicts with DHS foster care agencies without resorting to legal maneuvers.
When a hearing is required after an adverse decision by DHS child protective services or a child placement agency, our detailed knowledge of Oklahoma foster care law can provide you the confidence you need to know you are doing the right thing — for your family and for your foster child.
Strategy Session: Tulsa Foster Parents Lawyer
Wirth Law Office’s Tulsa foster family lawyer freely consults with foster parents, or those wanting to become a foster parent. We can sometimes provide the answers you need on the spot. When you require further representation, an initial strategy session affords you the opportunity to develop trust in Wirth Law Office – Tulsa before you invest in legal services.
To schedule your initial strategy session with a lawyer for foster parents in Tulsa, Okla., call 918-879-1681. You can also send an inquiry using the form at the top of this page.
