DHS Is Obligated to Make Efforts to Place the Child With a Kinship Placement
Video Transcribed: Are grandparents given preference in foster placements? Hi, I’m Tulsa Grandparents Rights Attorney, Justin Mosteller, I’m here to discuss this with you today. Now, yes, the answer is yes, grandparents are given preference in foster placements. It’s for a couple of reasons.
First of all, DHS is obligated to make active efforts to place the child with a kinship placement. Kinship placement just means a family member of the child.
In terms of choosing family members, there is a preference statute in title 43 of Oklahoma’s law that provides for grandparents being the second choice, behind parents, for placement of a child. DHS has incorporated that preference statute into its own policy in making these types of decisions.
Now that said, DHS will look at other factors, specifically, they look for a previous history of DHS involvement. That can be disqualifying for a foster placement. If you’ve got issues with DHS in the past, you may have to take additional steps to get placement.
We talk about that in some other videos, but generally speaking, grandparents do get preference in these foster placement decisions. If you’re in that situation, I highly recommend that you talk to a qualified attorney. If you have any more questions, feel free to seek counsel from our office to speak with a Grandparents Rights Attorney in Tulsa, OK, we’d be happy to help.