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.