26-04-2025
Readers on the need for child-care support and a close call
Working families with young children in Oklahoma need support finding and affording child care. Updating child care tax credits like the ones included in the Child Care Availability and Affordability Act sponsored by Sens. Katie Britt, of Alabama, and Tim Kaine, of Virginia, would help.
In his role on the Senate Finance Committee, Sen. James Lankford, of Oklahoma, can help prioritize the needs of working families by including these provisions in the upcoming tax package.
Expanding tax credits like the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit (CDCTC) would put more money in parents' pockets for child care. This tax credit helps children thrive while recognizing child care as a necessary expense that helps parents go to work. However, it hasn't been updated in more than 20 years, so it hasn't kept pace with what child care actually costs. Currently, the average credit families receive is $587.
Under the Britt-Kaine proposal, a parent with one child paying $12K for child care ($1K per child per month) would receive a credit of $1,750. Parents with two children would receive even more. Families with young children can't push pause on their child care needs and deal with it a few years down the road — kids don't work like that! Protecting and expanding the CDCTC is a pro-family and pro-work solution that benefits everyone.
― Elissa Kuykendall
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I've enjoyed our articles about the 1995 bombing, and I have a small anecdotal event that happened on that dreadful day.
I was an officer at a bank in El Reno, American Heritage Bank, and the morning of the bombing I had an 8 a.m. meeting at the state Capitol. The day before, one of our officers, Robert Hadley, who had reached retirement age, came in to let me know he had an appointment the next morning at the Social Security office at the Murrah Building to set up his Social Security benefits.
Because of my meeting at the state Capitol, I asked Robert if he could move his meeting time at the Social Security office. Minutes later he told me he was able to get a 2 p.m. appointment, and that he and his wife and a 10-year-old grandson would make that work.
We know what happened that morning and I was walking in the parking lot when the bomb went off. I felt the explosion like everyone else did. Once we realized how narrowly Bob, his wife and grandson had avoided being in that office, he retired that week knowing how precious life is.
Thank you for sharing the moment in history that we all wish had never happened.
― Douglas Tippens, El Reno
More: Oklahoma City bombing, 30 years later: Our city's stories of strength, healing and hope
Oklahoma's rural counties are facing a crisis. With limited behavioral health services and high rates of substance use and incarceration, it's time we invest in real, community-driven solutions. That's why I'm writing in support of Senate Bill 251.
This letter is part of a statewide advocacy project I've been working on with my classmates at the University of Oklahoma's School of Social Work. Over the past few months, our team has written policy briefs, hosted conversations, and even met with professionals and policymakers to advocate for this bill.
SB 251 stood out to us because it offers a practical, much-needed path toward justice and healing across Oklahoma. The bill creates the County Community Safety Investment Fund and ensures every county — no matter how small — receives a minimum share of funding to build or strengthen local programs. These services include crisis response teams, recovery support, and jail diversion programs.
These kinds of services are critical. People living in rural Oklahoma are 57% more likely to struggle with meth or opioid use, and nearly one in three rural women report experiencing intimate partner violence, according to the Oklahoma Council for Justice 251 isn't just smart policy — it's the kind of investment that could make our communities safer, healthier and more hopeful. I truly hope our lawmakers will move it forward this session.
— Victoria Mendez, OU-Tulsa School of Social Work
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: How a family narrowly missed the OKC bombing | Letters
