Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Juvenile Justice Budget topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Oklahoma Office of Juvenile Affairs requests $6.5 million for wage parity, specialty placements and group-home rates
Summary
The Office of Juvenile Affairs told the Appropriations and Budget committee it seeks recurring funds to raise frontline staff pay, equalize group-home rates and secure placements for youth with developmental or intellectual disabilities to avoid out-of-state placements.
The Director, Office of Juvenile Affairs, told the Appropriations and Budget committee the agency seeks additional recurring funding to address staffing and placement problems across Oklahoma's juvenile justice continuum.
The request includes $5,000,000 to establish wage parity for frontline residential care specialists across OJA group homes and the Tecumseh secure care facility, and roughly $1,500,000 to help place young people with developmental and intellectual disabilities in appropriate in-state settings, according to the director’s presentation.
Why it matters: OJA oversees secure care, group homes, detention centers and community-based youth service agencies that serve youth adjudicated delinquent; its ability to recruit and retain direct-care staff affects facility operations, program continuity and the agency’s capacity to keep youth in-state.
Details from the presentation: The director said OJA employs about 500 people statewide, operates a secure care facility in Tecumseh with roughly 50–55 youth, about 11 group homes and roughly 11 detention centers, and partners with roughly 37 youth service agencies providing community-based prevention and front-line services across all 77 counties. She said higher salaries are needed so OJA can compete with corrections and county jail recruiting and retainment.
On placement for youth with developmental or intellectual disabilities, the director said some youth in OJA custody would be better served in other systems such as the Department of Mental Health or Department of Human Services (DHS), but those partners would also require funding to accept custody. The agency requested funds to help find in-state placements and avoid sending youth out of state.
Committee exchange: Representative Povinelli asked about prevention programming and long-term reach. Constanza Nitsa, introduced as an OJA staff member, described prevention curricula (including a life-skills curriculum delivered by youth service agencies through local school partnerships) and noted functional family therapy is now available in all 77 counties. Deputy Director Michelle Millington outlined transitional living program startup status, reporting four contracts and roughly 15 active beds in Tulsa, Ardmore, Norman and Weatherford.
What the request would do: Agency leaders said the $5 million wage request is intended to lift pay for residential care specialists to be competitive with local corrections and jail employment, improving recruitment and retention. The roughly $1.5 million placement request would be used to secure appropriate in-state placements for youth with developmental disabilities when partners cannot immediately accept custody.
Missing or not specified: The director did not provide a complete line-by-line budget document in the hearing and did not supply a detailed staffing or implementation timeline beyond general estimates. Specific legislative bill references or ordinance numbers were not provided.
Looking ahead: The committee thanked OJA for the presentation and indicated continued budget discussion; no formal action was taken during the hearing.
