Music.
Male speaker: It's like coming home again for Austin Gallimore and Brendan Nutter. The two young men 
practically grew up at Edmonds Boys Ranch Town and catching up with Administrator Rod Phillips is a
perfect way to spend a summer morning. Austin still lives on an area of the ranch in the transitional
living quarters. When he's not working at his job at the local Walmart or attending college classes, he
spends time with the animals he has grown to love.
Austin: My first couple days here I got to work with the new horse program director at the time. So we
got to do stuff with cows and do stuff with horses; stuff I really didn't get to do before, so it was an
interesting experience. I also got to get enrolled in school and learn while I was going to go to school and
stuff, so I had lots of fun.
Male speaker: Like Austin, Brendan says his time on the ranch taught him to be a better person and to
respect authority. Now he's enrolled in college studying music production and hopes to become an
audio engineer.
Brendan: Whenever I moved here they didn't really put up with my childish activities, so you know they
really set me straight and made me have more of a respect for people who are older than me that have
been through what I'm going through.
Male speaker: Boys Ranch Town is part of four Oklahoma campuses housing boys and girls and offering
a variety of residential programs. The Department of Human Services oversees the licensing and
standards of the facilities as outlined in the Licensing Act of 1963.
Rod Phillips: With the Licensing Act it created the Child Care Advisory Committee, and that committee's
sole purpose was to draft and to structure new standards. The unique thing about that is that in
Oklahoma the service providers sit around the table and create the standards for themselves as
opposed to the state doing that for them.
Male speaker: Phillips says Oklahoma is unique in that no other state has the Child Care Advisory
Committee or the partnership between DHS and the Service Providers.
Rod Phillips: When I worked in a children's home in Texas I had a DHS worker that showed up one day
and handed me here are your new licensing standards. It was implemented that day. I had no
involvement; no one asked me any questions. I'm the service provider I have information to share; it
wasn't asked for, and it wasn't given, but they gave me the new set of standards. That's how other
states work.
Male speaker: When service providers make up the licensing standards, Phillips says they are often more
strict than if DHS would have drafted them because the service providers know specifically what needs
to be done. There's been a lot of talk in the last few years about the hardships of DHS and what DHS has
been going through and the rebuilding of DHS. One thing that I would say is that the licensing branch of
DHS has maintained a strong partnership with service providers; they are a very strong portion of DHS
organization. The faith-based, non-faith based, have a strong partnership in Oklahoma. Oklahoma has
many many things to be proud of and the Licensing Act and the licensing workers, and the division of
licensing in DHS is one of those things to take great pride in.
Music.