Okies Care

Okies Care We are getting ready to circulate an initiative petition to add a one percent state sales tax.

The proceeds from that tax will be distributed monthly to Oklahoma Child Protective Service Workers as a stipend.

10/05/2025

We have a new volunteer from Kay County. Thanks for caring about these kids.

10/01/2025

It Is Everyone’s Problem

There is the greatest extent of responsibility when you take a child from their mother. There is a responsibility to nurture, protect and provide for that child. In Oklahoma, that responsibility is not being met with duty. There is a shortage of Child Protective Case Workers and that shortage is causing children to be killed, injured and traumatized. The problem has worsened decade after decade, and the house, senate and governor’s office have not fixed the problem. It is time for citizens to fix the problem. Recently there was a response to one of our posts which read, “Not my child. Not my problem”. This was hurtful because I knew a young girl named Patience Thorlton who should have been protected by the state but was not. She was found barely alive in a ditch in Osage County. She died. Even if you don’t value girls like Patience, you would have to comprehend the tremendous cost this problem produces in Oklahoma. Children die who would have paid taxes. Children who could have flourished and contributed to Oklahoma are stunted by trauma. There are young people in jail who with the most minimal care could have contributed. Incarceration is extremely expensive. Don’t be ignorant like the man mentioned above. This problem belongs to all of us. It affects all of us. We are advocating a 1% sales tax with the proceeds going to a monthly stipend to CPS Workers. This will reduce turnover. It will increase the number and quality of people applying to be CPS Workers. We need volunteers to circulate this petition. Please visit okiescare.com and become an Okie Warrior.

By Douglas Graham

09/16/2025

The story of Okies Care.

09/07/2025

We have new volunteers from Woods and Tulsa counties.

09/06/2025

Third World Oklahoma?
It is shocking when you visit third world countries. In public areas, you are sometimes thronged with impoverished kids who are begging. Sometimes we have the condescending thought of, “This would never happen back home.”. You think, “Every child is full and protected back home”. The reality is that every child isn’t full and protected. We hide their suffering but it is still there. There are children suffering in Oklahoma. Our DHS Child Protective Service is being overwhelmed by the aftereffects of addiction. The addiction epidemic has caused a surge of neglected and abused children. It has also caused a shortage of caseworkers. We as Oklahomans have a choice. We can become a third-world country and let these kids fend for themselves or we can take responsibility for these vulnerable children. Okies Care wants to pass a 1% sales tax with the proceeds going to a monthly stipend for CPS workers. This will help recruit more workers, reduce turnover and help with the quality of social workers. These kids need to be protected. We need volunteers. Signup and help us at okiescare.com
Douglas Graham

08/20/2025

Happiness Lost

At the core of American values is the “pursuit of happiness.” The text comes from the Declaration of Independence. The country’s founders believed that every human had rights given by their Creator. These rights are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The Declaration states that these rights are “inalienable.” They are fundamental. There is a marginalized group in Oklahoma who do not have these rights. I am not talking about the undocumented or the impoverished. These basic rights have been deprived of Oklahoma’s foster children. There is a shortage of Child Protective Case Workers in Oklahoma. Current case workers are working long hours and still not able to adequately care for Oklahoma’s foster children. The result is child death, child trauma and negative outcomes. This problem is fixable. If we raise the salary of Child Protective Service Caseworkers, it will reduce turnover and help recruit more and better case workers. This is a hard job and many times when given the opportunity, workers transfer to other state jobs. If we raise the salary, we can make a difference with this problem. This problem is fixable, but we need an army. We need volunteers to circulate a petition for a penny sales tax increase. The proceeds from this tax will go to a monthly stipend for CPS workers. We need you and your friends. Help us. Visit okiescare.com.

08/01/2025

We have new volunteers from Wagner, Tulsa and Cleveland Counties.

07/29/2025

We Need Help!

The problem. The problem is there aren’t enough child protective service workers. This is causing exhausted workers from working overtime. The crisis. Children are under-supervised and getting harmed while in the system. The solution. A penny sales tax with the proceeds going to a monthly stipend for Child Protective Service Case Workers. The result. This will reduce burnout. It will slow transfers to other state agencies. The better pay will help the quality of applicants. Our solution will reduce the shortage of case workers. We need your help. To get this on the ballot, we need 2000 volunteers to circulate an initiative petition. Children have died, been injured and traumatized. Can you help? okiescare.com

Douglas Graham

07/04/2025

Foster children have God given rights too. The signers of the Declaration of Independence would not understand how we treat children. Happy Fourth of July.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

06/30/2025

Notice Them

Most people don’t see them. If you look though you can notice them. You will see them sitting on a row of chairs outside of a court room. You can see them at all hours of the night. They may be stopping at a gas station to go to the restroom or get a snack. They are usually with one other person. If they are young, you will see them holding that person’s hand. You see that one other person is all they have. Their face may be sullen. They are kids but they have seen way more trauma and pain than their peers. They are wards of the state. A judge has deemed them endangered and they are in transit to something else. I say something else because it is not always better and it is not always safer. There really is only one person in their corner. They have traveled with that person. Sometimes they have traveled with them for hundreds of miles. That person is their caseworker. Their caseworkers have many files of many children. The caseworkers in Oklahoma are overworked and have an impossible job. There aren’t enough caseworkers and the ones we do have are stretched to the breaking point. What if we wanted to make a dramatic improvement to the lives of these children that nobody notices? We need to make sure that these caseworkers are the best available. We need to make sure that there are enough caseworkers to supervise the care of these children and keep them safe. Okies Care would like to pass a penny sales tax with the proceeds to go as a monthly stipend to Oklahoma Child Protective Case Workers. This will increase the quality of caseworkers and reduce the shortage of caseworkers. Please visit our website and click on “Become and Okie Warrior”. We need volunteers throughout the state to circulate our petition. We can make a huge difference for these kids. See a link to our website on the first comment. By Douglas Graham

06/16/2025

We have new volunteers from Comanche and Delaware Counties.

06/16/2025

Fix The Bridge

It is kind of like a bridge being out. Our Oklahoma state and county governments don’t always maintain things like they should. Sometimes a bridge just buckles and falls in. A bridge out sign is placed and the road is closed. They raise the money and replace the bridge. The problem with the Child Case Worker Shortage is that everyone knows the bridge is out. They have known for years. Children have died and there may be short lived outrage but the problem is never corrected. There is no sign. No one tells the kids that they better be careful because there aren’t enough people to look out for their welfare. They just leave the bridge out and once in a while a child dies. The harm doesn’t end there. Many children are traumatized or abused and it doesn’t even make the newspapers. Okies Care wants to fix the problem and we have a plan to fix the problem. We need volunteers to help us collect signatures for an initiative petition. Go to our website and click on the Oklahoma Warriors page. We are going to force the state to look at and solve this problem. There is no reason not to fix this bridge. Please share this post. The website address is in the first comment. Thank you. By Douglas Graham

Address

P. O. Box 56
Burlington, OK
73722

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