Community members invited to support child welfare needs at expansion celebration

OKLAHOMA CITY (April 8, 2024) – Oklahoma Human Services is pleased to announce the first-ever multi-county expansion of CarePortal. The community is invited to join in a launch celebration for five southwestern Oklahoma counties - Jackson, Harmon, Greer, Kiowa, and Tillman - from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Wednesday, April 10 at the Seminar Center at Southwest Technology Center, 711 W. Tamarack Road in Altus. Interested attendees should register in advance to ensure enough space and materials.

CarePortal is a collaborative partnership between Global Orphan Project, 111Project and Oklahoma Human Services. This online platform shares the needs of local children in state custody and their families to a community of churches, allowing them to respond to the needs in real-time. Professionals in the child welfare system focus on family needs that could be preventative of child welfare involvement and/or support child safety and family permanency. The 111Project organizes ministry partners and trainings so the local community can step forward to support their neighbors and help children and families thrive.

"When the community surrounds their neighbors and offers tangible supports, the trajectories of lives can be changed in powerful ways. This is the work of CarePortal," said Jami Majors, Oklahoma Human Services Director of Strategic Engagement. "No matter your resources, there is a place for you to help. We encourage every congregation in these counties to learn how they can partner and support the families in their community." 

The 111Project agrees that the CarePortal can help the faith community make positive impacts for their neighbors.

"We always ask, 'What if we had more than enough' - more than enough resources so biological families can achieve not just reunification but restoration, more than enough people caring for and serving others so no one is alone, more than enough foster families so families are waiting on children instead of children waiting on families," said Chris Campbell, Executive Director of the 111Project. "We exist to mobilize the faith community so that the local church is not just aware of needs of children and families in crisis but are partnered with the state to see that those families have all the support that they need."

For Oklahoma Human Services CarePortal questions or to learn how you can partner with the agency to support families in your community, please contact Andrea.Stasyszen@okdhs.org. For information on how your church can participate in CarePortal, please contact the 111Project at info@111project.org.

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