A Truly Great Social Worker is Hard to Find, Difficult to Part with and Impossible to Forget On Friday, June 26, Greer Fites retired after 42 years serving the citizens of Tulsa. A 1978 graduate of The University of Oklahoma School of Social Work (OUSSW), Fites has held a variety of positions at a number…
Sam’s options had run out just as he managed to find a bed for the night at the local shelter. After speaking to a case worker, the next day, Sam obtains help from the Family & Children’s Services Homeless Outreach program just as the pandemic begins in March. Although Sam feels reassured with his therapy, he still longs to find a place to call home. His case worker Don reaches out to other community organizations and essentially finds an…
Tonight, approximately 811 people will sleep homeless in Tulsa. About 33% of them also have mental illnesses that are not treated. Many have struggled for years to become stable and many find it hard to do so because they are just coming out of prisons, jails, hospitals and mental health facilities with nowhere to go.…
From the archives: This story was originally published in August 2015. Someone stole his tent while he was in jail, but that doesn’t matter now. Today, Gary Pino is getting treatment and doesn’t need a tent because he has a home for the first time in decades and treatment to recover. After decades of being…
On January 26, Family & Children’s Services (FCS), along with the Tulsa Police Department and volunteers, conducted a point-in-time survey of homeless and formerly homeless to help determine an accurate count of homeless individuals in Tulsa County. The Point-in-Time (PIT) count happens once a year all over the country and is one of the best methods of…
