Broken Arrow’s Maggie Nichols and her three daughters set out on a 50-state trip to raise awareness about foster, adoptive and kinship families, KJRH reported. The station said the planned journey was to last 53 weeks; at the time of its report, the family had visited 13 states while road-schooling and meeting families. KJRH also reported that Nichols spent part of her childhood in foster care and later fostered children and adopted her daughters.
The trip’s subject has a direct local dimension: Oklahoma’s shortage of foster placements can separate children from their home communities. Oklahoma Watch reported that more than 5,100 children were in the state’s child-welfare system and that January data showed 47 more children in Tulsa County needing temporary housing than available placements. In Beckham County, 37 children needed safe housing while 26 foster-care beds were available.
The same report found that one-third of Oklahoma children in foster care were placed at least two counties from where they had lived. It also reported that nearly 40% of approved foster families closed their homes within a year, while 8% remained available after five years.
Recruitment and familiar caregivers
Recruitment figures offer another measure of the need, though they are not counts of available placements. In January 2025, KTUL reported that about 5,800 children were in foster care and that figures from okfosters.org indicated 736 more foster families were needed. KTUL said DHS aimed to open about 430 homes statewide during the fiscal year, including 63 in the Tulsa County area; KOCO reported a 2025 goal of 400 new foster homes.
New approvals are a separate measure: the Oklahoma Department of Human Services’ March 2024 report listed 37 newly approved family foster homes in January and 256 for the state fiscal year to date—not totals of available homes. Placement with familiar adults is also part of the picture: the department’s 2019 annual report said children entering foster care were more likely to be placed with their own families or someone they knew.
