Through his work as an Assistant DA, Kevin Etherington actively participated in the filing, and prosecution of "deprived" cases (the term coined for cases when children are removed into OKDHS custody), this position would have brought him into contact with Lions Meadows of Hope, the foster care provider organization contracted to provide services on behalf of OKDHS. In addition to his professional involvement with the organization, he is in a long term relationship with the agency's Direct of Development Elizabeth Beck.

The Oklahoma Lions Boys Ranch, was a limited-stay boys group home since 1940, but in 2016 it began doing business under the DBA Lions Meadows of Hope and shifted the organizations mission to into "a foster care community for children of all ages".

The organization was forced to restructure after the Oklahoma Department of Human Services laid out its “Pinnacle Plan”; a plan OKDHS implemented in 2012, as a result of a lawsuit in the state of Oklahoma in 2008 that basically said the state of Oklahoma was violating the civil rights of the children in OKDHS custody.”