TULSA, Okla. — A bevy of severe, criminal allegations recently thrown at the Oklahoma Department of Human Services prompteda petition for a grand jury to investigate.
But when DHS officials responded with a believe the agency was being persecuted, it was not a reaction one local lawmaker wanted to see from the agency’s new leadership.
Earlier this month, 2 News interviewed a mother who claims DHS removed her three children from her home due to a messy apartment.
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She suffered from post-partum depression. She cleaned up the apartment and is still subjected to supervised visitation.
She worries about when she will be able to get them back because now, she feels DHS is moving the goalpost.
“They told me from the get-go I wasn’t the safety issue, it wasn’t me that was the problem, it was the apartment," she said. "The apartment got done, so now they’re looking at it like I am the safety issue, so now I have to get supervised visitations, which shouldn’t be a thing because they already told me it wasn’t me.
Her story is one of countless concerns 2 News has recently heard about the agency. The petition for a grand jury investigation, now in the signature-gathering phase, is packed with damning allegations: conspiracy, collusion, fraud, destroying/falsifying documents, crime coverup, and more.
DHS recently released this statement:
This is an unprecedented attack on public safety and human services officials across the state who work tirelessly to ensure the health, safety, and well-being of Oklahoma’s children and vulnerable individuals.Oklahoma Human Services has always been and will remain an advocate for transparency and will fully cooperate with any investigation initiated with the agency.
“To me, they’re fighting words,” Oklahoma State Senator Dana Prieto said about the response.
He has been co-leading the charge to investigate DHS because, he said, he gets complaints daily.
“An unprecedented attack on Oklahoma DHS? Well, what about the unprecedented attack on families and children of Oklahoma for years?” he asked.
Prieto said he is encouraged by the new leadership after the resignation of Director Deborah Shropshire, but he was told they vowed to be more transparent moving forward.
“I don’t know who put out that press release, but I don’t think it goes along with their new [transparency] policy,” he said.
Prieto says the statement reads as if DHS officials think they are the victims. While an investigation into the past is out of Prieto’s hands, he says as a lawmaker he can fight for future change. He has three DHS-related bills he plans to introduce next legislative session.
2 News has emailed DHS to see if they have anything further to add to the original statement or if anything specific is being done to improve transparency. We have also requested a sit-down interview with the new director, Jeffrey Cartmell.
We will let you know when we hear back.
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