A community of care for every child.

Safety, hope, and love for children and families across 18 North Texas counties.

What We Do and Why It Matters

At Our Community Our Kids (OCOK), we create, catalyze, and champion a community-centered way of caring for children and families in crisis.

We work to build stable futures for every child and family across 18 North Texas counties: Collin, Cooke, Denton, Ellis, Erath, Fannin, Grayson, Hood, Hunt, Johnson, Kaufman, Navarro, Palo Pinto, Parker, Rockwall, Somervell, Tarrant, and Wise.

Since 2014, we have been focusing on changing the foster care experience for children and families. Our work is distinguished by an innovative approach of engaging communities to unite in the goal of building stable futures for children and families. We do this work with a high level of respect, a family-first approach and dedication to pushing our field forward.

Thousands of families in North Texas need our support.

While in our care, it is critical children are safe, well-cared for and maintain as much normalcy as possible. The best outcomes for children are produced when healthy families are able to care for them, and that is why when it comes to their permanency, our priorities are as follows:

Family Reunification

Our goal is to reunite children with their family. Permanency Specialists work with families to create plans of service that ensure safety, healing, and long-term thriving for them and their children upon reunification.
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Kinship Care

Research shows placing children with family members or close family friends creates the best outcomes for children, and we are committed to this when family and close friends can safely care for them.
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Foster Care

We work with providers to recruit foster families who are willing to support family reunification. Foster families work with an agency that helps guide them and work as a part of the child's team.
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Adoption

When children's parents are no longer able to care for them, we work to verify relatives to adopt whenever possible. When there are no relatives, we match children with people who will include them in their family for the child's entire life.
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Family Preservation

Upstream services in partnership Texas Department of Family and Protective Services and other community partners allow us to serve families before child removals are necessary. This allows children to remain in their homes while parents receive the support they need to keep children nurtured, safe, and stable in their own communities.
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The engagement and support of the community is an important reason we are successful in our family-first approach. Whether it’s supporting children’s parents, kinship or foster caregivers, or adoptive parents, we look to the community for essential services, healthcare, and donations.The community is not simply a recipient of Community-Based Care; they are an integral partner in its success and longevity.

OCOK Events

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Testimonials

“We had a young man age 16, and his young sister, age two, whose foster homes were miles apart. The large age gap presented a unique challenge to placing the kids together with one family. I worked with one of our partner agency’s placement specialist to find the perfect home for them. She knew exactly who to approach—a family that had just become licensed foster parents. Without hesitation, they said yes to fostering the siblings, which seemed like a miracle.”
Carolyn H.OCOK Intake Specialist
“During a match adoption event, we hesitated on the profile of a 16-year-old young lady. We saw the hope in her eyes and knew we could not let her age out of the foster care system.”
Chelsea & Mark R.Adoptive Family, Tarrant County
“If a family is working to get their child returned, I need to have their back. People don’t change overnight, but they will get better over time. It’s important to let parents know you are there for them and willing to work with them.”
Jessica T.OCOK Permanency Specialist and former child in care