History of Sunbeam

Sunbeam opened its doors in 1907, to serve as a children’s home for dependent and neglected children. The agency's original mission was to provide a safe and caring environment for homeless children until permanency could be established in their lives. In the late 1930's, Sunbeam expanded its services to include a psychological services clinic, casework services, foster care, and adoptive home placement.

In 1924, Sunbeam became a partner agency in what we today know as the United Way of Central Oklahoma.

During World War II, Sunbeam operated a nursery for the children of women who worked in war connected industries and licensed other providers of similar child care operations. The post-war 1940's marked a period of expansion into adult mental health services for Sunbeam. Sunbeam provided the only community based mental health services in existence in Oklahoma at that time.

In the late 1940's Sunbeam again broke new ground when it served as a resource for emergency detention of children under the age of 16, who had committed crimes. Sunbeam's Board of Directors provided leadership for the passage of a bond issue that created what is now known as the Oklahoma County Juvenile Bureau.

In the early 1970’s, Sunbeam began to provide services to the elderly and their families, now known as the Senior Companion Program. Additionally, Sunbeam is proud to have been one of Oklahoma’s first operators of community group home care and therapeutic foster care for abused and neglected children in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s.

In 2001, Sunbeam opened a ten-bed emergency shelter for senior citizens that are victims of elder abuse and persons made homeless by reason of a catastrophic medical problem. Another service for senior citizens, developed in 2001, is a program called “Caregiver Fundamentals”. Although it was originally designed to provide training and support for individuals who are caring for an aging family member, in 2003 the scope of the program was expanded to include services for grandparents raising grandchildren. This program has recently expanded to include respite care and monitoring of Alzheimer’s patients. A Title III Older Americans Act Grant from the Areawide Aging Agency provides most of the financial support for the Caregiver Fundamentals Project.

In 2002, Sunbeam was selected by the Oklahoma Department of Human Services to become the sole provider of emergency foster care in Oklahoma and Tulsa counties. This necessitated the opening of an office in Tulsa. In 2004 Sunbeam closed its Tulsa Emergency Foster Care office to better focus its mission and resources in the Oklahoma City metro area.

The following year, Sunbeam was notified that the Casey Family Program, the nation’s premier foster care program, had selected Sunbeam to provide services to their foster children in Oklahoma when the local Casey office closed in 2005. Effective January 19, 2004, Casey leased office space in the Sunbeam Home building and our two agencies are working together to transition Casey’s foster children and foster families into Sunbeam’s care. Also in 2004, Sunbeam was awarded the contract to administer the Early Head Start Program in Oklahoma City. Our experience with Early Head Start made for a natural transition for Sunbeam to serve as Managing Partner of Oklahoma City Educare, which formally opened July 13, 2009.

For over 103 years, Sunbeam has evolved to serve the ever-changing needs of the community. At Sunbeam, we feel that it is a privilege to serve our community and we look forward to another 103 years of service to vulnerable children, seniors and families.