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Residential & Child Placing Agencies


The CCS Residential and Child-Placing Agency Licensing program licenses residential childcare programs and child-placing agencies throughout the state. Licensing staff provide a variety of consultative services in addition to regulatory responsibility for the enforcement of licensing requirements. They also investigate complaints regarding noncompliance with licensing requirements or violations of the Oklahoma Child Care Facilities Act.  

The primary purpose of the Residential and Agency Licensing program is to ensure that licensed programs provide safe, healthy, nurturing, and educational environments for children and youth in any custody status who are in out-of-home care. 

A residential child care program is a 24-hour residential program where children live together with, or are supervised by, adults other than their parents or relatives. 

Types of residential programs may also include:

Children’s shelters—a non-secure public or private residential program that provides temporary care and supervision for children.

Regimented residential programs—a military-style training program in which residents are subject to a controlled and regimented environment that affirms dignity of self and respect for others and includes physical training and discipline.

Residential treatment programs—provides medical care for children with emotional, psychological, or mental disorders.

Secure care programs—a program that cares for and supervises adjudicated children in a building where entering and exiting is prohibited through the use of internal and external locks or through secure fencing around the perimeter. A child placing agency is a private agency that provides social services to children and their families that supplement, support, or substitute parental care and supervision for the purpose of safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children in:

  • Adoptive homes
  • Foster family homes
  • Independent living programs             

To search for a DHS licensed Residential program or Child Placing Agency or to review their monitoring summary visit the Residential and Child Placing Agency Locator.

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