In one of the most vulnerable moments of Constance Bear’s life, a caseworker handed her a packet.  That pile of papers and minimal support from a caseworker was all she received after her children were removed from her home. A lack of communication and up-close encounters with others who ha d similar experiences in the child welfare system left her with no hope. In Oklahoma, a child is legally considered deprived when they lack proper parental care, have been abused or neglected, or their home is unsafe due to issues like substance abuse or domestic violence. Limited parent representation in deprived child cases has left many in Bear’s situation: their child has been taken, they have little help and no legal representation. Several courts in Oklahoma struggle to find attorneys to represent parents who are indigent. And the attorneys who are assigned are often spread thin and unable to provide quality representation, let alone peer support.  “Everybody wants to represent kids, but nobody wanted to represent parents,” said Doris Fransein, former chief judge of the juvenile division in Tulsa County. “There were judges calling the Administration Office of the Courts and saying, ‘You got to send to someone from somewhere, because we there are no attorneys that are willing to do this.’ And then the ones that were, were not trained and really didn’t know what they were doing.” Bear needed help. “It was my worst nightmare, and then it happened,” Bear said. “I’ve seen so many of my family and friends lose to the system …. You see grandparents raising kids, or different family (members). It’s happened to a lot of my close friends and family and that’s what made me feel like it was over with when it started.” Bear, struggling with drug addiction, had no one urging her to fight the state’s case. Whem she lost her younger children to the system too, Bear’s new caseworker gave her the hope she had long lost. That caseworker’s support helped Bear reunify with her children, making her one of the few lucky ones.  The Family Representation Advocacy Program, created under the Family Representation Advocacy Act, focuses on providing uniformly available, high-quality representation for both children and parents in juvenile-deprived cases. It was implemented to address attorney deserts, lack of training and poor compensation for attorneys and minimal support for clients. The Administrative Office of the Courts contracted with Legal Aid Services of Oklahoma to create the Oklahoma Office of Family Representation to manage the program following the enactment of the law in 2023. FRAP has increased training and compensation for lawyers and created interdisciplinary teams to support legal processes and clients. The program began its implementation in 30 counties in 2024 and stretched into 50 counties on Feb. 1.  Despite the program’s growth, FRAP is struggling to offer services in all of Oklahoma’s 77 counties, as the law intended. A report on FRAP’s fiscal year 2026 revealed the program needs $16 million in annual legislative appropriations to operate statewide — about $5.5 million more than it received for FY 2026.  Attorney Deserts Fransein, in her role in the juvenile division, was responsible for assigning counsel for indigent parties in Tulsa County. She said finding quality representation for parents was a struggle.  Judges in rural counties couldn’t find attorneys willing to represent parents, and when attorneys were sent to the area, they were untrained in family law, Fransein said. Fransein became a consultant to Casey Family Programs and worked on the initial task force that researched system flaws.  “You saw attorneys that weren’t talking to their clients, so they would just sit there and have nothing to offer during the case or information,” Fransein said. “They were in need of basic training, how to try a jury trial, how to preserve a record for appeal … just basic, standard stuff. That wasn’t just what I viewed, but that was what we were hearing from judges statewide. The quality was just not good, and certainly there weren’t enough of them.”  Fransein’s experiences as chief justice led her to identify training and education as important factors in addressing shortfalls in legal representation. But growing the attorney pool through uniform pay was the first priority.  “When you have attorney deserts and a right to counsel, trial counsel and appellate counsel … we didn’t have lawyers to fulfill those rights. We were having a large access to justice problem,” OFR executive director Gwendolyn Clegg said. Clegg was a parent attorney for 18 years and saw firsthand how attorney rates varied depending on the court’s funds. No uniform criteria applied based on services or caseloads.  Clegg said judges got creative to attract attorneys. A judge and his wife in Love County provided lawyers with breakfast burritos to entice them to come work the juvenile docket, she said.  Judges in counties with the program have a list of OFR attorneys who can be contacted and paid through legislative appropriations, rather than through court funds. For rural counties with limited money, not paying the attorneys on the juvenile docket allows the court to pay for jurors, attorneys on other dockets, courthouse improvements and more, Fransein said.  “The court funds weren’t equipped with enough money to actually entice lawyers to come do this work,” Clegg said. “Lawyer compensation is what created the deserts. Lawyers, at times, were not compensated at all for this work. And there were times when they were compensated with food, and then there were times they were compensated with a few dollars.”  Now, no matter the caseload, OFR attorneys are guaranteed a living wage. Attorneys working on 20-40 cases receive $4,000 a month; 40-60 cases receive $6,000 and 60-80 receive $8,000.  “They (attorneys) never felt valued before,” Clegg said. “You’re running a private practice, and you’re trying to get back to the community. You’re trying to represent vulnerable folks in your community and trying to be a community partner, but at the same time, you have your family and your bills and everything to pay.”  As uniform payment for attorneys changes the landscape of family law, training and education are at the forefront of the conversation. Training and case management through FRAP is supposed to help attorneys deal with what Clegg calls a difficult area of law. The Office of Family Representation is meant to go statewide, as shown on this map, but the program is $5.5 million short. (Raynee Howell/Oklahoam Watch) In FY 2026, 706 people signed up for FRAP training, and the OFR staff hosted 48 courses. All training sessions were open to non-attorneys and interdisciplinary team members who support clients, including peer mentors, social workers and other contractors. Other organizations also brought in OFR to lead training that was not added to the list, according to the FY 2026 report. Seventy-three trial attorneys and seven appellate attorneys also continued legal education, logging 188 hours of training from the Oklahoma Bar Association.  “These cases are unique,” Clegg said. “They are special and they are specific. They are not easy for someone to just come pick up a case file, walk into court and do like a criminal plea for a traffic ticket. It is such nuanced work.” Clegg said she has interviewed attorneys who were working more than 120 cases at a time, spread across rural areas. Metro-area attorneys average between 70-120 cases, she said. The program conducts annual performance reviews and sets a caseload cap of 80 to preserve efficiency and quality for its attorneys.  Lack of Peer Support Filling the much-needed gap in legal representation is an important step in addressing the state of Oklahoma’s child welfare system. But for parents and children going through court proceedings, it’s important to be recognized as more than a case number.  OFR attorneys or judges can request an interdisciplinary team if the parent or child is in need of additional support. A team consists of an attorney, a social worker and a peer mentor. Fransein said peer mentors are wonderful at reaching clients in ways attorneys can’t.  “Attorneys are not social workers,” Fransein said. “They need to spend their time in the courtroom. And peer mentors are heaven-sent. I can’t even begin to tell you how helpful I have observed them to be for parents and (for) motivating parents.”  Parents are often given an individualized service plan, which can consist of mental health treatment, substance abuse prevention, drug testing and other services. When it’s followed, it can be used as evidence of the parent’s progress and eventually lead to potential reunification with their children. Social workers and peer mentors help parents navigate their plan and allow the attorney to focus on advocating for their client, Fransein said.  Bear, who has now been sober for four years, became a parent mentor. Her experience with her caseworker pushed her to make a difference for other parents. Instead of clients being handed a packet of resources and a plan, Bear said, she is there on a personal level, speaking in layman’s terms to help clients understand the next steps.  “I’m there to say, ‘I know that it feels like there’s no answers, but it’s a moving plan,’” Bear said. “(I’m there) to provide that reassurance, and being able to just kind of identify with each other. I think that really helps pull them through.”  Peer mentors are available for both parents and children and are paid $22 per hour. The only requirement for the position is lived experience as a parent or child in the child welfare system. Social workers are paid $35 per hour and must be master’s level.  In FY 2026, an interdisciplinary team was used in 230 cases, but demand for such teams still outstrips supply. OFR is exploring additional options to address the gap, including contracting with organizations that can provide mentorship, according to the FY 2026 report.  Statewide Implementation In FY 2025, OFR identified which Department of Human Services regions the FRAP program would serve. Region 2 (southwest Oklahoma) and Region 5 (northeast Oklahoma) were the first to receive the program, which eventually expanded to 30 counties.  During FY 2026, program leaders considered extending services to the remaining counties in Oklahoma. Under the current appropriations, a full statewide implementation was not feasible.  Carryover funding from previous fiscal years is allowing services to continue to be introduced on a staggered schedule. On Feb. 1, 13 new counties — Canadian, Logan, Payne, Garfield, Grant, Kay, Kingfisher, Noble, McIntosh, Okfuskee, Okmulgee, Pittsburg and Seminole — brought the number of counties eligible for the program to 50.  The goal now is to roll out statewide legal services and interdisciplinary teams to the remaining 27 counties. To run the program across the state, $22 million is needed annually; $16 million in state appropriations and $6 million in federal funding.   State appropriations are short $5.5 million. AOC is requesting that the difference be disbursed as soon as possible, or at a minimum, over the next three fiscal years. At the program’s current funding levels, 35% of Oklahomans lack access to FRAP’s services. The rollout across all 77 counties would affect multiple systems, not just thisone, Clegg said. It could stabilize attorney caseloads, increase the quality of representation and provide much-needed support for clients across the state.  Bear helps clients understand the process and speak to their attorneys with more confidence. She said the expansion into every county, funding permitting, will help mentors like her give hope to clients. “There’s really hard days,” Bear said. “But I do still enjoy the work that I do, because it is important to me, and it’s important to me because I’ve survived it. I’m here to say, ‘You can do this,’ and ‘You can have a life that is full of love and happiness.’” The post From Breakfast Burritos to Living Wages: How Oklahoma Is Fixing Attorney Deserts in Child Welfare Cases appeared first on Oklahoma Watch. ...read more read less