OKLAHOMA CITY – The Oklahoma Institute for Child Advocacy (OICA) is once again assisting Oklahoma Human Services (OHS) with their Holiday Hope program to provide support for foster youth in the state, according to Joe Dorman, OICA’s CEO.

Seven years ago, OICA took over the nonprofit OK Foster Wishes, which provided fulfillment of wish lists submitted by foster children for the gifts they would like to receive, similar to children sending a letter to Santa Claus.

As the COVID-19 pandemic struck, the program for collecting toys and distributing them through county OHS offices was shifted to collecting gift cards for the foster families and bridge parents to purchase the gifts themselves for the children.

This program assists not only the children in foster care, but also those families who have taken children into their homes until reunification can happen with the biological parents. There are nearly 6,000 children in foster care across the state, with those families receiving various levels of support to care for the youth in their homes.

The need is great because as of 2024, the OHS foster care reimbursement rates for the costs associated with the care of a child in their home have not changed in several years. The reimbursement is to be used for food, clothing, shelter, school supplies, personal incidentals, and reasonable travel. As you can see, this amount does not leave much left for also providing gifts over the holiday season.

The rates are as follows: • Age 0–5: $17.72 per day.

• Age 6–12: $20.42 per day.

• Age 13+: $22.62 per day.

These rates are per day and are subject to change. OHS pays the foster care rates directly to the family. Other rates include that can be applied above the basic daily rate include Therapeutic Foster Care at $19.76 per day Therapeutic Foster Care serves children aged 3-18 with special psychological, social, behavioral, and emotional needs who thrive in a family setting, but who require intensive or therapeutic services than those found in traditional foster care.

“OICA has created a link for individuals to directly donate to the program,” Dorman said. “This allows us to partner with local banks to fill gift cards which OHS will then deliver to the families.”

Go to https://tinyurl. com/OICAHH to donate to this program.

If you would like to directly support a child through a program offering fulfillment of gifts, we suggest reaching partners of the Holiday Hope program, such as Fostering Connections in northeast Oklahoma. Their site is https://www.foster-ingconnectionsok. org/ fostering-joy and you can choose a variety of options to help.