Street Roots • May 29-June 4, 2015
News
Page 5
FAMILIES, from page 4
the foster care system - there were 42
a relative, but realized there was nothing
says they worked diligently to make the boys foster kids in Oregon last year who had lived she could do legally to stop it.
with their foster parents for more than 12
feel they were loved and wanted. “You treat
The child she represented in that Case,
months prior to being adopted by a relative.
Zachery, had been in the care of “Natalie,” a
them like your own children,” says Stark.
During that same period, DHS received four foster parent outside of Portland who asked
That’s why, he says, after all the
requests from caseworkers asking for
we not use her real name, and her husband
reassurances they gave the boys, to then
exceptions allowing foster parents to be
ever since they picked him up from the
turn them over to a stranger would go
considered for adoption.
hospital when he was just 2 days old.
against all their initial efforts.
“I think it would be more,” says
The couple had raised him for eight
“There has to be a sense of betrayal
McKechnie, “but the foster parents aren’t
months when DHS asked if they would like
there,” he says, leading the children to ask,
'
to adopt him, says Natalie.
“Why’d you give up on me? I already lost my allowed to ask.”
In 2013, more than 12,000 children spent
“We said of course, because we just loved
mom or my dad, now why am I losing you
at least one day in Oregon’s foster care
him, and at that point, we gave the rest of
too? Why don’t you want me? It instills a
system. That same year there were 4,229
our hearts - all of our hearts - because you
fear.”
-
certified foster homes statewide. According
always kind of hold back a little bit knowing
This reality has led to a phrase he often
to DHS spokesperson Andrea Cantu-
that
they’re going to go,” she says.
tells foster kids in his care. “‘You can be
Schomus, the department is always in need
Zachery’s pending adoption coincided
certain that we love you,’ - and Ihate
of additional foster homes. With a wide
with DHS’s rule change» Natalie says six
having to add this part,” he says, “and we
variety of needs
months later DHS
are going to care for you as long as the state among the children
told her the adoption
lets us.”
they serve, she says,
was
off because it had
Stark emphasizes the bill would not give
the best matches are
found relatives who
"We really? really need te step
preference to foster parents, only allow for
found when there a re
up hew we see fester pareats« 1 were interested in
them to be considered for adoption
a lot of placement
adopting the child.
tblafe that a ll tee eltea? fester
alongside relatives. Its passage would have
choices.
Zachery was nearly
no effect on his case, as an agreeable
parents are seea as k ia i e l aa
Debbie Albright,
2 years old when it
outcome has been reached, he says.
after th e a f ht ia hew te really
president of Oregon
was time for him to
There are exceptions, although rare, to
Foster Parent
help Bids h e a l/r
go live with his new
DHS’s current rule. The department’s
Association, says
parents - cousins
permanency director Prouty says DHS does
STATE SEN, CHIP SHIELDS from out of state. The
foster parents often
create “an exception for relatives and foster
become frustrated
whole process, from .
parents to be considered together if it is in
with what she says is
the introduction to his
the best interests of the child or children.”
a lack of respect for
new family, whom
These exceptions must come at the
their rights and their
he’d never met, to his
request of the child’s caseworker and cannot time from the state, making an already
departure, took only three days.
be made by the foster parents. In Prouty’s
challenging role as a foster parent more
“It was a horrific three days,” says
four-year tenure, she says she’s received a
difficult. In her circle, she says, the greatest
Natalie. “In the end, they came to our house
total of 17 such requests, two of which she
challenge for foster parents c a m e w h e n “
and n e sa w
d e n ie d . _
to u s gn d w ould n o t le t go. H e buried his
Oregon began to shut them out of a d o p tio n
Stark says there are branches of DHS
face in us, and when it came time, they
placement proceedings when a relative is
that don’t allow for exceptions at all. “I’ve
pried him off of us and shoved him in his car
involved.
been told many of the counties have
seat. They couldn’t get him in because he
“They stopped taking into account what
somewhat of a blanket, ‘No we don’t do
was flailing and screaming.”
was in the best interest of kids and just
th a t’”
She came back into her home to find her
always went toward that relative,” says
DHS’s preference for placement with
four biological children in distress. Her
Albright. “It’s my own personal story. It’s
relatives is backed by numerous reports
oldest daughter, who was 12 at the time,
the sfofy'of hundreds of families I know
spanning the past 20 years. Studies find that across the state who have lost kiddos after a was sobbing so deeply she began to throw
when a child is plated with or adopted by a
up.
year or two years of them being in their
“We spent the next year trying to get our
relative versus a non-relative foster parent,
home to relatives that have no contact or
kids through the grief process,” she says.
the outcomes — at least statistically - are
connection to these children other than
“It’s like a death.”
better. They are more likely to be placed
biology.”
Zachery’s Court Appointed Special
with siblings, they have fewer behavioral
In Albright’s case, she and her husband
Advocate, who spoke on condition of
problems, do better in school, and they are
had fostered a boy since infancy. After both
anonymity, says she advocated for Zachery
more likely to report they always feel loved
his parents died from drug overdoses, the
to stay with the foster parents. She said, “I
Albrights were on track to adopt him, she.
- 9 4 percent versus 82 percent of children
was incredibly upset with the solution that
says. But when DHS found a second cousin
in non-relative foster care.
DHS came up with. Placing Zachery with
living on the East Coast who was willing to
Data pulled from an expansive, federally;
take him, the decision to allow the Albrights people he did not know, only because of the
funded study of 5,501 foster children, The
current law, was very unfair, to both
to adopt was overturned. At age 18 months,
National Survey of Child and Adolescent
Zachery and the foster family.; The final
the child was sent across the country to live
Well-Being, published in 2010, was used to
decision was almost as hard on me as it was
with a second cousin he had never met.
compare parenting by relative and non-
on the foster family.”
“We’d had him his entire life,” says
relative foster parents. While both groups of
Albright, “and so that was definitely trauma
parents scored well across the board,
for everyone involved. That was five years
relatives were more likely to encourage
ago and we’ve never seen or heard from him
hobbies and education, according to the
en. Chip Shields (D-Portland) introduced
again.”
study sample.
a package of bills to reform foster care
Meghan Bishop is a juvenile law attorney
Relative - or kinship - foster parents
this session. He says it’s a system that
in Washington County who’s represented
have their own challenges, as well. They
“desperately needs to be improved,” And
foster parents in disagreement with DHS
were statistcally found to be older than
one area his bills target is foster parents’
adoption placement decisions. “The only
other foster care givers - 61 percent were
rights. Shields and his wife are foster
mechanism to get them a seat at the table
the child’s grandmother g to have fewer
parents. -
has been to file for intervention,” she says,
years of education, were less likely to be
“We really, really need to step up how we
“and
that’s
a
very
difficult
hurdle
to
married and were more likely to be living
see foster parents,” he says. “I think that all
overcome.”
below the federal poverty level.
too often, foster parents are seen as kind of
She figured out this approach to
an after thought in how to really help kids
intervening after the outcome of a child
heal.”
welfare case early in her career had a
He believes giving foster parents more
profound
effect
oh
her.
ccording to Mark McKechnie, executive
rights, training and support will help Oregon
She
had
strongly
disagreed
with
a
DHS
director of Youth, Rights and Justice - a
to attract and retain a greater number of
nonprofit law firm representing children in decision to place her foster child client with
S
S
active foster homes - an objective shared
with DHS.
Shields took a lead role in championing
the bill that will give equal consideration to
foster parents in DHS adoption hearings.
DHS has taken a neutral position on the
bill, says Prouty.
“I think we’ve gone a little bit too far in
trying to reunify families at all costs with a
relative no matter how distant,” Shields
says, “and I think this brings us a little bit
back toward center where we really put the
best interest of the child first.”
In the meantime, filing a court motion to
intervene in an adoption is one of few
options foster parents have. That’s what the
Sisks did when they were faced with losing
Caleb.
ccording to Emily Sisk, an evaluation of
Caleb by clinicians at the Children’s
Program determined his transition into his
aunt’s care needed to be very slow, with
many visits in between. A transition plan
that seemed impossible with 2,000 miles
between thé Sisks’ and Caleb’s aunt’s home.
Emily Sisk says she and Caleb’s DHS
caseworker attempted to initiate in-person
and Skype visits between the child and his
aunt in order to make the transition less
damaging, but his aunt was unresponsive to
requests for contact.
Worried the abrupt uprooting from their
home and move to an out-of-state house full
of s tra n g e rs w ou ld c a u se irre v e rs ib le
A
d a m a g e tc r C aleb^ t h e Sïslés p a id . $> S’, Q 0 0 to
retain a lawyer so they could fight to keep
him under their care - hot an option every
foster parent has at their disposal.
Court documents show a Washington
County judge ultimately removed Caleb from
DHS’s custody so the Sisks could adopt him,
citing that “it is the only home (the) child
has known for the past three years. Removal
will cause irreversible harm.” Neither
Caleb’s aunt nor DHS appealed the decision.
Youth, Rights and Justice director
McKechnie says removing a child from DHS
custody is not unprecedented, “but it’s kind
of a drastic move” and one of only a few
tactics available.
“The trade-off is that you’re losing all the
resources that DHS has at its disposal, and
it’s really only foster parents who have the
financial means to care for their child
without any support from DHS — who have
that option,” he says.
As an operations coordinator at ÔHSU,
Greg Sisk is able to support his patchwork
family comfortably, giving Emily Sisk the
ability to dedicate her time to caring for the
children. Without a subsidy from the state,
they are still able to give Caleb everything
he needs.
When Street Roots visited the couple’s
new, five-bedroom home in Woodburn, Caleb
was happily playing Legos with his brother
in the family’s fully-stocked playroom at the
front of the house. As he ran around,
through the kitchen and living room, smiling
and laughing, it was easy to see - he was
home.
The names o f a ll the foster children in this
story have been changed to protect their
privacy.