Oklahoma
State Senate
Communications Division
State Capitol
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73105
For Immediate Release: March 10, 2009
Sen. Harry Coates
Senate Approves Task Force to Help
State's At-Risk Youth Become Productive Adults
The Senate unanimously approved legislation Tuesday
to create a task force to find solutions to help Oklahoma's at-risk
youth become independent, productive adults. Senate Bill 283,
by Sen. Harry
Coates, would create the Task Force on Youth Transitioning
into Adulthood.
"We have thousands of Oklahoma youth with mental health challenges
or who have been in state custody either through the juvenile
justice or child welfare systems. While we offer a variety of
programs including educational, drug treatment, mental health,
rehabilitation and medical services to help these at-risk teens,
all of those programs stop when these individuals age out of the
system," said Coates, R-Seminole. "Studies show that
without continued assistance, these people, for the most part,
will not become productive citizens but will rather continue to
be a drain on society, and we want to find a way to change that."
The task force would study policies and programs to assist youth
as they transition into adulthood through education, behavioral
health, social services, housing, and employment services. The
youth to be studied would include those who are currently in or
are preparing to exit the juvenile justice or foster care system
or who experience conditions in their daily lives that place their
healthy, safety, physical and mental health at risk. The task
force would look at issues like financial independence, life skills,
transportation that directly impact their ability to transition
into adulthood.
"Depending on the level of care, the financial investment
by the state can range from $8,260 for a young person in foster
care for one year to over $108,000 for one in juvenile institutional
care,” said Coates. “Oklahoma’s investment will
be squandered if we don’t ensure a productive transition
for these adolescents into the job market, stable housing and
independent living.”
SB 283 is part of the 2009 Legislative Agenda for Children and
Youth promoted by the Oklahoma Institute for Child Advocacy.
The measure will now be heard in the House.
For more information contact:
Sen. Coates' Office: 405-521-5547
