OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. — Oklahoma parents and lawmakers are calling for drastic changes to be made at the Oklahoma Department of Human Services.

“This is a system problem throughout state government,” said State Rep. Danny Williams, (R) District 28, Seminole County.

They claim DHS and the Oklahoma Commission for Children and Youth are withholding information on child abuse crimes.

Some lawmakers are now calling for an investigation into DHS.

Both advocates and parents of children who’ve suffered abuse came before members of the state House on Monday and shared their stories.

“Manipulation of investigation and failure to involve law enforcement all demonstrate that DHS is failing children across the state,” said an attorney for one of the families present.

They want big changes and said children in Oklahoma are being abused and those departments are doing nothing.

“What we’re talking about is human rights and civil rights violations,” said State Rep. J.J.

Parents and state lawmakers agreed on Monday that immediate action is needed when it comes to DHS and it’s because of how it’s handling some child abuse cases.

“We have generationally, systemically failed these children,” said Mandy Reed, Oklahomans for Children’s Rights.

Reed was one of those there on Monday saying DHS is not properly investigating every child abuse case filed and the ones they do look into, are not being done properly.

“I have the physical report from DHS from 2022. It runs from July 2021 to June 2022. There were 80,794 reports on families for abuse, and of those, only 34,000 were actually investigated,” Reed said.

FOX23 has brought you coverage before on Darrell Dougherty out of Stillwater.

He said his claims of child abuse were never heard despite having plenty of evidence.

“I knew I could not call Oklahoma DHS, that was not an option for me,” Dougherty said.

After six years of filing reports and giving the department evidence, nothing happened.

The case only needed DHS approval to be investigated by the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, but it fell through when then DHS director, Deborah Shropshire, resigned in mid-August.

Now, he said DHS and OCCY are not only ignoring child abuse claims but also hiding information from investigators.

“The legal staff of Oklahoma DHS filed again in court that my child had made no disclosures of any kind of sexual abuse, physical abuse, or neglect in any of his cases. Even though they sat on a deposition and heard it,” said Dougherty. “If their supervisors and their leaders are creating an environment where you can create a more heinous crimes against children from child welfare services, and child protective services, then we are damaging these children worse than the original offenders.”

By the time the hearing was over, Humphrey said he wanted OSBI to investigate DHS, OCCY, and the Office of Juvenile Affairs.

“Case after case, after case, we’ve been totally ignored,” said Humphrey. “What we’re seeing is the abuse of our criminal system, the abuse of our court system, and when you call it out guess what? Nothing will be done, no one will be held accountable. It is time that the people that are doing this in state government are held accountable. When we start holding them accountable, watch it get cleaned up.”

FOX23 reached out to DHS for a response and they sent the following statement:

“Oklahoma Human Services is committed to protecting the safety and wellbeing of Oklahoma’s children. Every child welfare case is different and the specific details in those cases impact decisions made by the agency, the courts, District Attorneys and others who participate in any case. Additionally, child welfare cases are confidential by state and federal statutes, so we are unable to discuss the facts or circumstances of any child welfare case with anyone who is not authorized by statute or permitted by an order of the court.”

DHS also sent a document with additional information on how they work with families, which can be found here.