Group Home Job Application

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OARC was organized in 1954.  It was originated as the Comanche County Council for Retarded Children on February 26, 1952 in Lawton; The very first in Oklahoma.  Mr. James Adams was the first President of OARC for Retarded Children which he helped organize in February 1954 and joined the National Association the same year.  The first sheltered workshop was set up in June of 1957 in Lawton.  The local associations then evolved to Association for Retarded Citizens as the recipients were aging and retiring. The Offices moved from Lawton to Oklahoma City and then Shawnee in the early 1970’s and then to 

Ardmore in 1980 when Skeet took over as President of OARC. Skeet worked closely with Father Paul Zahler at St. Gregory University in Shawnee where he still works and resides.  He is still a very strong advocate for special needs individuals and volunteered many hours and offered his expertise to the organization. The Association was organized for the purpose of helping the alleviate the problem of mental retardation and to help prevent retardation in generations yet unborn. As a state unit it helped organize programs of summer camping, continuing education, mobile recreation, parent to parent communication, information and a toll-free wats line; fostered strong participation in Special Olympics; drafted the regulations and guidelines under which Oklahoma’s Protection and Advocacy System for Developmentally Disabled is operated. It has encouraged and helped the formation of workshops for the handicapped as well as group home living. It has encouraged the formation of any and all services designed to meet the needs of the handicapped individual. 

The sub-chapters of ARC would say ‘Build the ARC’ as the chapters formed across the state.  That is why there was the Main Chapter – Oklahoma Association of Retarded Citizens; then Carter County ARC; Duncan ARC, Idabel ARC Seminole ARC etc.

The educational philosophy had been modeled by Father Thomas Felix of India based on the 3 C’s – Comprehension, Competency and Creativity in working with the Mentally Retarded. A word that was used freely from the 1950s-2000’s as it was a diagnosis. YES, they used that word daily and in every article in those days.  Affiliation was between the International Institute on Mental Retardation which is a partnership between the Central Institute and Information Center on Mental Retardation in Trivandrum, Kerala, India and the Oklahoma Benedictine Institute on Mental Retardation, Shawnee, Oklahoma, USA. All working to achieve a unified approach towards normalization and integration of the mentally retarded persons and their families.

They started having OARC summer camps way back in the late 1950’s for children and young adults all over the OKC area.  However, due to the transportation issues for disabled individuals in the Southern Oklahoma area, families and volunteers stepped up in 1976 to create another summer camp at the Goddard facilities north of Ardmore.  The program was run by local volunteers, staff from Oklahoma City and other hired staff.  The camp ran for two years there and in 1979 the camp was moved to Lake Murray State Park Group Campground where it has continued. In 1979 the new 501c3 was updated and new local board was established for Carter County Association for Retarded Citizens. All of this in preparation for the Association to move the responsibility of the Camp and OARC Organization to Carter County in 1980 where a local board was established; There was an OARC board for state and the CCARC board as they planned the future of the organization locally. At that time OARC dissolved all staff at OARC other than those hired for Camp, which cut back operating expenses, and everything was ran by volunteers.  In the beginning other than the camps, Skeet was the Vice President of another local board. CCARC volunteers hosted a parent support group for MR children.  This group met weekly to generate support and interest in the surrounding communities and see how great the local need was.

On June 10, 1969 we filed our first 501c3 and Articles of Corporation as the Carter County Association for Retarded Children, Inc.  Mr. Smith did this when we joined the Oklahoma Association for Retarded Citizens as a Subsidiary Company.  Then on March 14, 1979 the large board was formed, and John Pladziewicz served as President of CCARC and Skeet was President of OARC. The first members of the CCARC board were: Monica Stolfa, J. Michael Hicks, Hattie Summers, Virginia Pladziewicz, John Pladziewicz, Robert Clark, Larry Kopera, Steve Colbert, Leonard Summers, Charles H. Smith, Sr. and Shannon Smith. This was the beginning of planning for group homes to be formed in Ardmore and to bring OARC to Ardmore and have controlling interest.  We have had the control since that time.

We’ve had rotating officers in the early years including John Stanton, Linda Vanway, Jay Thomas, Carol Harmon, Rachell McClain and Tommy Black, however Skeet Smith served as President the majority of the years until his passing in 2015. Tony Neely, served for twelve years ending his tenure November 2022. Ladonna Chaney has been a Director since 2015 and begins her Presidency November 2022.

Carter County Group Homes then opened their first Group Home on April 1, 1985 at 101 E Street SW at the Sisters Cottage at the Catholic Church.  It housed 7 adults.  It was a rented facility.

We built our first Group Home at 304 5th Street in Ardmore in 1997; Our second Group Home, 45 Heritage in Lone Grove in 1998; Our third Group Home, 109 Blackberry in Lone Grove in 2006, Our last Group Home 516 Frisco Lane in Ardmore 2006; then our office was built in 2009. All these properties are paid in full in 2016.