By Chris Schutz
The Oklahoman
MIDWEST CITY, Okla. — The Midwest City Police Department has its own little piece of the state Department of Human Services under its roof.
The department is in its second year of an agreement with the state agency that embeds social worker Kellie Zumiga in a corner of the police department.
So far, it’s the only city in Oklahoma to have such an arrangement, according to the DHS.
Fast access to DHS records and a social worker lessens the chances that a child will have to stay in a child welfare shelter while suspected abuse or neglect is investigated, Midwest City police Detective Debbie Chamberlain said.
State law requires that a social worker be present before police take a child out of a home, she said.
The state’s goal is to place children in a familiar setting - the home of a relative or family friend - while the investigation takes place.
Zumiga is able to jump-start the process of checking out the relatives or friends before the child is placed, Chamberlain said.
A side benefit of the agencies’ partnership is that Zumiga has easy access to a police officer if she suspects she will be walking into a volatile situation during a home visit.
“We feel like we’ve had several success stories,” Police Chief Brandon Clabes said. In February, the department made five placements of children with friends or relatives, he said.
In one case, police were investigating a report of a “handprint” bruise on a child’s thigh. The two children in the home were placed with an aunt who agreed to take both “for however long,” Zumiga said.
After the investigation, counseling services were set up for the parents, and the children were sent back home, Zumiga said.
In another case, officers and a social worker worked together to quickly disprove a report of child abuse that was suspected as false, Clabes said.
A child’s first priority is to get home: to familiar surroundings, food, friends and school, Chamberlain said. “They always love their parents. They just want the abuse to stop.”
The goal is to avoid having children recant their stories just so they can go home. In some cases, an older sibling will tell a younger one, “You don’t say nothing, we get to go home,” Chamberlain said.
Children tend to feel “revictimized” when police wisk them off to a shelter, Chamberlain said. “They think that they’re the reason they were abused.”
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