A Note From Secretary Dennis Richardson: Child Welfare in Oregon—Tragedy and Hope

I am moved by his bold candor in speaking out about the child welfare system.

I only wish more of "The Elected Ones" would do the same.

Oregon Secretary Dennis Richardson

Twenty-eight years ago, Cathy and I learned that some Child Welfare administrators were bullies. They managed through fear and intimidation, while others were angels, dedicated to helping the children in their charge. Although the situation has only worsened over the years, and the harm done to children is truly a tragedy, there is hope that the situation is about to change.

For Cathy and me, it all started back in 1990 when a CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocate) worker told us about a sweet, nine-year-old girl whose mother was dying a slow and tragic death from an incurable genetic disease. This little girl had been in multiple foster homes, and because she might also carry this genetic defect, a recent adoption had fallen through.*

After serious consideration, Cathy and I felt strongly that we had room in our hearts and in our home for this little girl. We held a family council and discussed with our seven daughters the opportunity they had to invite a less fortunate girl to become their forever sister and share our loving family with her. They were excited and agreed that once little Mary joined our family, she would be “all in,” and from that day forward we would have eight daughters who would be treated the same.

We were determined to have little Mary become a part of our family. It took many months of jumping through bureaucratic hoops before our family was finally certified for foster care and nearly a year before the uncontested adoption could be completed, and Mary joined our stable home with seven enthusiastic sisters.

Unfortunately, not all Oregon foster children fare as well. The Secretary of State’s Audits Division has just released the Department of Human Services Child Welfare System audit entitled, “Foster Care in Oregon: Chronic management failures and high caseloads jeopardize the safety of some of the state’s most vulnerable children.” I hope every one of us who cares about the wellbeing of children will read every page of this audit report. It speaks to our heads and it speaks to our hearts.

The report exposes that tonight, some of Oregon’s children will be sleeping in hotels with tired, over-worked caseworkers. Others will be cold, hungry, and unloved. This year, 11,000 Oregon children will be impacted by DHS and the Child Welfare system. On any given day, 7,600 foster children will be in the system, and DHS cannot ensure they will receive adequate care and services. State leaders are truly alarmed by this disgraceful situation and now must make its solution a priority.

Last September, the Governor hired a new Department of Human Services Director, Fariborz Pakseresht, and two months ago he hired a new Child Welfare Director, Marilyn Jones. Both are experienced professionals with decades of life experience. Both are determined to change things in Oregon’s child welfare and foster care system. The new leadership team at DHS is ready and willing to support their caseworkers and give them the time and resources they need to do their jobs. This will only happen if we are ready to step up and provide the backing necessary to provide safe and loving foster homes and support for our most vulnerable Oregon children.

The time for hand-wringing, finger-pointing and excuses is past. The time for action is now. It is up to the Governor and our Legislative leaders, in my opinion, to give Oregon’s child welfare and foster care system the same focus and attention that was given to our State Mental Hospital a decade ago.

When Senate President Peter Courtney learned of the appalling situation at the State Mental Hospital where deceased patients’ ash cans lined shelves in dark closets and where live patients were warehoused for years with no treatment plans and lived in horrendous conditions, he said, “Enough is enough.” Senator Courtney committed that the neglect would not be permitted to continue. As a result of his leadership, and with support from the Legislature and Governor Kulongoski, Oregon’s State Mental Hospital has been rebuilt and now is a place for growth, recovery, and learning. That same commitment to fix a broken system is needed now, but our elected officials cannot solve the child welfare crisis alone.

Oregon will be a better state if we make this personal and view these children as if they are our responsibility. If you agree, the first step is to become educated. Read this audit report and consider the nature, extent, and cause of the situation we find ourselves in, and contemplate the recommendations we have made to fix this deplorable situation.

See what other concerned Oregonians are doing to help in their communities. Read about the single woman in Roseburg who has turned a room in her home into a store where foster parents can go for free clothing, school supplies, and other durable goods. Read about the CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) volunteers who spend an hour or two each week helping children in foster care as someone outside of the system who is watching out for them. Think about what it might be like to be a foster parent yourself, or to spend an occasional weekend providing respite care so that a foster parent can get a break from the pressures of dealing with special needs foster children.

A group of women in my community in Central Point are getting together each Thursday morning in a “Friendship Circle” and have made 21 quilts and receiving blankets for me to take to police officers and caseworkers to keep babies and foster children warm. Maybe you have ideas of other things individuals or groups can do to help.

If you are willing to do something or have ideas on how others can help, please contact Child Welfare Director Marilyn Jones and her staff at the following email address: I.WantToHelp@dhsoha.state.or.us.

Turning Oregon’s child welfare and foster care system around will not happen overnight, so let’s start now and do our part.

In conclusion, the tragedy of our child welfare and foster care system demands thoughtful and immediate attention. But there is hope. DHS Director Fariborz Pakseresht, Child Welfare Director Marilyn Jones, and the DHS leaders across the state are committed to restoring child safety and wellbeing as the primary mission of the child welfare and foster care system. They cannot do it alone. Our Governor and Legislators must provide our foster care leaders and caseworkers with the funding and tools they need to serve this most vulnerable population entrusted to their care. In addition, each of us can do something to make life better for foster parents, caseworkers, and most importantly, for our Oregon foster children.

* Our daughter, Mary, is now a successful Physician’s Assistant in Portland. She is happily married, has a home, two cats and is living the dream. Mary recently took the test for the Huntington’s chorea gene, and we are all delighted to know she did not inherit the defective gene. As a result, this tragic disease that took her biological mother and grandfather will not affect her or any children she might bear.

State of Oregon Department of Human Services Child Welfare System Foster Care in Oregon:Chronic management failures and high caseloads jeopardize the safety of some of the state’s most vulnerable children 

Key Findings

1. DHS and Child Welfare struggle with chronic and systemic management shortcomings that have a detrimental effect on the agency’s ability to protect child safety. Management has failed to address a work culture of blame and distrust, plan adequately for costly initiatives, address the root causes of systemic issues, use data to inform key decisions, and promote lasting program improvements. As a result, the child welfare system, which includes the foster care program, is disorganized, inconsistent, and high risk for the children it serves.

2. DHS does not have enough foster placements to meet the needs of at-risk children, due in part to a lack of a robust foster parent recruitment program. The agency struggles to retain and support the foster homes it does have within its network. The agency also lacks crucial data regarding how many foster placements are needed and the capacity of current foster homes, inhibiting the agency’s ability to fully understand the scope of the problem.

3. A number of staffing challenges compromise the division’s ability to perform essential child welfare functions. These challenges include chronic understaffing, overwhelming workloads, high turnover, and a large proportion of inexperienced staff in need of better training, supervision, and guidance.

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Day 102.4 Uranium One, Andrew You Stole For Hillary

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Please be advised that this is not exclusive to Oregon. It happens in all the States and in many instances, we are dealing with Medicaid funding..

The only difference with the rest of the States is that some elected officials in Oregon finally started to listen.

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Oregon lawmakers ask scathing questions about foster kids

A key slide on foster care safety in the Department of Human Services' May 2015 performance "dashboard" was last updated with data from June 2011.

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SALEM — Oregon lawmakers have begun casting a critical eye on the state's foster care system, pressing officials to defend their ability to protect thousands of vulnerable children.
The issue flared this week when the Senate's human services committee confronted the Department of Human Services over accusations that a publicly funded foster care agency abused or neglected children with little apparent oversight from state officials.

Those accusations — that the agency denied food and clean bedding, used improper force, rewrote reports, tolerated mold and rodents — have prompted an internal review as well as scathing questions from lawmakers who worry children served by other providers might be experiencing similar treatment. More hearings are planned before February's legislative session.

The committee's chair, Sen. Sara Gelser, D-Corvallis, said her concerns have been building for months. In June, The Oregonian/OregonLive found the department had struggled to report a basic means of keeping children safe: monthly visits from caseworkers charged with checking for signs of abuse.

"Every child has the same right to safety, security and dignity," Gelser said in an interview, making clear her fears stretch beyond one provider's alleged misconduct. "How do we make sure that whatever safeguards failed in one place aren't failing someplace else?"

For now, scrutiny is being heaped on Northeast Portland's Give Us This Day, which continued to take in foster children despite deep financial problems, reports of abuse and a state Department of Justice investigation over its nonprofit status. Willamette Week detailed the agency's struggles this month.
State officials stopped referring children to Give Us This Day this month, citing the justice department's investigation.

On Monday, Gelser invited a woman identified as a former employee, Rachel Rosas, to testify. Rosas offered fresh accusations that left lawmakers and Department of Human Services employees stunned.

Rosas accused Give Us This Day staffers of doctoring time sheets and rewriting incident reports to cover up potentially abusive conduct. She said children and workers at one group home dealt with rats, flies and mold. Groceries and grooming products sometimes were lacking. Mats, without clean sheets, filled in for beds.

She said the agency added cameras to bedrooms to monitor employees' use of force. But some rooms, she said, had the cameras taped over. Rosas said state workers typically dropped children off without venturing past the home's nicely renovated intake area.

And if employees complained, Rosas said, managers threatened to fire them.
"You've painted a pretty dismal condition for this building," said Sen. Alan Olsen, R-Canby. "Why wasn't DHS able to see through this smokescreen?"

Rosas replied: "The problem is people aren't coming around to ask questions. This program had been in question before, but somehow they still keep getting clients."

Give Us This Day's director, Mary Holden, said she wasn't invited to the hearing and didn't remember Rosas working for her.

"Every child has the same right to safety, security and dignity. How do we make sure that whatever safeguards failed in one place aren't failing someplace else?" — Sen. Sara Gelser, D-Corvallis

She defended her nearly 40-year-old agency, pointing out that the black-owned nonprofit accepts difficult foster children — kids with gang ties or sexual-abuse victims — whom other agencies often refuse to take.

Holden accused the state of contributing to Give Us This Day's struggles by not promptly paying reimbursements. She said the accusations of abuse and neglect are fabrications from disgruntled workers, and she equated the hearing with "public lynchings."

Lois Day, the state's child welfare director, met with Rosas after the hearing. Day faced questions from lawmakers alongside the Department of Human Services' lead licensing and abuse investigation managers.

Olsen and Gelser said the department's license inspections, which happen every two years, need to be more rigorous.

"We get greater scrutiny when we want a car loan," Olsen said. "Putting children in a facility that can't afford to feed them, can't afford to pay staff — to me that would be paramount when licensing a facility."

Day repeatedly told them the department was looking into its rules around licensing and abuse complaints to make sure they're stringent enough.

Overall, the state is responsible for more than 8,000 foster children on any given day. Beyond checking for obvious harm, caseworkers use regular visits to ensure children are receiving proper health care and adjusting to new schools.

After the hearing, Gelser said the Give Us This Day case shows "a consequence of not doing" regular check-ins.

The state made sure 83 percent of Oregon foster children received a monthly visit from a caseworker in May. That's up from a little more than half after 2011 but still below the state's target.
Gelser said she's waiting to see what the Department of Human Services' review turns up. She worries other providers might be awash in similar accusations.

"What kind of message," she said, "does that send to these kids?"

Why Foster Care is a Hustle

Home Sweet Hustle

Mary Holden runs one of the largest foster care agencies in Portland. For years, she’s been accused of financial misdeeds and neglecting vulnerable children. Why is she still in business?

ANSWER:  Child welfare is too big to fail.

The child welfare system is dilapidated never having met one benchmark or goal of which it was originally designed.

As long as poverty increases, there will be a direct correlation with the rate of children entering the system.

As long as state contracted individuals (corporations included) face only civil penalties in fraudulant billing practices, no one will ever be held accountable because the States Attorney General do not possess the power to criminally prosecute.

Besides, who cares.  Poverty is the crime of child abuse and neglect and you cannot audit God..

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Police search for teen who ran away from foster mom, DHS staff

Police search for teen who ran away from foster mom, DHS staff

 

Ariyuana Robinson

PORTLAND, OR (KPTV) -

Portland Police are searching for a 14-year-old girl who ran away from her foster mother and Oregon Department of Human Services Staff.  Hmmm, I wonder why.

Ariyuana Robinson took off yesterday afternoon from the DHS offices in Portland, investigators said.

Police told FOX 12 her health may be in jeopardy if she does not receive necessary medications. Those psychotropic cocktails have nasty side-effects.

Robinson is described as 5'2" tall and 130 pounds.

She has brown hair, which she was wearing in a bun, and brown eyes, police said.

She was last seen wearing a black tank top, dark colored skinny pants and white Nike sandals.

Anyone who knows of Robinson's whereabouts is asked to call 911.

Anyone with additional information in this case is asked to contact Detective Mike Weinstein, Missing Persons Unit, at 503-823-0446.

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Oregon Advises and Advocates International Medicaid Fraud in Child Welfare

Oregon's Bruce Goldberg does not believe in boarders, due process or anything else that is recognized as constitutional in child welfare.

Bruce Goldberg

“The boundaries of states are really arbitrary,”

The actions of Oregon are so unbelievably stupid, I have to ask again, "Who the hell is going to stop this fraudulent billing?"

There was no reason for this child to be in Oregon's foster care system.  So the reason Oregon is suing is because its Medicaid Fraud Control Unit cannot go after itself.  It was the Attorney General who, ultimately, advocated to keep the child in foster care while advising to violate international treaties.

How can the Attorney  General prosecute Department of Human Services when he represents its Director?   I want to know where the U.S. Department of Justice is.

September 14, 2010

Today, an Alberta judge will have a rare opportunity to send the message that Canadian citizenship really means something: The court can dismiss Oregon's lawsuit against Calgary mother Lisa Kirkman.

Lisa's now 12-year-old son Noah was apprehended by Oregon child welfare authorities during a cross-border visit in 2008 and held for two years -- this despite the willingness of his mother and Alberta child welfare authorities to look after him in Canada. Now, and with plenty of gall, Oregon is suing Lisa Kirkman in Alberta for the cost of Noah's foster care.

Aside from the injustice of being forced to pay a foreign government for depriving you of your own child, this case raises broader questions about the willingness of Canada to look after the interests of Canadian citizens stranded abroad. It is hard to imagine the United States meekly standing by were Canadian authorities to seize and hold for two years an innocent American child. For Americans, that kind of Canadian action might well verge on a casus belli.

Yet, by all appearances, the Canadian government was content to sit back and wait two years for an elected Oregon county judge to finally permit Noah -- a Canadian citizen -- to return home. What if the judge had decided to permanently adopt Noah to an American foster family? Would that have caused our government to take decisive action?

Canadian provincial child welfare authorities are at least as capable as Oregon's of caring for a 10-year-old. A transfer from Oregon to Alberta could have been arranged within days of Noah's apprehension. As it happens, when Noah finally returned to Canada after two long years, Alberta child welfare authorities returned him to his mother almost immediately.

Anybody who can remember their own childhood ought to shudder to think of the disruption and trauma that invaded Noah's world. Will Noah be the last innocent Canadian child hung out to dry like this?

Noah Kirkman is no Omar Khadr. Noah is accused of no crime. The United States had no interest in prosecuting Noah. Neither should we assume that our Charter of Rights and Freedoms will say the same about Noah that it has about Khadr. In Canada, (Prime Minister) v. Khadr, the Supreme Court of Canada declined to order our federal government to intervene further on Khadr's behalf, calling it a matter of executive prerogative. That might be understandable in Khadr's case, where the applicable foreign policy is complicated by war crimes charges. But would the Supreme Court say the same in Noah Kirkman's case?

When it fails to act publicly and decisively in cases like Noah's, the federal government puts its precious prerogative at risk. Legal jurisprudence has yet to develop, but our constitution may well attach a use-it-or-lose-it condition to executive discretion. Future cases like Noah Kirkman's promise to present far more difficult tests than Khadr for federal governments who hesitate to act.

The Supreme Court in Khadr said that when Canadian citizens are held abroad, Canadian courts cannot force the Canadian government to intervene. They should not have to. If anything, Noah's case emphasizes that point. If Canadian government intervention is not, as our Supreme Court seems to have said, a legal issue, it ought to be a political issue. Will Canadians accept the idea of an elected judge in a backwater U.S. county dictating to a G7 nation? What about tin-pot authorities anywhere else in the world?

In the absence of a signal shift in government policy to something beyond the purely ad hoc, Canadian parents have to think long and hard before sending their children abroad for any reason, even to supposedly friendly allied nations.

The same applies to Canadian companies trying to do business in a global economy. Can the Canadian government post-William Sampson be relied on to protect or repatriate Canadian employees mixed up with foreign authorities?

The present federal cabinet has had a good deal to say about restoring pride in Canadian citizenship and Canada's place in the world. Flexing some muscle on behalf of Canadians detained abroad -- starting with the likes of Noah Kirkman -- is the surest way to give meaning to the rhetoric.

Daniel Mol is an Alberta lawyer. He is legal counsel for Lisa and Noah Kirkman.
dan@moladvocates.com

Read more: http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/Oregon+nerve+where+Canada/3520047/story.html#ixzz0zWNpxVrt

Oregon Child Welfare Director Says States Boundaries Arbitrary

Goldberg said “the boundaries of states are really arbitrary,” and the agreement allows the agencies to better serve families whose members live in both states.

According to Merriman-Webster:

Definition of ARBITRARY

1: depending on individual discretion (as of a judge) and not fixed by law arbitrary>

2 a : not restrained or limited in the exercise of power : ruling by absolute authority arbitrary government> b : marked by or resulting from the unrestrained and often tyrannical exercise of power <protection from arbitrary arrest and detention>

3 a : based on or determined by individual preference or convenience rather than by necessity or the intrinsic nature of something arbitrary standard> arbitrary positive number> <arbitrary division of historical studies into watertight compartments — A. J. Toynbee> b : existing or coming about seemingly at random or by chance or as a capricious and unreasonable act of will arbitrary — Nehemiah Jordan>

It is under the leadership of individuals such as Bruce Goldberg that the nation has such a dysfunctional child welfare system, riddled with fraud, waste and abuse.  Boundaries of states are only really arbitrary in the child welfare policies.  States' child welfare systems can do whatever they whimsically and capriciously wish to do because there is no transparency nor accountability and do not recognize federal mandates, civil rights, or the Congress of the United States.

ARTICLE XVI

BOUNDARIES

     Section 1. State boundaries. The State of Oregon shall be bounded as provided by section 1 of the Act of Congress of February 1859, admitting the State of Oregon into the Union of the United States, until:
      (1) Such boundaries are modified by appropriate interstate compact or compacts heretofore or hereafter approved by the Congress of the United States; or
      (2) The Legislative Assembly by law extends the boundaries or jurisdiction of this state an additional distance seaward under authority of a law heretofore or hereafter enacted by the Congress of the United States. [Constitution of 1859; Amendment proposed by S.J.R. 4, 1957, and adopted by the people Nov. 4, 1958; Amendment proposed by H.J.R. 24, 1967, and adopted by the people Nov. 5, 1968]

Oregon's work in placing children with families is commendable, but please Dr. Goldberg, consult with a legal expert before reducing the work of Oregon's founders to a throw of the dice and putting your foot in your mouth.

We got some funding issues going on here...Hello?  Is there anyone paying attention besides me?

Oregon Foster Care Fraud Scheme

Ore. drug rules tighten for foster children
6/15/2010, 12:11 a.m. PDT
The Associated Press

(AP) — PORTLAND, Ore. - Effective July 1, Oregon will have a new law and new rules to ensure closer scrutiny of psychiatric drugs given to children in foster care.

The change follows a November 2007 investigation by The Oregonian that found children in foster care were prescribed powerful psychiatric medications at four times the rate of other children covered by Medicaid.

A state audit the next year found one in five children in foster care was prescribed at least one psychiatric medication.

Under the new law, children must have a mental health assessment before they are given any anti-psychotic drug or more than one of another type of psychiatric drug. There will also be mandatory medication reviews for children younger than 6 who are taking psychiatric medications and for older kids with more than two psychiatric prescriptions.

Does this mean other Medicaid children are prescribed powerful psychiatric medications at a higher rate of children who hold private insurance?  Well, of course!

National Foster Contractor Glorification Month

My associates at Legally Kidnapped have designated May as National Foster Contractor Glorification Month.

The key term here is "Contractor" as that is the properly designated term to define the legal relationship of the foster provider and the state. What interests me is that the so-called "Social Contract" concept has been proverbially flushed down the toilet with the imperialistic morality parade.

As the marketing slogan of contracted services is to prevent, promote and protect, there, immediately, exists concept of sovereign immunity that absolves the state, and its contractual arms, from any breach of public policy, being that the contacted services, under the authority and oversight of the state, are being executed in good faith.

Well, as always, I will ask...

Where in the hell is Attorney General John Kroger?  (left)

 The admiral of Oregon's Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, he has successfully achieved some groundbreaking initiatives in stopping Medicaid fraud.

I take this time to ask General Kroger to push his efforts a step further and jump into the systemic cesspool called child welfare to stop Medicaid fraud, along with the more egregious activities of aberrant billing, at the expense of children.

In order for General Kroger to gather and arm his legal army for the battle of false claims in child welfare, he must be properly debriefed on what is going on in the enemy camps.

I identify revenue-maximizing fraud schemes as An Original Source.

 Legally Kidnapped exposes the industry for what it is:

You know, although I believe that these nationally recognized months should be brought into the discussion a little more often, I have been avoiding this particular topic this month because it just makes me want to vomit.


So for the most part, all month long, I have been simply skipping through the tons of articles that have been coming out promoting foster care providers as the saints amongst us that the Child Protective Industry would have you believe that they are.


Still, it's nothing but a symbolic gesture that amounts to the manufacturing of public support for their perceived cause. IOW, pure socially manipulative bullshit.


So, just for the fun of it, lets piss on Oregon's parade who just provided us with the following article, which opens like this...

Oregon thanks foster parents during National Foster Care Month

May is National Foster Care Month, a time to turn our attention to the children and youth in care and to honor the dedicated foster families, relatives, volunteers and child welfare professionals who get involved with children and young people to help change their lives for the better.

See? Pure socially manipulative bullshit.

I'm really curious as to what they mean by the phrase, "change their lives for the better." After all, they take these kids, bounce them from home to home, drug them up in chemical straight jackets so that they don't have to deal with them, etc.

Oregon House passes bill on foster kids' medication

Bill targeting foster kids' meds passes final hurdle

Legislation Would Help Protect Oregon’s Most Vulnerable in Foster Care

The article continues...

Last year in Oregon, more than 13,000 children spent at least one day in some kind of foster care because they could not remain safely at home with their parents, usually because of drug and alcohol abuse and/or domestic violence in their homes.

Like these people are any better!

Oregon's foster care kids shouldn't go it alone

Children in foster care need safety and stability. In Oregon, we're working to become the safest foster care system in the country.

Uh huh.

DHS says it plans to do more to protect foster kids

The good news is we are getting closer to reaching that goal. Last year, our state's financial supports for children in foster care increased, and the number of children in foster care who were abused by their foster parents declined by 32 percent. Placements with relatives increased by more than 20 percent, and the number of children who had two or fewer placements increased by 10 percent. In addition, 10 percent fewer children in Oregon spent time in foster care in 2009 compared to 2008.

Hmm... Remember this?

Oregon looks at foster care neglect; abuse rates twice the national average

State Accused of Placing Girl With Rapist

Or this...
Abuse in children's foster care: State officials call for outside review

These milestones of improvement could not have been reached without the great work of our staff, the commitment of foster and relative caregivers, quality services delivered by our partner providers and the support of communities across Oregon.

Nevertheless, we still have a long way to go to be sure that all children in Oregon are safe, well and connected to their families, their communities and their cultural identities.Agreed!

Blacks, Native Americans more likely to go to foster care

Study: Racial differences in foster care

Native American, African American children more likely to be taken into Oregon foster care

Ideally, all families would have the support they need to safely parent and prepare their children for adulthood. Ideally, no child would need the government to keep them safe. However, keeping children safe and families stable are goals that child welfare cannot accomplish alone. We need the help and support of individuals and communities in every city and town in Oregon. That's where you come in.

Hmm...

Attorney general bars Clackamas County judge from child-welfare cases

No matter how much time you have to give, each one of us has the power to do something positive that will change the life of a child or young person in foster care. Be a mentor or coach to parents who are struggling, or to a young person in foster care. Become a foster parent. Volunteer at one of our child welfare offices to transport children or parents to services or visitations. Give a foster parent or relative caregiver a break by providing respite child care. Tutor a young person in foster care and support their academic and lifelong success.

Hmm...

These are just a few of the many ways to have a positive effect on the life of a child in foster care. We need more everyday people to come forward because no child should be without a strong relationship with a caring adult to depend on. If you are already a foster parent or involved in the lives of children and families in your community, thank you. Our kids and families need your support and you can make a difference.

Yes, thank you Oregon, for providing so much content to Legally Kidnapped.

Attorneys of foster child sue Oregon for $1.6 million, say DHS failed to notice abuse

Washington County child welfare ranks last in state performance measurements

Springfield foster parent charged with sex abuse

Foster children who were starved file $32 million suit against Oregon

Medford foster care providers stole $100,000-plus, police say

If you want to become involved in the lives of children and youth in foster care in your community, please call your local DHS office, e-mail us or visit our Web site.

Happy National Foster Contractor Glorification and Recruitment Month.