|
Friends and advocates,
This week’s Legislative Column summarizes the House Judiciary Committee’s meeting on Interim Study 26-082 on Child Sensitive Arrest Policies and Practices in Oklahoma.
Swearing in of the newly elected House and Senate members will occur on November 17, 2026, at 10 a.m. in their respective chambers.
Also attached is the list of deadlines for the new Legislature that starts after the new year. The first important deadline is the bill request deadline on December 4, 2026. By the close of this date, all members have to have their ideas for legislation to staff in order for bill language to be drafted for introduction in January 2027.
Do not forget to contact and see your legislators about your issues and concerns now while they are in their district and before they get busy with business at the Capitol and the legislative session. This is also a great time to make your first contact to get to know them and them to know you.
Rep. Tim Turner (R-HD 15) requested the study Child Sensitive Arrest Policies and Practices in Oklahoma. The House Judiciary Committee was chaired by Rep. Rande Worthen (R-HD 64).
The Committee met for this study on September 22, 2026.
The study focused on the effects minor children experience during the arrest of a parent or caregiver. Based upon his background in law enforcement, Rep. Turner stressed that officers must be able to safely execute lawful arrests, but that policymakers should also consider the emotional effects on children who witness an arrest. Turner explained that the study is meant not to fault law enforcement but to uncover gaps, draw on practices that work, and assess whether children can be spared needless trauma without jeopardizing safety.
He framed the study around three questions: How many Oklahoma children are affected each year? What procedures and resources do officers have when children are present? And what happens to these children afterward, including those who take responsibility for them and how the state keeps them safe and supported?
Annette Jacobi, Executive Director, Oklahoma Commission on Children and Youth (OCCY)
Director Jacobi reported that about one in 10 Oklahoma children have had a parent detained or incarcerated and that half of incarcerated people are parents. She stressed that a parent's incarceration does not determine a child's future and said the discussion should start with the arrest, which can be terrifying for a child. OCCY's Children of Incarcerated Parents Advisory Committee wanted the study to review current arrest practices and how consistent they are across agencies, the difficulties officers face when children are present, the experiences of children and families, and promising practices in Oklahoma and elsewhere.
Chairman Worthen pointed out that these practices are hard to apply in rural Oklahoma, where a trooper who finds children in the car during a traffic stop may have no backup. Jacobi agreed that no single approach fits every community and proposed agreements with partners outside law enforcement.
Rep. Turner asked whether OCCY knew how many children are affected by law enforcement contact with a parent or caregiver; Jacobi said OCCY did not. Rep. Turner proposed working with the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, which runs the reporting system most agencies use, to add records of whether children are witness to an arrest. Jacobi supported the idea, observing that children placed with relatives can drop out of the service system's view, but warned that identifying them must lead to real support, which may be limited in rural areas. Chairman Worthen added that officers often ask arrestees informally about children at school and said recording this information deserves consideration.
Dr. David McLeod, OCCY Advisory Committee of Incarcerated Parents (CIP) Advisory Committee, Director, OU Zarrow School of Social Work
Dr. McLeod, a forensic social worker who also served as a police detective and SWAT operator in the Little Rock area, recalled meeting children during tactical entries. Officers at the time were not equipped to deal with what happened to the child afterward. He said restricting law enforcement's ability to protect public safety is unrealistic; the goal is to use existing tools more creatively.
Dr. McLeod estimated that 25,000 to 35,000 Oklahoma children have an incarcerated parent on any given day, and that the state knows the whereabouts of only about 10 percent of them. He explained that the same arrest affects children differently depending on their age and past experiences, that separation can disrupt attachment, and that trauma accumulates, with some research suggesting 15 to 20 percent of affected children develop lasting PTSD responses. Even so, a bad experience does not guarantee a bad outcome: a trusted adult, a predictable routine, and good friendships can offset trauma at little cost. Not arresting a parent is not the answer; once a child has witnessed an arrest, the focus should be on what happens for that child next. He raised questions about how to select a caregiver quickly in a crisis and how to manage the liability agencies may face in doing so.
Chairman Worthen suggested notifying school counselors after a parent's arrest, and it was noted that Rogers County already does this. Turner proposed revisiting the idea alongside data collection. Asked whether a reporting-system would help, McLeod said he knew of no better starting point, adding that the advisory committee has pushed for such identification for 12 years.
Shannon Luper, Program Director, Girl Scouts Beyond Bars
Drawing on more than two decades of work with affected families, Luper said an arrest may last minutes, but its impact on a child can last for years. She cited OCCY figures showing that more than 26,000 Oklahoma children have a parent in prison, noted that a parent's arrest is often a child's first contact with the justice system, and said the discussion was not anti-law enforcement. She outlined three steps: see the child by noting whether children are present, how old they are, and what they are witnessing; stabilize the child by finding a trusted caregiver and giving age-appropriate information; and connect the child by involving caregivers, schools, and community resources once officers leave.
Luper also emphasized the importance of youth voice. Rather than asking children to relive trauma in public, she urged safe, age-appropriate ways for young people to tell policymakers what helped, what made them feel safe or confused, and what they wished adults had done differently. She described how Girl Scouts Beyond Bars helps children keep safe relationships with incarcerated parents, providing transportation for visits and support for caregivers who suddenly take on schooling, medical appointments, finances, and emotional needs. Through mentoring, troops, camps, and peers with similar experiences, the program works to keep incarceration from becoming a child's identity. She noted that HB 3849, effective November 1, gives the state's mentoring program for children of incarcerated parents more flexibility and urged applying child-centered thinking to the arrest itself. Law enforcement may be the first point of contact but should not carry the full burden; schools, mentoring programs, caregivers, and community organizations should form a pathway for what comes next.
Mikayla Woods, Parent Partnership Board Member, OCCY
Rep. Turner introduced Mikayla Woods, a constituent whose family he has known for 15 years. Woods, a 36-year-old mother of five, described her January 2017 arrest after a decade of addiction. While she was with her 3.5-to-4-year-old daughter, an officer recognized her at a Family Dollar and said she would be arrested on outstanding warrants. He let her finish paying, handed her daughter to her boyfriend, and called her mother rather than involving DHS, and waited until they had driven away before searching and handcuffing her. Her daughter still remembers the officer as someone who made sure she was safe.
Woods is over eight years sober, has regained custody of all her children, and will graduate from NSU in May with a bachelor's degree in social work. She works on reentry and reintegration. She urged policymakers to keep compassion, dignity, and children's safety in how communities respond to people who are struggling, noting that one compassionate moment can help someone believe there is hope.
Darryl Savell, Parent Partnership Board Member, OCCY
Mr. Savell spoke about his daughter, Bella, whose mother was incarcerated when Bella was young and with whom she had no contact for years. Cautioning that one experience does not represent every child, he said such stories reveal what systems struggle to see. Bella did not understand courts or incarceration, only that her mother was gone. He described how prolonged separation can surface as fear, anger, withdrawal, difficulty trusting others, trouble at school, or silence. Bella also saw Mr. Savell suffer a medical emergency that left him unresponsive, deepening his understanding of how children experience the sudden absence of someone they depend on. The justice system sees an arrest or a case, he said; the child experiences a disappearance.
Mr. Savell also described collateral harms that occur because no one considered the child. He argued that adult accountability and support for children are not mutually exclusive and asked policymakers to consider how caregivers are helped to explain adult circumstances to children and whether unnecessary barriers interfere with safe parent-child contact. He urged that lived experience be treated as expertise, without requiring families to disclose deep trauma to be taken seriously. The goal is not to make incarceration painless but to avoid preventable trauma for children who played no role in an adult's arrest. Chairman Worthen, reflecting on his experience as a prosecutor, said he rarely considered the children connected to a case and that small corrections could improve outcomes and help prevent future offenders.
Law Enforcement Panel: Sheriff Scott Walton, Jon Sappington, and Kevin Branscum
Rogers County Sheriff Scott Walton, who has more than 46 years in law enforcement, said that for most of his career, once children were placed with someone or DHS stepped in, officers returned to the arrest and prosecution. He described follow-up efforts with school resource officers begun in Rogers County and said he would like a mechanism ensuring follow-up generates a report rather than an assumption that a child is fine. He called stronger CLEET training an easy decision and cited the lack of school resource officers in some communities, summer gaps, the contrast with metropolitan resources he relied on in Tulsa, and the need for funding.
Jon Sappington, a former jail administrator and undersheriff now with Grand Mental Health, said Rogers County began a program in 2018 or 2019, with its school resource officer program, in which law enforcement notifies schools and counselors when a child is involved in a serious event, such as a parent's arrest or a death, so staff can observe and support the child. He acknowledged gaps on weekends, winter break, and summer that mental health partners could help fill, and said that although on-scene resources are limited, Oklahoma could make large strides in post-event follow-up and counseling.
Kevin Branscum, an investigator with the District 25 District Attorney's Office, told the committee that 26 years ago he was the child being discussed, removed from his home after a parent's arrest; he entered law enforcement about 10 years later and has served about 18 years. He described the McIntosh County multidisciplinary team (MDT), which meets monthly with mental health providers to review cases, though review can come a month after an incident. He distinguished spontaneous encounters, such as a nighttime pursuit, from planned operations, recalling that the prior week an operation involving more than thirty agencies was paused and reworked when officers learned a child was inside the house.
General Discussion
Chairman Worthen said a first step should be making law enforcement aware of the issue, noting that removing a child from a dangerous home may feel like a good solution, but that home is often the child's familiar place.
Rep. Ellyn Hefner suggested modernizing CLEET training, adding trauma training for judges and prosecutors, and asked whether Oklahoma should develop a child-centered model in which officers can call an outside entity rather than shouldering more responsibility. The officers said any program would need accountability, such as a checklist system, to guard against shortcuts.
Based upon his years in law enforcement, Rep. Hardin noted that officers may begin a pursuit without knowing children are in the car or confront a shoplifter accompanied by six children, and said the solution will require mental health involvement, legislation, and funding.
When Rep. Turner asked what could reduce the burden on rural agencies, Walton called for relationships with mental health partners noting that four deputies had covered about 711 square miles of Rogers County the night before. Sappington described a Handle With Care code Claremore added to its reporting system: when an officer flags a call, an automated daily report notifies school resource officers and counselors of the name and nature of the call. Branscum said a reporting-system flag could start a response sooner than the MDT process, particularly where one officer handles the arrest, children, scene, and transport alone. Rep. Hardin suggested funding DHS staff assigned to rural agencies, recalling one or two deputies covering 525 square miles.
Rep. Hefner asked practitioners to identify specific needs, such as the number and type of counselors, rather than resources in general. Rep. Turner claimed the state needs data on how many children are affected to assess those needs. Rep. Chairman Worthen cautioned against letting data collection delay action and recommended narrowing HB 2513, which addressed domestic abuse, arrests, and suicide, to one or two points, paired with a CLEET training component, starting with schools and law enforcement rather than being overwhelmed by current limitations and bureaucracy.
Rep. Turner closed the meeting by saying the discussion showed that child-sensitive arrest practices need continued work. Any policy response must balance protecting children physically, mentally, and emotionally, maintaining public and officer safety, recognizing crime victims, and preserving officers' ability to make difficult decisions in dangerous circumstances. The objective is not to prevent officers from doing their jobs, but to better protect children caught in circumstances they did not create. Chairman Worthen thanked the presenters for their time and service and adjourned the meeting.
LEGISLATIVE DEADLINES FOR BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS
1ST Regular Session of the 61st Oklahoma Legislature
Per HCR 1030 (2025 Legislative Session)
Bill Request Deadline: Friday, December 4, 2026.
Organizational Day: Tuesday, January 5, 2027, Noon.
Bill Introduction Deadline: Thursday, January 14, 2027, by 4 p.m.
First Day of the 1st Regular Session: Monday, February 1, 2027, Noon.
Third Reading Deadline (House of Origin): Thursday, March 25, 2027.
Third Reading Deadline (Opposite House): Thursday, May 6, 2027.
Sine Die Adjournment: Friday, May 28, 2027, by 5 p.m.
Additional internal deadlines will be applied for Committees, Subcommittees in the State Senate and Subcommittees, Policy, and Oversight Committees in the House.
If you have any questions, please feel to contact me at gsawyer@oica.org or 405-823-1214.
Thank you to our friends at A&A Advocacy for assistance in monitoring interim studies. Thank you to our readers for your continued support!
| 
