Monday, October 28th 2024, 5:14 pm
An Oklahoma child advocacy group is pushing for an investigation into Oklahoma Human Services. The petition filed Monday in Oklahoma County is a request for a grand jury investigation.
“There are horrific crimes that have been committed against children and everybody seems to look the other way,” said Mandy Reed, founder of Oklahomans for Children’s Rights.
The petition was filed by Oklahomans for Children's Rights, It says in part, they are “requesting this court impanel a grand jury for the purpose of investigating crimes against children and their families.”
In a press conference at the state capitol Monday morning, Representative Justin “JJ” Humphrey calls out alleged problems at DHS. “It is time that we, the Oklahoma people, take back our government,” said Rep. Humphrey (R-Lane). “Massive amounts of evidence and yet nothing is being done.”
Representative Humphrey was at the forefront of a request for the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigations to launch an investigation of Oklahoma Human Services. But, it has not yet been approved.
“It's important to push forward because there are hundreds of thousands of children that are affected by this,” said Reed.
Reed says she is hoping to get a grand jury approved, so they can have additional methods to look into individual caseworkers inside of DHS.
“We're not asking for us to go in and tell you a story and you believe us, we have the evidence to prove all the things that have happened,” said Reed.
Reed started Oklahomans for Children’s Rights, the face behind the new petition. But she says she is not alone in this fight. “There are a lot of parents I talk to on a daily basis that we are helping each other push for change, and the stories are all sounding the same,” said Reed.
The petition lays out a list of ten allegations against DHS:
“It's not just crimes against children; I mean these are crimes against the families, crimes against the state, these are horrific things that are going on in our state. This is a crime against humanity,” said Reed.
They're working to get petitions moving in multiple counties. To convene a grand jury in any Oklahoma county, a minimum of 500 signatures is required.
Oklahoma Human Services responded in a statement saying: "Oklahoma Human Services is an advocate for transparency and will fully cooperate with any investigation into the agency."
Haley Weger joined the News 9 team as a multi-media journalist in August 2022. She came to OKC from Lake Charles, Louisiana. Haley began her career as a producer and multi-media reporter and then transitioned to a morning anchor position. While she was in Louisiana, Haley covered an array of news topics, and covered multiple hurricanes on the coast.
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