NCJ Number
126367
Date Published
Unknown
Length
10 pages
Annotation
This article profiles the Oklahoma Commission on Children and Youth, its creation, legal authority, and activities and accomplishments.
Abstract
It presents a historical overview of its creation by the Oklahoma legislature in response to the Terry D lawsuit, Ganett News Service articles on abuse and neglect in facilities of the Oklahoma Department of Human Services, and McCorkle's legislation for the juvenile justice and child welfare system. The legislation assigned inspection, investigation, and oversight of the juvenile justice system to the Office of Juvenile System Oversight (OJSO) within the Commission. OJSO provides oversight at the facility levels through site inspections and facility reports and at the individual levels through grievance and complaint reviews and addresses system-wide issues that affect juveniles. In addition to OJSO, the Commission has jurisdiction over two other advisory boards concerned with juvenile justice: Oklahoma Council on Juvenile Justice and the State JJDP program. In the future, the Commission may coordinate other youth services such as prevention, aftercare, and education.