OKLAHOMA CITY – NorthCare is a new requesting agency added to the 111Project Network of Care in 2023.  

NorthCare is a nonprofit organization with the mission of strengthening communities by improving health and safety, one family at a time.  

NorthCare provides an array of services for adults, youth and families who are working to recover from mental health, substance abuse, trauma or crisis. They provide more than 20 programs for people of all ages in Oklahoma City and the surrounding area. NorthCare serves 45 counties and provided services for over 9,000 individuals in Fiscal Year 23.  

They became a requesting agency on CarePortal in March of 2023 and have served 380 children in less than a year, which has had an economic impact of $223,276. Three programs utilize CarePortal: Comprehensive Home-Based Services (CHBS), the SafeCare program and the Family KINnections program.  

NorthCare’s CHBS program covers the western half of the state and provides a family with educational resources and support to help the family prevent the removal of a child or help with the reunification process. The CHBS education focuses on parent-child interaction, child behavior, safety, health, relationships, etc.  

The SafeCare program works in prevention and its goal is to strengthen families and reduce stress for caregivers, by providing support, education and resources. This program serves children under six, and that do not currently have child welfare involvement.  

The Family KINnections program serves kinship foster families in Oklahoma County. The goal of this program is to help kinship families navigate through the system, provide support, and connect them to resources so the child can stay in the same placement.  

NorthCare Director of Family Preservation Services Dwan McDonald said all three programs utilize CarePortal, but the Family KINnections program uses it the most. 

McDonald said they decided to become an independent requesting agency on CarePortal when they were expanding the SafeCare program because they saw how it would be a useful resource in rural communities.  

There are no resources for some needed items – like a washer and dryer – and those items can be hard to find, but CarePortal gives hope that there’s a possibility that need could be met, McDonald said.  

“You can definitely see the stress and burden being lifted in those moments so they can focus on the really important stuff like their kiddos,” she said.    

McDonald said CarePortal has opened the doors to the community and has been a blessing to the families they serve.  

For more information on NorthCare, click here.