States that have severe problems with their foster care systems.
Under increasing pressure last year, Oregon Governor Kate Brown (D-Portland) finally commissioned a blue ribbon task force to investigate problems in the state’s foster care system.
The result?
The problems just keep getting worse.
Rather than seeing improvements in Department of Human Services practices in regards to foster children, new state data shows “a practice contrary to child welfare norms, a practice that is harmful in myriad ways, a practice its own director describes as inappropriate for even one child, but one that has become entrenched” in the foster care system.
[Practices in regards to foster children] are contrary to child welfare norms, a practice that is harmful in myriad ways, a practice its own director describes as inappropriate for even one child, but one that has become entrenched.Emily Teplin Fox, Oregon Law Center
The latest revelation came in the filings of a lawsuit on behalf of foster children that seeks to immediately halt practices by DHS that are harmful to children. The suit was filed by nonprofit children’s advocacy group CASA for Children, which represents two young girls in foster care in Oregon. They specifically cite the state’s “temporary lodging practice” and claim it violates the civil rights of the two girls.
States that have severe problems with their foster care systems.
The new data covers a period from November 18 through June 1, and was compiled by a University of Oregon law student. What the data reveals for this time period is:
- More than 130 foster children were housed in hotel rooms or office buildings
- Foster children lodged in such temporary housing are often supervised by unlicensed volunteer caretakers
- One 5-year-old stayed in a hotel for 55 days
- Many of the children in such temporary housing were 5 or younger
- One girl tried to throw herself out of a hotel window; another boy locked himself in the hotel room away from caretakers
- The average stay in temporary housing was 20 days
- The longest stays ranged from 48 to 85 days
This is the latest in a series of devastating examinations of the broken foster care system in Oregon. A federal report in March 2016 said that Oregon’s foster system is failing across the board to keep children in its custody safe and healthy. Scandals repeatedly erupted around foster parents who were known abusers and were not removed from the system, and a complete lack of timely investigations into abuse reports. The report noted that conditions were deteriorating and that fundamental changes were needed.
States that have severe problems with their foster care systems.
The bubbling crisis put pressure on Governor Brown to take some sort of action. A consulting firm she hired produced a very disturbing report that showed that Oregon’s foster children are abused at double the national rate, reporting was haphazard, and investigations were shoddy at best. Legislation was passed that made screening new foster parents more strict, but that had the unintended consequence of reducing the pool of available foster parents. No further action appears to have been taken after the report was released, either by the legislature or the governor’s office.
