OKLAHOMA – There are 300 volunteers across Oklahoma serving as the eyes and ears for children in child welfare and advocating for their unspoken needs.  

They serve on Post Adjudication Review Boards (PARB), which are citizen-led review boards that review court cases where a child has been removed from their home due to abuse or neglect. PARB volunteers make recommendations to the court focusing on the child’s best interests and work to identify and address any barriers that would negatively impact the child welfare, court, or foster care system.  

“We’ve had great volunteers that have not known anything about child welfare system they just want to help,” PARB Program Manager Keith Pirtle said.  

PARB partnered with 111Project in 2023 to utilize CarePortal to recruit volunteers across the state. Through CarePortal, eight PARB volunteers were recruited in Tulsa County and two were recruited in Oklahoma County.  

“It’s been really successful,” Tulsa County PARB Coordinator Malayna Hasmanis said. “CarePortal has been helpful in one helping us kind of feel that we know these are folks that are genuinely invested in their community.” 

Oklahoma County PARB Coordinator Christina Whatley and Hasmanis agreed that CarePortal is instrumental in helping PARB grow and recruit volunteers that jump right in and have a heart to serve children. 

“Some of our strongest volunteers have come from CarePortal, and it’s been individuals that also have diverse backgrounds,” Hasmanis said. “If we’re representing a county, we have to be diverse and who we’re representing, right? CarePortal has been very instrumental in having another touch point of just casting a wide net, but also the people that have a clear track record of caring for the community. It’s tough to recruit volunteers, especially when it’s heavy content like this.” 

CarePortal has not only helped recruit volunteers, but also raise awareness of the mission of PARB and create an ongoing relationship with the community, Pirtle said. 

“CarePortal is great from both aspects, from identifying resources for individual family members to the whole relationship thing,” he said. “It’s a good bridge to get churches and Sunday school classes or whatever – people who want to make a difference and care – and get them connected. And that’s what PARB does – we’re a group of citizens that want to make the world a better place for kids.” 

CarePortal is a connection technology that provides different ways the church can get involved in the child welfare crisis and serve children and families in need. A tier system is offered that allows everyone to serve at the level they feel prepared for.  

Teir one is to meet tangible needs like diapers, wipes, etc. Teir two is to meet time requests like babysitting, becoming a Court Appointed Special Advocate or serving as a PARB volunteer. Teir three is a familial response where families become foster parents or provide respite care.  

“For me it’s always been a dream that we would mobilize people in deeper levels of commitment,” 111Project Executive Director Chris Campbell said. “Relationships can bring hurt, but it’s also relationships that bring healing and restoration.” 

Campbell said time is a bigger asset and harder to give up because it is limited and therefore harder to find volunteers. He said the tier system is helpful because it gives volunteers a chance to wade in the water of serving others before they go to deeper levels and grow the network of care.  

“If CarePortal can provide the network of recruiting easier, the entire network benefits,” he said. “The best way to recruit a new volunteer is through an existing volunteer.” 

In Tulsa and Oklahoma County, there are a variety of boards volunteers can serve on. There are four boards that need volunteers named: Independent Living Services, Domestic Violence/Mental Health Board, Indian Child Welfare Act and Tulsa Board 2. In Oklahoma County, there are seven boards in need named: Indian Child Welfare Act, Domestic Violence Board, Board #13, Transition Board, Board #2, Board #7, and the Mental Health Board.  

Hasmanis said she would love to grow exponentially and have 10-15 new volunteers in 2024 and Whatley said she would love to have 5-7 new volunteers.  

“The more volunteers we have, the more cases we can assign,” Hasmanis said. 

A board must have five volunteers or the board dissolves. Out of 77 Oklahoma counties, 36 counties do not have enough volunteers to have a PARB board. Those counties include Cimarron, Texas, Beaver, Harper, Ellis, Woods, Alfalfa, Grant, Kingfisher, Washita, Harmon, Greer, Kiowa, Jackson, Tillman, Caddo, Grady, Cotton, Stephens, Jefferson, Pawnee, Pottawatomie, Seminole, Hughes, Carter, Murray, Johnston, Marshall, Coal, Atoka, Choctaw, McCurtain, McIntosh, Muskogee, Cherokee and Adair.  

“If we dissolve a board, we lose a chance to advocate for children in that space,” she said. 

The requirements include living or working in the judicial district, filling out the application, completing a background check, attending a 2-hour initial training, and attending annual training once a year. PARB volunteers commit 2-3 hours a month to review cases and/or collect information from people involved in the case. 

Anyone interested in serving in Tulsa County can email Tulsaparb@gmail.com, those interested in Oklahoma County can email Christina.Whatley@occy.ok.gov, all other interested parties can email Keith.Pirtle@occy.ok.gov. 

“We need volunteers across the state,” Pirtle said.