Opinion
4A
Tuesday, April 20, 2021
Our View
Progress in
improving
child welfare
in Oregon
he reports from the Department of Human
Services Critical Incident Review Team
are some of the most heartbreaking items
the state of Oregon produces.
The team reviews child fatalities when there is
a connection to the state’s child welfare depart-
ment within a year of the death. The CIRT
reports aim to understand what happened and
consider what, if anything, can be learned.
A CIRT report from 2020 looked into what
may have been a suicide or accidental overdose
by a 16-year-old in December 2020.
Rewind back to 2016. DHS received a report
about the child. The child was then 12 and strug-
gling with mental health and self-harm. That
investigation was closed because no evidence was
found of parental abuse or neglect.
Then in December 2019, DHS received a
report when the child was 15. The allegation: The
child was struggling with suicide and it was not
being adequately addressed by the parents. There
also was information that the parents let the child
drink at home.
The parents initially denied the caseworker
access to the home. Later, the caseworker was
able to meet with the parents and learned they
were aware of the child’s problems. The mother
told the caseworker the school contacted her with
concern about a social media post from the child
in December 2019. The mother said she stayed
home with the child to ensure the child’s safety.
The family had no health insurance. They
did have resources through the child’s school to
access counseling. The caseworker interviewed
multiple other people, including school staff ,
family members and the child’s therapist. They
did not report concerns. Based on the inves-
tigation, the allegations of neglect were ruled
unfounded. The parents seemed to be taking
appropriate action. A year later, the child was
dead of suicide or accidental overdose.
In child abuse and neglect, there are often
missed chances to intervene or help. It’s hard to
point fi ngers and know for certain what more
could and should have been done in this case, at
least from the detail in the report. It doesn’t really
answer that.
Some, perhaps most, child abuse is prevent-
able. What can make a diff erence is giving fam-
ilies in need the support — economic, mental
health and more — they need to stay together and
prevent children from being harmed.
A twinkle of hope comes from the Family
First Prevention Services Act. Oregon Sen. Ron
Wyden, a Democrat, worked on and got it passed
in 2018. Child welfare advocates had long com-
plained the federal government was getting child
welfare funding wrong. Federal money was avail-
able, though the majority of it was only avail-
able once a child was removed from a family.
Shouldn’t the government put more eff ort into
giving families what they need to succeed? The
act enabled Oregon and other states to get reim-
bursed for services outside of foster care.
The state of Oregon just received permission
from the federal government to move ahead with
its version. That is very welcome news. Ore-
gon’s plan includes off ering families programs for
mental health, addiction and recovery, resources
for pregnant and parenting teens and residen-
tial treatment requirements. Will it prevent more
child abuse? We don’t know. We hope so.
There is more work to be done by Oregon’s
DHS to ensure it succeeds and fewer CIRT
reports must be written.
T
Other Views
Can we laugh about seasonal allergies?
DANNY TYREE
COLUMNIST
ree huggers, are you contem-
plating a Zoom meeting with
Mr. Elm instead?
Yes, this is dedicated to the mil-
lions of you who share my suscepti-
bility to seasonal allergies.
(Seasonal allergies? Yes, “When
is allergy season?” is a popular
Google question. I don’t mean to be
ungrateful for fl eeting symptom inter-
ruptions around Christmas, but that
question is as pollyannaish as asking
“When is double-chin season?” or
“When is robocall season?”)
Hopefully, this column will also
have a little something for the lucky
stiff s who AREN’T bothered by
pollen. Perhaps you can pause your
fairy-tale existence long enough to
ponder it. Hmm … I hadn’t realized
just how lucky we are that our fairy
tales aren’t marred by allergies. (“Fee
fi e foe fum … I smell the … I smell
the … actually, I can’t smell anything.
By dose is all stobbed ub.”)
Although we adults whine about
the “return” of allergy season, we’ve
known forever that it’s part of earth’s
life cycle. Our biology teachers taught
us all about stamens and pistils —
T
Letters deadline for
May 18 elections
The Observer does not run
endorsements of more than 400
words.
The Observer will institute a
deadline for letters to the editor,
so we can be fair with all the let-
although, in retrospect, they should
have been telling us more about CVS
and Walgreens!
We’re resigned to the fact that
pollen-based, bee-enabled plant
reproduction is a necessary evil. It’s
just that sometimes, when we want
to enjoy the Great Outdoors without
coughs and sneezes, we’d like to tell
Mother Nature’s fl ora and fauna,
“Get a room!” Too late — the dust
mites and mold have already claimed
all the indoor accommodations.
(“Bermuda grass, did you not see the
‘Do Not Disturb’ sign on the door,
dude?”).
Yes, I googled “Do bees have aller-
gies?” That search brought up aston-
ishingly few results. I guess we just
have to IMAGINE those rare worker
bees sniffl ing and putting in for sick
leave — and the queen responding
with, “We are not amused. Off
with their heads and thoraxes and
abdomens!”
I did encounter lots of advice about
surviving allergy season. After you’ve
been outdoors, leave your shoes by the
door, wash your face and hands and
change clothes — or, better yet, take
a full shower. And if you can stand
the pet dander, maybe encourage your
cat to lick off the top several layers of
skin. (Admit it — you’ve never seen a
skeleton using Flonase.)
Allergies like to add insult to
injury. We are advised to pick out
ters we receive and allow for
responses before Election Day, if
necessary.
We run local letters of endorse-
ment on a fi rst-come, fi rst-served
basis.
Please submit your endorse-
ment letters to the editor by
5 p.m. Friday, May 7.
You can email them to let-
the medication that is right for US;
but when your eyes are red and itchy,
it’s diffi cult to decipher all the fi ne
print about durations, side eff ects and
whether your 4-year-old will be oper-
ating heavy machinery.
It gets worse. We suff er with pollen
during the growing season. Then we
must deal with food allergies when
consuming the fi nished product.
I’m surprised Mother Nature hasn’t
bankrolled the introduction of “new
Charmin with poison ivy.”
Allergies present us with the
double whammy of constant
reminders AND unpleasant surprises.
It’s bad enough to experience nev-
er-ending nasal drip or itchy skin, but
phlegm and other allergy manifesta-
tions show up at the most inopportune
times. (“I’m sorry, caller number 12,
but our station call letters are, in fact,
NOT ‘Akkk! Gulp! Haarrkk! Ptooey!’
Guess those backstage passes to the
Rolling Stones concert are still up for
grabs.”)
Oops. Out of space. Go on back to
your medicine cabinets or your fairy
tales, as the case may be.
“Not by the hair of … Hey! This
new cologne is messing with my
chinny chin chin! It burns! It burns!”
———
Columnist Danny Tyree welcomes
email responses at tyreetyrades@aol.
com and visits to his Facebook fan
page “Tyree’s Tyrades.”
ters@lagrandeobserver.com, or
mail them to The Observer, c/o
Phil Wright, 911 Jeff erson Ave.,
La Grande OR 97850.
We will publish our last letters
on Saturday, May 15. Any letters
received after the deadline will
not run.
Election Day is May 18.