Prayer Points:

Pray for the people involved: 

• Pray for the emotional and physical health of professionals of the CPS (Child Protective Services) involved in the removal of children from their homes, who are often females, going into potentially dangerous scenarios. 

• Pray for local law enforcement that may be available to assist in removals. 

• Pray that in potentially one of the darkest moments for parents, this would be a turning point in their life. 

• Pray for the emotional and mental health of children removed. That God would protect their hearts and minds. That even though they may be removed from harm, what the enemy meant for the destruction of their family, God would somehow use for good. 

Pray for the places involved:

• Pray for homes… as the epicenter of God’s plan, but also the target of the enemy’s attacks. 

• Pray for community organizations that provide support to children when they are removed. In many communities, this is a local OKDHS office. A child may have to wait hours at an office, in an agency vehicle, or even at a police stations while placements with hopefully a relative or potentially a foster family are arranged.

• Pray for the local church, that we would have eyes to see the daily crisis that is occurring in our communities. 

Activity:

Imagine you are a child being removed from their home. What emotions would you feel? What needs would you have? If you were able, what items would you try to take from your home? Even if those items had no monetary significance, what would they mean to you?

Get Involved:

• Local case workers typically have less than a day to find a permanent placement. OKDHS often describes the goal of this placement to be the first, only, and best placement to potentially prevent trauma that can occur when a child is removed from what is familiar, to scenarios with strangers. Befriend a local caseworker or member of law enforcement so that your community’s first responder knows that you are there to help.

• Have a local OKDHS office in your community? Could it be a place to provide resources from basic toiletries, clothing, and bedding or specific needs to address direct needs of children from snacks to hair lice treatment kits. The stress of removals affects front line workers significantly. From trying to watch children while trying to find placements for them, to the long hours and difficult conversations that occur during a removal. If a local office is open to it, what could on-call, vetted, and approved volunteers do to assist children in your community?

• Consider having your church, business, or even family sign up to meet needs on 111Project’s CarePortal in Oklahoma. From a teenager wanting a hamburger to immediate needs of children that have been removed, your local front-line workers can ask for assistance that is specific to their cases.

Sophia’s Story (Continued):

Sophia quickly realized from the knock at her door that it was a police officer asking for the door to open. It was after dinner and her mom should have been home by now, but it was normal for her to be late. She saw the police car out the front window because of the lights, “You’re supposed to trust the police,” she thought. She heard the calm voice of a woman saying that she was there to help. Should she open the door? What was all of this about? She was trying to watch her brothers while her mom was working and it is really hard to get ahold of her mom while she works. Was all this related to what she told her teacher? “My mom is going to be so mad,” she thought. She decided to open the door, and the woman said she was Sophia’s caseworker and that Sophia and her brothers needed to pack up some of their things and leave with her. “Can I talk to my mom?” Sophia asks. The worker says that she has already visited with her mom. “She knows what is going on and I am just here to help,” the caseworker said. “We just need to take a short, little trip.” The worker assured Sophia, so she tried to be strong for her brothers, grabbed a few of their things, and headed into the bright plain, white vehicle, not knowing what was ahead. It seemed like hours, but who knows how long it was. Sophia hadn’t said much and neither had her brothers, but her youngest brother mentioned, “I’m hungry,” just as they pulled up to a big building with a stark “Human Services” sign on the outside. The farther they drove, Sophia realized she didn’t recognize anything in this new town. Where was she? Where was her mom? What was going to happen?