Metro Families Rally for Change

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Oklahoma families, broken apart by the state's child welfare system, are rallying for change. They say they want a child's best interest to be taken to heart.

Choosing their message for the day may have been the biggest decision rally participants had to make in front of the Oklahoma County Juvenile Justice Center.

But the most important decision of some of these protestors' lives was made by child welfare workers and judges when children were taken from home.

"We actually have a member who just won custody of his daughter back from DHS this week," Clarence Cooper with Oklahoma Family Rights Coalition said.

The Oklahoma Family Rights Coalition is circulating a petition calling for the number of children unnecessarily removed from their homes in Oklahoma to go down. A recent audit of the Department of Human Services revealed that Oklahoma has nearly twice the number of children in state custody than the entire nation.

"DHS is really but one part of the child welfare system," Mary Leaver, DHS spokesperson, said. "The part that is probably most important is a district court. A decision whether to remove a child or to leave that child in their home is made by a juvenile court judge."

The Department of Human Services says, on behalf of the children in the state, they are working to correct the past. The number of children entering foster care is at its lowest point in five years.

"Progress is being made in the right way, but obviously it's going to take a lot of work to continue to sustain that positive progress," Leaver said.

The few members of the grass-roots organization who turned out to protest the system said there is still injustice.

And that they will continue to work to re-establish the ideals of community, family and leadership accountability in Oklahoma.

"To the families who have been unnecessarily separated, we're here for you, we're pushing for this change, we want to help you and we want you to help us," Clarence Cooper II said.

The group says they also support the children who were wrongly left in abusive homes. DHS says they are working to correct the problems.

In response to the DHS audit, a state-wide child abuse hotline was also established. If you need to report abuse -- you can call 1-800-522-3511.