In October of 2005 two non-profit organizations (The Children’s Services Advisory Board and the Tulsa Community Children’s Foundation) decided to merge and join together in their commitment to helping abused and neglected children in Tulsa County. On August 25, 2006 they officially became the Tulsa Advocates for the Protection of Children (TAPC).
The Children’s Services Advisory Board had worked with the Oklahoma Department of Human Services since 1948 to promote legislation, raise funds and educate the public on child abuse and neglect issues. The Tulsa Community Children’s Foundation was created in 2004 to assume management and oversight of the CARE Team which provided assessment, screening and outreach services to children housed at the Laura Dester Children’s Center.
TAPC’S programs are developed to provide support and services for children in out of home care in placements ranging from relative/kinship/traditional or therapeutic foster care, group homes, hospitals, shelters, and adoptive placements.
When the Director of the Department of Human Services announced the agency’s intent to close the two state run shelters it changed the population of children served at the Laura Dester Children’s Center. The shelter in Oklahoma City was closed in November 2015. The Laura Dester Children’s Center remains open at this time. The Director of the agency continues to state that Laura Dester Children’s Center will remain open until all the children placed there have the appropriate placement. There is no specific date for closure.
