Award to be Presented at Oklahoma Kids Count Conference
Nominations are now open for the 2016 Laura Choate Resilience Award.
The Laura Choate Resilience Award will be presented in November at the 2016 Oklahoma Kids Count Conference, sponsored by the Oklahoma Institute for Child Advocacy (OICA) and Sunbeam Family Services.
The award was created to celebrate individuals who have been significantly impacted by adverse childhood experiences but have overcome obstacles, made a lasting contribution to the lives of young people, exhibit bravery and demonstrate dedication to fostering resilience in youth by exhibiting the characteristics of the “7 Cs of Resilience:” competence, confidence, connection, character, contribution, coping and control.
This award is named for Laura Choate who has served as a lifelong advocate for Oklahoma children and was the first recipient of the Resilience Award. Choate has worked with the OICA to reform the state’s child welfare and juvenile justice system to better serve and protect Oklahoma children. As a youth, Choate served as a plaintiff in a class-action lawsuit that resulted in dramatic changes to Oklahoma’s juvenile justice system and was used as a model by many other states to establish higher standards.
Last year’s Resilience Award was presented to Treba Shyers, an advocate for children in the foster care system who serves as adjudication and post adjudication review board coordinator for the Tulsa County Juvenile Bureau.
Nominations are due July 29 at 5 p.m. and can be made online at http://oica.org/laura-choate-resilience-award/.
The Oklahoma Kids Count Conference is the state’s premier event providing training to improve the lives of Oklahoma children and discuss issues impacting children in the state. Topics for discussion at this year’s conference include: foster parent training, early childhood development, mental health, substance abuse, family preservation and poverty. The conference will be hosted November 2-3 at the University of Central Oklahoma.
