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Families caring for foster children have a tricky relationship with the state. In Oregon, Department of Human Services social workers provide support and resources for foster parents. Often, they get to know the parents well. In some cases, the same social worker who recruited and selected a foster parent is later charged with ensuring that the parent is acting in the best interest of their foster child.
Sounds reasonable, right? One person in charge of a foster care family seems like an effective, efficient approach. But what happens (pdf) in rare cases when the foster parents aren't doing what's best for the child — or worse, neglecting or abusing the child?
OPB's Rob Manning joins us Friday to talk about his reporting on case workers in charge of the foster parents that they selected. You can catch his story on Morning Edition Friday, and we've linked to it here.
OPB has also reported on the problems DHS has keeping up with the flood of abuse calls, and computer problems that let children who may be abused slip through gaps in the system. DHS says its aware of the gaps and is in the process of analyzing them.
And, in national news this week: the first child welfare case to be heard by the Supreme Court of the United States in the last 21 years is out of Oregon.
Have you been - or do you want to become - a foster parent? What do you think works or doesn't work about the current system? If you are a DHS caseworker, how would you like the system to change?
Tagged as: child abuse · child welfare · foster care
Photo credit: Shonan sanpo_06 / Creative Commons
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Hi There -
I am a foster parent in the system and I want to note that first there are two sides of the house - child welfare (CW) and developmental disabilities (DD). On the DD side, my expereince has been full seperation from those who accredit and review, those who place, and those who are assigned as case workers for the youth. Highly professional from top to bottom and everything inbetween. It is a delight to serve this group and to be accountaable to them for professional service to the youth.
On the otherside of the house is in my limited opinion a group with an elitiist attitude. I perceive CW to be very poor in communication, highly set in who is right rather than what is right - case in point: should a child be penalized from seeing a parent because the parent can't make an appointment with the child? Although the adult is to be responsible in keeping the appt, didn't the child get there because of a exhbited lack of responsibility? CW has its rules. I can talk for hours on the differences between the two houses. PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU ADDRESS THE SEPCIFIC SIDE OF THE HOME AND DON'T LUMP THE TWO TOGETHER.
Thank you - Tg
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TG- Appreciate your insight! I've not had any experience with 2 sides of the house, but clearly see CW as you do. I have perceived the same elitist attitudes in the court room (it comes across as them being too busy or to important to answer questions, etc.). I wonder if it is a diguise for some form of fear? I'm not sure what the fear would be, however. The workers on the "side of the child" appear to have a LOT of authority, including the authority to treat with disrespect, family members who have nothing to do with any ongoing investigation or allegations. Their (DHS workers) accountability is protected by their obligation to protect the privacy of their clients. Agree that's necessary, but when I have questions about the case, I can't get answers since I'm not directly involved. Poor communication has been a problem from the beginning of our interactions with them.....and yes yes yes who is right vs WHAT is right has been the TOTAL focus since the get go. And a DHS worker (investigator?) in an apparent romantic relationship with an investigating POLICE officer presents itself as a perfect arrangement to accuse, harrass, and intimidate members of the community and smells of something on the side of unethical. The community is historically poor so legal action to correct this conduct would only happen if some outrageous action took place. And, although I am not part of the community where the alleged events took place, I frequent it occasionally, and would be distressed if I ever needed the aid of law enforcement while visiting.
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Even a 'Great Foster Care' experience is second place to an 'Average Two-Parent Family'.
Up to 40% of all Americans have some diagnosable psychiatric illness. Chances are, if you are normal, then your spouse is dysfunctional. Dysfunctional people lead to Relationship Dysfunction and subsequently to Family Dysfunction. An Individual's Death Spiral becomes a Generational Saga.
How do we cure it? Start by treating the Individual, their Alcoholism, Addictions, Personality Disorders, and Mental Illness. Denial is not just a River in Egypt.
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"Up to 40% of all Americans have some diagnosable psychiatric illness"
This stuck with me... So I took notice when Consumer Reports recently quoted 14%... would it be possible for you to share the source of the 40%? Thanks in advance!
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40%?? - that would be what pharma wants us to think - now that's american incentive - 3 out of 5 are nut-cases amongst us?? Wow! and not PC either
are you suggesting that 40% of everyone be drugged?
Or perhaps that there is a river in ... i dunno, Missouri, also called Denial, and we dispose of the problem there?
you always have a fascinating number of ideas all balled up and in a heap, and I'm just wondering aloud where some of it is meant to lead to
maybe you have some idea?
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40%?? - that would be what pharma wants us to think - now that's american incentive - 3 out of 5 are nut-cases amongst us?? Wow! and not PC either -- Iolo — Thu March 3rd 6:37p.m.
Oops...I think you got your ratio wrong -- 40% is 2 out of 5. (3 of 5 would be 60%.)
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Here is the Data on Psychiatric Disease Prevalence by the National Institute of Mental Health(NIMH) in Meta-Summary Bulletin from 2009.
http://www.nimh.nih.gov/about/director/publications/psychiatric-epidemiology.shtml
It cites Lifetime Prevalence of Mental Illness at 46.4% and Annual Incidence Rate of An Acute Mental Crisis at 26.2%.
--I hope you like Statistics, but most Americans cannot comprehend the Statistical Terms or Tools. rethomas: This is the second time I am handing you data--you really should be able to Google this data yourself--basic internet literacy that takes 2 minutes.
Never accept data that goes against your own common sense and observations. Walk around downtown streets and see the hungover alcoholics, gaunt IV drug abusers, homeless schizophrenics, pot smoking teens with no ambition and no future, preachers shouting about the Apocalypse, Veterans with PTSD, battered woman scarred by sexual abuse, demented Alzheimer elderly getting lost while coming home, cat woman living with 40 cats in a 2 bedroom house, rained-upon depressed downtrodden people and a whole city targeted by bombers. And then say 'there is NO Mental Illness in our society.'
In Short, MENTAL ILLNESS IS VERY COMMON. Just read some of the regular postings on Internet Forums--there are even some characters here and it is pitiful that they deny themselves help.
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If that many Americans suffer from some form of mental disorder, as described by professionals, then surely it can't any longer be considered as an abnormal condition. If almost half the population is afflicted in this way then we must consider the probability of these "different" forms of behavior as coming within the range of normal behavior for 21st century Americans.
On tne other hand, if 40% of Americans are in need of psychiatric treatment, aside from the treatment expense of physical ailments who pays for this? Given the decline of public revenue, and employment, generally, and considering the rising cost of any kind of medical treatment it doesn't apppear likely that these 40% will receive treatment...if in fact they are in an abnormal condition.
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I worked at MacLaren school for 5 years and I assure you that the system is rife with nepotism, favoritism, and all the typical corruption and waste one gets as a result of civil service employees who are "protected" by their public employee unions.
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I agree and i think it is this nepotism that quite possible was the result of returning two children to a dangerous situation. a caseworker with no experience making recommendation that were detrimental.
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an insider would know, i suppose, so i feel assured by your assurances
i find it hard to believe you weren't "protected" too
i can't see how you would have lasted that long, otherwise
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I have been a foster care parent and adopted through DHS. When we got our daughter at 6 we were her seventh home. She was abused in foster care and had been removed from the home in one placement. We had both the best and the worst in workers when dealing with DHS. One worker was a nightmare the other was so good at her job that if they were all like her DHS would be the model program fro the nation.
One big problem I see is that there is a huge need for homes and not enough people are willing to get involved to do this. I find myself wishing some celebrity would adopt a child in the states and make that more hip. because of the lack of good homes you get situations where people are doing foster care as a way to make a living. They end up being foster care mills places were they have 5 to 7 kids usually more than one sibling group. You also end up placing kids and hoping it works out because it is the best placement you have at the moment.
I am glad you are doing this program there is a great need for this problem to get out in the air and looked at and resolved.
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You are spot on. There are definitely foster parents out there just for the money. I just don't know what the solution is to weed them out.
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pt 1
for those who might like to consider this situation in a larger context-
an educated guess about the flaws in the present system would be that it has been gutted and cannot function as it should, thus giving more ammo to those who would further defund every service a government is meant to perform -
the problems of funding in foster care; facilities, supervision, oversight, are the problems suffered by of all the various departments performing the duties and offering the services of a government-
we are a large country, we are many people, we need a proportionately larger government to govern - or - everything goes wrong because no one is all that altruistic unless they have competitive examples to surpass, and/or they are shamed into such selfless action- our morals are obviously lacking then
our nature is not naturally generous to those far away - it is not immediately intuitive to be so, and our religion just offers a lot of lip service, but our actions belie our white lies - we are not terrible because we each of us have some little darkness in of our soul, we are just human - if we lived in little mud huts and walked everywhere and there were only 2 or 3 hundred of us per 1000 sq. miles, maybe then we wouldn't need a government -no, not at all - we'd only need big wooden clubs - those who had guns would have already shot each other all to hades and back and would no longer be a problem - attrition has an upside
but we aren't that
it is folks who think they should have all the benefits of what a reasonably strong and well directed government may offer, but who will not pay for it, who are are root cause of so much of what ails our society- most of you out there reading this don’t pay enough taxes, and yet there are those who are far more well-padded at the bank who pay less than you! yet they are worth tens of times your net worth, maybe hundreds of times your net worth, maybe thousands of times your net worth -
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pt 2 -
yet there are those who say there is no money, there is waste, there is this, there is that . . . bla bla blablazo
ignorance and distrust, meanness and selfishness - these are not the qualities of citizens of a great nation, they are the qualities of savages and beasts, and so acts the nation -
the foster care system cannot function without facilities, good management, oversight, and a generous helping of human love - put these kids in with folks who are doing it for the money, as some but hopefully not many are doing, or folks who are thinking they are going to save these youngsters in the name of their god, which is hardly selfless and hopefully not many are doing this either, and you are asking for failure on so many levels you couldn't count them all before next tuesday even if you were twice as smart as you think you are now - but no one will ever know unless there is the funding to retain competent and honest people in oversight
civil service is the strength of a nation - it is those who want to get away with something shady who would do away with government - in loco parentis is an important civil concept -
we would do well to understand what good parenting ought to be in order to understand what good government ought to be,
a corollary of sorts would be that since we do not condone slavery of any sort, neither is a child chattel to its parent
another would be that if you don’t know how to raise a child, having a child is not going to make that situation any better, nor is it a good way to find out whether your partner is true or any other romantic fantasy
Some have put their hearts and the better part of their minds to being good foster parents, and i do not disrespect them their achievement and accomplishment - others need to be watched as if by a hawk - how do we know the difference without the investment in our future that is required to fulfill the services we have deemed are necessary to us as a people -do we cheap out on the children even more?
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READING YOUR COMMENTS ACTUALLY BROUGHT TEARS TO MY EYES >..........YOU INSPIRE ME>>>> THANK YOU SO VERY VERY MUCH
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you fool yourself alone, deafened
if you have something intelligent to write, try that (FOR ONCE)
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I am a retired Child Welfare supervisor. All Child Welfare Caseworkers, regardless of their role as investigator, foster home certifier, permanency worker, are responsible for the safety of children, first and foremost. Cases of enmeshment of between foster home certifiers and foster parents are rare. All caseworkers are mandatory reporters and could be fired for not reporting abuse in foster homes or elsewhere.
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As a current foster parent, I agree and think this topic of certifiers and foster parents getting too close is a VERY small issue when you look at a system with many large problems. Foster parents who abuse are few and far between compared to the many many loving people who give up their lives to provide love to these children in crisis. You do give up much of your life when you become a foster parent, and it hurts that the abusing foster parents are many times the highlighted cases.
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"All caseworkers are mandatory reporters and could be fired for not reporting abuse in foster homes or elsewhere."
Could be fired, but are they? Is there real accountability in DHS, or is the system always to blame?
This whole discussion seems to center around a broken system, barely touching on the people behind the system. If we can acknowledge that some case workers are fantastic and some lousy, why do we continue to employ those who don't/can't do the job well?
The system needs work for sure, but real accountability should be amongst the fixes.
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Does DHS make the parents take parenting lessons? And lessons on the laws against child abuse?
Does DHS teach them positive parenting skills? Tell them that punishment does not work?
In other words, is anything being done to prevent problems?
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Then again, people who become parents in the "conventional" manner, (AKA Breeders) don't have to take parenting classes, either, and look what happens to some of the children from these families. I call your attention to the case of Jeanette Maples, who died a year or two ago, and her mother was recently convicted for her death.
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Does DHS teach the children their rights and the laws against child abuse so that the child cannot be bamboozled through fear and intimidation?
So that the child can self report to the DHS supervisor about what is going right and or wrong?
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Yes. There is a rigorous training program for foster parents that addresses these issues.
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Does DHS make the biological parents take parenting classes and teach them the laws?
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Parents are almost always court ordered to complete parenting classes. However, the research indicates these classes are ineffective. Poor parenting is not a "stand alone" issue for removal. There are so many reasons WHY parents are ill equipped or unmotivated and getting to the heart of WHY is key. Some parents ARE able to internalize what they learn through parenting classes, but unfortunately, they are the minority.
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dgmaldridge1 — Fri March 4th 9:56a.m.
Thanks for your replys.
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You need insurance and a license to drive a car but not to spew out burdens on society>>> for example the two boys that ganged raped and sodomized the 11 year old girl in Portland.
We need to somehow elimate the problem at the source >. and make a brave new world.
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deafened-
that is a relevant example to you???
where do you get these stories? and then the ideas you seem to come up with on your own?
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I am a CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocate) and I have seen both good and bad. There are great case workers and there are the ones who just don't care because they are so overwhelmed with their case load. There are foster parents motivated only by more money even though the level of service for their child would not justify the increase. There are also foster parents who care a great deal about the kids in their homes but the system prevents them from providing effective parenting. Then there are the lack of homes. I know children who have been placed in more than 30+ homes and with each disruption there is a scramble to find a new placement. Cerrtifications are sometimes rushed as a result.
The system is broken. I can go on about many more issues I see all the time not related to this specific topic. We do are doing a disservice to these children.
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One immediate action that could be taken to help foster kids would be to grant them and their foster families a choice in schools. Right now they are moved from school to school. Just when they need stability they don't have it.
If they had school choice, including private options, a school system could develop that would be able to provide more hours of education, recreation and all around stability. Perhaps more families could step up to be foster parents when they had more support for the daily care and development of a child put in the situation of needing state intervention for protection.
A school choice that had longer days and a more constant schedule would help working parents take on the job of fostering a child.
These kids need a chance to develop stable relationships with mature people that can only develop over time. Right now that can't happen with the large, quixotic school system and at minimum yearly turnover of teachers.
Today in Salem there is a vote to allow people to donate so scholarships can be provided for kids, including foster kids, House Bill 2291, to have more choice in education. Anyone who cares about these kids should let their reps know they support this choice. It will actually save the state dollars.
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The court more often than not orders that the children removed from their parents' care continue in the school they were attending at the time of removal. If a child is moved to another school, DHS must be granted permission by the court to do so.
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When I was a public defender, I was sometimes assigned to represent children in foster care. I think the child attorneys in Portland are good but in the other counties, the attorneys representing children just sign papers and show up for court. The Oregon State Bar has guidelines for representing children and that includes visiting the foster home and checking it out. I did get one child removed from their foster home after I discovered they kept missing school due to lice. The child was placed in a better home after that but it was really embarrassing to the caseworker who obviously was not checking on these details...like school attendance and cleanliness. I just figured they were dealing with abuse cases and not so interested in neglect. The child attorneys really have to be more assertive and be child advocates. That is my opinion. Thanks
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I would say there are some good attorneys but my observation is the only contact they typically have is in court. Very few bother to visit the child or check in on them.
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What happened to this child is unforgivable!
The error also happen when returning children to their bio-families too soon or when they shouldn't.
The problem is not with the relationship with case workers. If the case worker is good, they should still beable to notice if harm is happening. Yes you can make a good foster home better with that relationship, and good foster parents need that support!!! The responsibility should ALWAYS be the protection of the child.
Please keep talking about this subject. These kids are invisible and need all the help they can get. And in this economic climate I hate to bring it up, but at the time we were foster parents to put a child in certified day care cost $650 a month, foster parents at the base rate when we were doing it was $350 a month. We need good foster parents, but even the best of people can't or won't always loose money to help these sometimes difficult children. Also there are people who seem to be warehouseing children that should not be allowed. before 1 family is allowed to have over 5 kids, I wonder if they would not be better served in an orphanage type setting run by a non-profit thathave trained and certified care givers!!!
Also another topic to be considered is the time of children in care. If you have an infant for 2.5 yrs, and then send a child back to unsafe situation against the reccomendation of the CRB that should be reexamined.
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I worked for a 3rd party non-profit and provided supervised visitations for foster children with their troubled parents. I had a brother and sister who lived in separate foster homes. I supervised visitations with both of their parents. One child's Foster Parents obviously didn't take very good care of the foster child. He would wear tattered ripped up, too small clothing that I wondered if they were hand downs from the Foster Parents own son. This child's foster parents would sabotage visitations by not having the child available where I was supposed to pick him up. They had me running all over town to find him for a visit with his real mother, father, and sister who was in a separate home. I felt that the Foster Parents were working against the system for their own monetary gains.
After repeatedly stating this problem in my reports and discussig the problem with the case worker, I began to question whether the case worker was working in the interest of the child. The DHS case worker reported me to my employer citing that my job was to monitor court ordered visitations, not the treatment by foster parents. This reprimand is part of my work history, even though my only concern was for the Foster Child.
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I will also add teenage foster children are often the most neglected. No one wants to deal with them; especially when they are rebellious. They are the ones that go through the most homes the fastest. Their education is typically compromised due to multiple school changes. Many don't even get the tools they need to become productive members of society which means they will most likely be back in the system in some capacity once they age out.
One other problem is wanting to medicate every child because they have "behavioral problems." They are sometimes forced in to therapy as well. Therapy is a waste of money unless someone wants to be there.
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We were foster parents for a youth with complicated mental health needs and we were part of his extended family. Things were going really well for several months. ONe day he told his counselor he was afraid of us and this was reported. The caseworker let us know we would be investigated and eventually our foster son explained he did not like how we made him do his chores, homework etc. and this was scarey cuz he was used to doing what he wanted. The youth was told it was good to tell someone if he did not feel safe. We had some more meetings and all of us, the youth, our family, the counselor and caseworker agreed we would continue to try and make his placement with us work and it did. The case worker had done a great job of preparing us that being investigated could be part of being a foster parent, tho it was very hard couple of days, we were told not to take it personal that this was normal and that it was check and balance to keep kids safe. Looking back the worker did a great job of balancing everyones needs and making sure the foster child was safe. I am very concerned that one of the budget cuts is 10% reduction in payment for foster care. It is a very hard job in many ways and there are many costs beyond basic food and shelter that the current stipend does not cover.
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Please ask KEVIN GEORGE: How hard is this conflict of interest between certifiers and investigators??>Really?
ORegon ALREADY HAS the Office of Investigation and Training and TRAINING (OIT). They investigate independently for Adult abuse ..and developmentally disabled abuse in every county. Use a small portion of the existing DHS budget to place a certain number of full time investigators per 1000 cases or some objective number to bring skill to every ORegon county on level field. OIT also does training. There does not need to be this long lasting anguish and delay. Your story featured a kid who was 30 days in the hospital at DHS expense. There is no savings in keeping your head in the sand.
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The problem with foster care is the idea of foster care itself. Foster care is an inherently risky response to a risky situation. It is just barely the lesser of two evils. It will always be an uphill battle. Many of the children entering foster care are already broken, the damage has been done, and their lives are further interrupted by placement into a fantasy world, into a fantasy family, into a family that is getting financially compensated for their compassion, for their parentage.
One of biggest obstacles to foster care ever working out are the individuals providing the care. It is quite possible that many of the people who become foster parents do so for less then altruistic reasons. In many cases the people doing the fostering are people you would never want as parents. Of course this is a broad generalization, but from my anecdotal experience I find it to be true.
Some of the parents do it for money. Some of the parents do it because they had a bad childhood and want to save all the children in the world to the point of obsession. Some of the parents do it for religious reasons, perhaps, they view the world as terribly broken and feel by taking in children that have been wronged by the wiley ways of satan, that they can fix these broken souls. It takes some gumption to be a foster parent, and it takes quite a bit of ego, to feel you have the capacity to parent that well. And, some of the parents do it out of necessity, they are in love with children, children fill a void in their lives, so the more the merrier. Often anyone willing to take on such a daunting endeavor is a bit off their rocker. Few people (of course in my opinion) become foster parents out of sheer good will.
Perhaps, these parents are better then nothing. And someone needs to provide this service. But we are deluding ourselves if we believe this is ever going to work out well. It is a rancid proposition before it even begins.
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I've seen several foster parents tell their foster children they cannot hang out or get to know their own kids. What kind of message does that send? It disgusts me.
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I don't think one is necessarily off their rocker to have compassion and care for these children, but do agree it is less than an ideal situation. Don't have all the answers, but possibly if these people are truly altruistic, they would volunteer in state run orphanages???
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I was a foster parent for 15 years, CASA for four and adopted 3 children from the system. It is really broken both in CW and the court system.
There are both good and bad caseworker and foster families, I hope the focus will be on the kids and their needs. I saw caseworksers lie, deceive about their cases. I saw kids moved from one family to another because the foster family was holding the agency accountable for mismanaging a kid's case.
I personally experienced this when I wrote letters to legislators concerning a case I was involved in. I testified before a n oversite committee and from that time forward all heck broke loose. Kids were moved from my home and much more.
DHS-CW has many OAR that theu are required to follow but know one holds them accountable. They follow the rules when it serves their purpose.
Thanks for looking in the foster care situation.
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I have been interested in becoming a foster parent for years, but two things have stopped me - though I have never really investigated the facts around these concerns.
The first concern is the safety of my son, now 1.5 years old. Can you address this concern?
The second is that we can't afford to be a one income family, and I would feel a need to give the foster child/children sufficient attention.
Is there support for childcare and is it appropriate to have a foster child in childcare?
I specifically would be interested in working with children with developmental disabilities as I have a sister with Down Syndrome have a background working with children with D.D.
Thank you.
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You should look in to the Maple Star program. It is designed for higher needs children. They offer a lot of support.
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The recommendation is to only take children younger than your own, and though out of kindness you may want to accept the first call you get, but for the safety of your family it is good to stick to the child younger than your own, and know well the circumstances they are coming from. And I don't want to paint too negative a picture, because many of these kids are very good kids just in a tough spot, while some are severely damaged, mental illness, drug affect, PTSD, RAD, and the list goes on. Don't do it for an income. I don't know the subsidy now, sounds like it is significantly more than when we were doing foster care, but we paid out of our own pocket to put them in a child development program.
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I would like to propose to keep these kids out of care, to offer a living situation that can assure safety and accountability. I would propose to offer a living situation that self contains the services these families get drug rehab, counseling, mentoring, well child check ups, school support, anger mgt. So offer the parents a choice, "you can come live in this housing facility where you will be monitored, or you can have your children removed. My guess is this would be a much cheaper and effective solution.
Regarding current discussion, when you raise and infant for 2+ years it is more than heart wrenching to have these children returned especially to a woman who was certain to allow them to visit a man with founded allegations of sexual abuse.
You are told your job is to keep them safe, you raise them, then watch the very agency that told you to keep them safe return them to anything but, is beyond heart wrenching.
as for support, you are also told and correctly so that your family may not be as keen on this as you and by caring for these children you may be alienated by your own family if they don't understand. Also in many of these communities the psychiatric care is not available and in places where there is they don't take OHP.
please contine to raise this subject. How many children have been in care over the yrs? is it going up or down and why?
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I've wondered the same things....community "policing" of families; a facility run like a hospital with 24 hour support staff for family. Why do some situations get immediate attention and some don't? I hate to keep saying this but politics plays an enormous role! (Families of police officers don't get the same scrutiny as a person with a lower socioeconomic status who are less likely to be able to stand up to an intimidating interview or when extremely exceptional circumstances occur as the family whose baby tipped over while sitting on the floor and ended up with a major head injury due to her larger than usual head-later exonerated by expert witnesses!) And I'm sorry to say this, but a person assigned to be an investigator of child abuse/neglect certainly becomes jaded! How could they not?! They see it all, some more gruesome than others. Of course every call they get has some merit, some just have more than others.
Why haven't any CASA's commented? It would be nice to hear from one of them. It's hearsay, but I've been told that they have reported abuse of authority of CW workers both ways-keeping kids in care and releasing kids from care. Sad and unfortunate and furstrating!
I recently sent an email to a worker, which was ignored or at least not responded to, asking the exact question you asked. How many kids have been in care over the years? How many are in care now? How many children are assigned to a worker? Does a worker with a complicated case have the same number of cases and/or kids? How does a worker get a case? Are there "levels" of workers? What is the trend? Why? Who do the workers and the agency itself actually report to? Is there a citizen board who has the right to intervene when a rotting fish is smelled? If so or if not, who has the authority to intevene without going into massive debt?! Not politically correct, but it would be much easier if there were rules for reproducing.........
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Wouldn't you think that any conversation would be video-ed?
For the protection of everyone involved?
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If the conversation/interview takes place at a CAC - child assessment center such as CARES NW, it is video taped. If the conversation/interview takes place in the home, at school, in the community, it is not video or audio taped.
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You are welcome.
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I have a family member in DHS custody. It has been one of the most painful, ongoing events in MY life. I can't imagine what it's like for her. One of the most frustrating parts of this is that I live in SW WA. Although this child has lived with me in the past, DHS has treated me as though I am from Mars. I have been a foster parent in the past and am qualified to care for this child. I have no criminal history. However, because I live in WA and 90 miles away from her mother, I am the last one being considered. Anyone else in a similar situation? The wheels of DHS progress roll painfully slow. My perception is that the focus of this "event" is on finding a perpetrator and prosecuting that person rather than rehabilitating the child and aiding the parent in improving as a parent. Family relationships with the child built over the years are slowly being eroded. This is not fair to any parties involved, especially the child. Communications with the birth parents by DHS are sparse, at best and extremely controlling. For example,the parent has been directed to take parenting classes, but no syllabi or requirements given, yet the parent was directed to a specific "teacher". Anybody been "here"? Please, please, please share your experiences! What you did to remedy a similar situation!
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First, I am so sorry for your anguish and frustration. As a recently retired child protective services supervisor (Oregon), I share your frustration from an agency standpoint. What you're describing is part of the ICPC - Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children. Its a federal law and you should be able to access it via the internet. Basically, it prevents children from being placed across state lines without the appropriate oversight, such as home studies, back ground checks, etc. Which is good. But, it slows down the process, in part, because the sending state, Oregon in your case, has to wait on Washington, the receiving state, to do the homestudy, background checks, etc. Unfortunately, it is unlikely that Washington is as "invested" in the child and his/her well-being, future, etc. as Oregon is. This happens both ways, I'm just using your situation as an example. Work load issues are the primary reason things get stuck in the mud. More workers with fewer cases, fewer home studies, etc. would be able to address these issues much more quickly.
There is some good news, too. There is a border agreement in place now between Multnomah County, Oregon, and some of the border counties in Washington, such as Clark Co. (there are others but I don't recall which ones.) I don't know where you live, but if you are 90 miles N of Portland, you may not be a resident of one of those "border agreement counties." You may find more information about this on the state of oregon website, child welfare, border agreement.
I urge you to be a vocal advocate for this child and I wish you the best of luck.
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One of the many confusing things about DHS is that the level of proof is "reasonable cause to believe" whereas, in the criminal justice world it is "beyond a reasonable doubt." Also, DHS doesn't always travel the same path as law enforcement and may choose to pursue removal even though law enforcement does not charge or prosecute. I know this sounds frustrating, but DHS is about more about child protection and less about criminal prosecution.
Another element that is unique to Oregon is "threat of harm." If there is a significant threat of harm posed by an adult, or older child in the home, a child can be removed, even if that particular child has not been abused.
An example would be a sex offender living in a home with children. The child living in the home may not have experienced any abuse, but because of the sex offender's history, the sex offeder poses a risk, or "threat of harm" to the child. In that scenario, a child may be removed, or, preferrably, the sex offender would move out and the parent would behave in an appropriate fashion to keep the child safe. DHS might offer the sex offender a "risk assessment" to help determine the level of risk the offeder actually poses to children.
I believe the 60 day home study dead line is part of the ICPC which is a federal law.
Another situation in which DHS may seek removal of children despite lack of criminal charges is if the child is non verbal. For instance, an infant receives a burn, broken bones, etc and law enforcement is unable to determine which adult in the home caused the injury (which must be determined medically as "non accidental") and the child being non verbal is unable to disclose. In such cases, perhaps no one is ever charged, but DHS proceeds, based on the medical findings, that the child is not safe in the care of any of the adults in the home.
Another avenue you may want to pursue is to call the Governor's Advocacy Office (Oregon) and explain the situation to them. They contact DHS, usually the supervisor, sometimes the branch manager, to find out what is going on and to try and assist citizens in navigating and/or understanding the situation.
Hope this helps.
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I would like to add, that some of these children diagnosed or not, have what would be called Reactive attachment disorder. Yet they tell us as foster parents we should not become attached to these children with high needs that we care for sometimes for years on end.
Let me suggest, the harm is done by those unable or unwilling to attach. these children have noone in there lives that will put it all on the line for their saftey and welfare.
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@dgmaldridge....thank you. I am in Clark county, the child is not in Multnomah...sad. I have been looking at the Oregon DHS site a lot today and printed a lot. As humans, we all have a vested intrest in keeping our children safe and healthy. WA workers told me they have 60 days to have the study complete. Is that WA law, OR law or federal law? It never occured to me to ask and further more, I don't believe it truly matters, the time issue. Politics are obviously a big part of this, sadly, not the welfare of the child. I appreciate your information but I feel like my situation is about the presiding (?) worker being right and not the good of the child. The worker told us the child has PTSD. Of course the child does! The child trusted a policeman in uniform (including bullet proof vest) and a stranger to record her story in her home. When they were done, they took her away from her family and her home! The child crys and wants to go home after each visit. It doesn't take a psychologist to diagnose this! Is the child being treated for it I asked, and I got a long pause then,"well yes" reply from the worker. Can you understand how that would make a very involved, concerned family member suspicious? I am not a parent so the childs right to privacy has been well protected and I have been "metered" out information. Also, none of the members of the family in the home have been accused or charged for any thing! And the local police and sheriff admit no ongoing investigations. How do I find out why this is continuing?! I heard the childs interview and something CLEARLY happened, but the fact remains, no one is being charged,no one blamed!
@sunshineriver..thank you too!In my past, when I had foster kids, I had a very young child who could not or would not attach to any one. I have wondered through the years what has become of her and hoped all good things. That childs circumstances were much more dire than the one I am involved in now. I am blessed to have a brother who is a psychologist phD who shares his expertise with me when I need or want it. As a caring individual, I will return to foster parenting with a different perspective of foster parenting. I have become a nurse since those days 20 years ago and see the world through more mature eyes. Strange things we are asked to do: take in a strangers (often damaged) kids, love them, house them, see to their every need BUT, the ever present but, don't attach to them. It doesn't make sense from any point of view. No wonder kids of foster care have been known to have long term problems.
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I've come in late here. But this is amazing journalism. Heartbreaking stories that Oregonians need to follow and understand.
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Florida is also having an issue with their DHS. - Chuck Broes