SCHOOL-BASED FAMILY SERVICES PROGRAM

Join the Oklahoma Rural Schools Coalition for the recorded version of our recent September 2024 webinar with Oklahoma Human Services. This webinar features a panel of experts who aim to introduce Oklahoma’s newly revamped School Based Family Services Program to educators, administrators, parents, and community partners across the state.

In a recent survey focused on barriers to student success and well being, 57% of educators reported challenges outside of school as a top barrier to student success.

This program addresses many of those personal challenges by providing a partnership between OHS and your local district to employ a school-based social specialist (SBS) in order to focus on these challenges with the dedicated purpose of providing a human service connection and support to the children and families served by the school, as well as the schools’ teachers and administrators.

The SBS connects students and their families to local and state resources that can offer help and hope for the family. This compassionate and professional support helps students navigate out-of-classroom obstacles that would affect their success in the classroom and allows teachers to focus on teaching.

The school district takes on the employment of these specialists, assuming responsibility for employment benefits and 20% of the salary cost, with Oklahoma Human Services contributing the other 80%. The goal is to provide attainable preventative services as a first-line defense to help students and families overcome barriers, improve outcomes, reduce risk factors, and provide resources to improve community well-being through positive collaboration and support.

Only a handful of Oklahoma’s public school districts are currently taking advantage of this incredible partnership opportunity and OHS aims to increase that number dramatically over the next year. Target counties are listed below, however if your district is not in a target county you are not excluded from participating.

Some of the student and parent supports you can expect through the OHS School-Based Family Services program include:

If your district is interested in learning more or signing up for this game-changing program, scan the QR code below or click this link to complete the interest form. If you have additional questions about the program, please contact Program Administrator Monica Brumnett (monica.brumnett@okdhs.org / 918.430.6184) or Field Manager Heather Cristiano (heather.cristiano@okdhs.org / 918.244.0667) for more information (contact info listed below):