OKDHS Program Helps Individual Understand Child Support

OKLAHOMA CAPITOL -- The Oklahoma Department of Human Services (OKDHS) has issued its 2012 Annual Report, recognizing several Oklahomans who have used the agency’s services and programs to overcome obstacles and find success.

The report, entitled “75 Years of Service for Oklahoma,” featured Duncan resident Lyndell Brooks.  As a client of OKDHS’ Child Support Services, Brooks says his caseworker helped him with an “attitude adjustment,” turning his life around.

“After my wife divorced me, she took the kids and moved out of state,” he said.  “I paid child support faithfully for years without ever getting to see my children.  Finally, I stopped paying, and as a result I was sentenced to six months in the county jail.”

During that time, Brooks became a model inmate and began cooperating with the OKDHS.

“I did not understand the system,” he said.  “Once LeAnn (his OKDHS caseworker) helped me understand things, I got a new attitude.  I began working as a trustee at the jail, and the day after I was released, the sheriff offered me a job.”

Today, Brooks is remarried and is pastor at Duncan’s Jubilee Full Gospel Tabernacle.  His oldest son moved back to Oklahoma and works with him at the church.

“The incarceration taught me a lot,” Brooks says.  “It taught me patience and to look farther into what was going on in my life.  If we look at the positive instead of the negative then we stand a better chance of making things change and happen.  I am grateful to DHS because my experiences have made me the man I am today.”

Through the 2012 Annual Report, see how Oklahomans were served by the OKDHS.  After 75 years of service, the agency’s mission continues as it strives to help Oklahoma families lead safer, healthier, and more productive lives.

A video documentary introduces a few of those Oklahomans and tells how OKDHS is serving greater numbers of families and individuals than ever before.  To learn more about these clients, please visit OKDHS’ Annual Report online at http://oucpm.org/okdhsannualreport/

###

Duncan minister Lyndell Brooks credits OKDHS with helping turn his life around.