OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - An Oklahoma organization is seeking volunteers to collect documents and information from potential foster parents to help ease a backlog by the state Department of Human Services in completing home studies.

Some foster parents haven't been paid and others who want to be foster parents have been waiting as long as six months for their paperwork to be processed. Department of Human Services spokeswoman Sheree Powell told The Oklahoman (http://bit.ly/Ih0sSG) the system has been overwhelmed by the demand.

A proposed state child welfare reform plan calls for recruiting 1,000 new foster families while eliminating the use of shelters for children younger than 13 years old.

Powell says Oklahoma Lawyers for Children is offering to recruit, train and monitor volunteers to collect all documents and do the initial assessments of homes.

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Information from: The Oklahoman, http://www.newsok.com

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