Sunbeam is a privately contracted foster care agency in Oklahoma responsible for recruiting, certifying, and supporting foster families within the child welfare system. Sunbeam focuses our support to families in central Oklahoma.  

Foster Care families provide a temporary living situation for children placed in state custody while their biological parents take steps to reconnect and restore their family through reunification. The purpose of foster care is to provide children with a stable and loving family environment while addressing the challenges that led to their initial placement in foster care to determine permanency for the child. Permanency in foster care is about establishing a stable, loving home where children can feel safe and secure, whether through reunification with their biological family, adoption, or guardianship. The primary goal of Sunbeam’s Foster Care program is to help children return to their biological families as long as it is safe to do so. Our foster families play a key role in providing a bridge of support to families involved in the child welfare system and helping children achieve stability. 

Sunbeam families are encouraged to help maintain a child’s connections to their kin, culture, and community while providing temporary care, love, and support. As part of a professional team, foster families work together to serve the best interests of the child and their biological family, supporting relationships and efforts toward reunification. Children come from diverse backgrounds and have varying experiences. Some may have faced significant challenges, so it is important for foster families to approach them with love, patience, and kindness, recognizing the importance of understanding and respecting their individual needs and histories. Sunbeam recognizes that all children and families come from diverse backgrounds and have varying experiences throughout their journey. It is important for foster families to embody love, patience, and kindness, recognizing the importance of understanding and respecting each child and family’s individual needs and histories.