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About Keizertimes. (Salem, Or.) 1979-current | View Entire Issue (June 29, 2018)
SINCE 1979 • VOLUME 39, NO. 39 SECTION A JUNE 29, 2018 $1.00 The Absent Village Happy Independence Day! There are up to 5 displaced children in a typical Marion County foster home and community support is at a low point By CASEY CHAFFIN Keizertimes intern Two weeks ago, three sib- lings came to the Depart- ment of Human Services Child Welfare Offi ce for foster placement. Immediately, sev- eral Child Welfare staff began trying to fi nd one foster home for all three kids, because sus- taining remaining family ties is a priority. Other work was cast aside, and they spent an entire day searching for a placement. They were unsuccessful. “We ended up separately placing them in three different homes and out of county,” said Gwen Slippy, Marion Coun- ty’s Foster Parent Recruit- ment, Retention and Training Specialist. No Marion County foster homes had the space. This is a day in the life of the DHS Child Welfare Of- fi ce. As of the latest DHS Child Welfare count, there were 603 kids in foster care in Marion County. 204 of those kids are in “child specifi c” homes, meaning they’ve been placed with certifi ed relatives or with other people in their lives who certifi ed their home for fostering. That leaves the remaining 399 children to be placed in 77 general-certifi ed homes—an average of about fi ve foster children per home. According to DHS policy, single foster parents may have up to four children, including their biological children, in the home. Couples may have KLL All-Stars win district title PAGE A12 up to seven children in the home. Due to an extreme short- age of certifi ed foster parents, these higher numbers are the new normal for those fos- tering. The foster care system in Marion These circum- county is struggling to meet demand. stances are especially This is the fi rst part of a continuing diffi cult when a single series in the Keizertimes foster home takes on investigating the state of local multiple children who foster care and shedding light on aren’t related to each ways to get involved. other. In this instance, Check back next week for “It could be that that another installment. foster parent is work- ing four different cases, which means every home is that way, but to four different caseworkers, give that perspective for some four different attorneys, four homes, that’s the craziness of different visits per week. Not Please see FOSTER, Page A4 Sidewalk projects move ahead on parallel tracks By ERIC A. HOWALD Of the Keizertimes Members of the Keizer Traffi c Safety, Bikeways and Pedestrian Committee are shifting into overdrive as they hone in on two potential proj- ects to submit for state fund- ing. The group met Thursday, June 14, and continued dis- cussions regarding what im- provement projects in Keizer would be the best contenders for funds being made avail- able through a transportation package approved by the Or- egon Legislature in 2017. At the recommendation of Mike Jaffe, transportation program director for the Mid- Please see TRACKS, Page A4 McNary senior awards PAGE A10, A11 A little bit country KEIZERTIMES/Eric A. Howald Karlee Miller, whose left leg was amputated when she was 5 years old, pushes a weight sled across the gym at CS Defi ning Fitness on River Road. Miller is training for the 2020 Paralympics. Paralympic hopeful trains in Keizer By ERIC A. HOWALD Of the Keizertimes Karlee Miller has to deal with the loss of a leg in addition to all of the other challenges that face teenage girls, but she tries to make the best of it. She likes to let her T-shirts speak for her in regard to the missing leg. She has one that reads, “What are you looking at you two- legged freak” another states that the shirt “cost an arm and a leg.” “But I got it for half price,” said Karlee with a smile and laugh. Karlee’s left leg was amputated well above the knee at the age of 5 as the result of cancer that fi rst infected her muscles and then moved to the bone. She’s been cancer-free for the past 11 years, but a combination of her own inner determination and a Nike sponsorship has her sights set on a lofty goal: competing in swim- ming events at the 2020 Paralympic Games. Karlee discovered competitive swimming only few years back – and it wasn’t love at fi rst lap. “After the fi rst day, I didn’t want to do it anymore. My parents had me keep trying and, eventually, I learned to enjoy it,” Karlee said. She’d tried other sports from running to softball, but one call by a coach soured her on the idea of both of them. “The coach pulled me out of the game when I was on base because he wanted a faster runner,” Karlee said. She quit softball in the middle of the season because the decision stung so much. Karlee took up swimming about four years ago and began swimming competitively at 14. She had to fi gure out how to do it without the aid of prosthetic because, although there are models that are made for use in the water, the amputation left her with so little left of her Please see OLYMPIAN, Page A8 Volcanoes debut top prospect on mound PAGE A12 KEIZERTIMES/Eric A. Howald Nora Krehbiel, Julia Lopez and Rick Krehbiel check out a chicken at the Willamette Lutheran Retirement Community Country Fair Friday, June 22. For more photos, See Page A4.
