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Oklahoma Is Adding Foster Homes Faster Than Any Other State

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Oklahoma has had the largest increase in foster homes in the nation over the past five years, according to a new study.

As KFOR reports, the study—the first of its kind—was initiated to investigate the increasing number of foster kids in America each year and the concurrent decrease in foster homes.

Half of all states have seen their foster care capacities decrease in recent years.

States like Colorado and Texas have far too few homes to meet the placement needs of an increasing number of foster children. Kansas has also been increasing its foster home capacity, though not at the furious rate that Oklahoma has. Jami Ledoux is Oklahoma’s director of child welfare services.

She said in addition to increasing the number of homes, Oklahoma DHS has we “improved the experiences of children who come into contact with our system due to abuse or neglect.”