Local churches can now work with OKDHS to serve families in need 

MADILL – Within her 900 square foot home, former foster parent Jill Smith housed 19 foster kids over five years. Throughout her years as a foster parent, Smith said there were many times she needed help. 

At one point she gave up her master bedroom so she could keep siblings together. To do so, she needed a bunkbed, which was donated from some friends. Another time a child threw a football through the window.  

“My home church came to my rescue,” Jill Smith said. “Had I not had such amazing friends, church and all the support from the family, those things probably wouldn’t have been met.” 

Last week, a new connection technology called CarePortal, was launched in Marshall County that provide churches with the opportunity to serve those in need within the community. CarePortal allows agency partners – like Oklahoma Department of Human Services Child Welfare – to submit vetted needs to the community and local churches to serve families in crisis. 

“We know there’s people in the community that are opening their homes to foster these kids,” she said. “But they don’t have that resource. And so, this resource is going to be that resource for them.” 

Former foster parent Jill Smith spoke at the Marshall County CarePortal Launch.

Marshall County has 27 children in foster care as of July 1, according to monthly numbers released by the OKDHS. 

OKDHS District Director Kelly Slover said she is very thankful for the churches coming together to support the children and families in Marshall County.  

“I just really wanted to say thank you, to the community partners, to the churches and to the 111Project,” she said. “We are blessed to have CarePortal now in Marshall County, it’s something that we have been wanting for quite some time, since it rolled out in other counties.” 

Marshall is the eighth county launched in 2023 and is the 48th county launched in total, which is more than halfway to statewide expansion. 

Slover said CarePortal is a unique way to not only support biological families, kinship families and traditional foster families, but also to serve families early and reunify families.  

“We are so excited about this opportunity to be able to talk today about the ability to support those kinship foster families in such a different way than we had before,” she said. “Typically, we’ve had to reach out, sometimes out of our own pockets, sometimes through reaching out to organizations in the metro areas to meet the needs for kinship families. So, we, once again, we’re just very thankful to have this opportunity.” 

OKDHS District Director Kelly Slover presented numbers at the CarePortal launch in Marshall County.

CarePortal is managed by 111Project, which is a not-for-profit 501c3 with the mission to mobilize the local church so every child has family. The organization’s initial goal is to mobilize 1,000 churches across Oklahoma that can serve at least one family a month on CarePortal and recruit and support a foster family every year.   

If 1,000 out of the 6,200 churches in Oklahoma commit to recruit and support one foster family a year, and serve one family a month on CarePortal, the state will move closer to having more than enough help for children and families in crisis. 

“We know that there are partners in every community that are already doing this work, they’re already caring, they’re already loving their neighbor, they’re already caring for the least of these and for the most vulnerable in their community,” 111Project Western Director Kristin Langrehr said during the launch. “We just want to help you combine your networks and your resources and help you coordinate with one another to work together.” 

Five churches including First Baptist Madill, First Methodist Madill, New Beginnings Madill, Madill Church of Christ and Iglesia Bautista Nueva Vida were a part of the initial CarePortal launch. 

Pastor Steve Litrell of First Methodist Madill spoke at the launch and said he used to be a single father of two elementary age children. There were times when money was tight and he needed assistance, he said. It was his church family that came alongside him during critical times of need, he said.  

“I’m thankful for the 111Project, for coming and asking us to be ministry partners in this to embrace the children, embrace those who care for the children and make a difference in their lives,” he said. 

James 1:27 states: Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. 

Litrell said this applies to the foster care system in today’s world. Although churches in Marshall County are already providing services ranging from food and clothes to work and utility assistance, CarePortal is another way to pool resources, he said.  

“I’m thankful for the 111Project that it has come along as another resource and another way to minister to those on the on the margins in our society, who need family,” he said. 

Any churches or individuals interested in learning more or getting involved can visit 111project.org. 

“We couldn’t do this without the help from CarePortal and the 111Project,” Slover said.