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About Keizertimes. (Salem, Or.) 1979-current | View Entire Issue (July 27, 2018)
PAGE A2, KEIZERTIMES, JULY 27, 2018 FOSTER: ‘Things don’t have Assist with Foster to go the way statistics say’ Parents’ Night Out (Continued from Page A1) DRIVE A LITTLE – SAVE A BUNCH! 3893 COMMERCIAL ST SE • SALEM MORE INFO AT NORTHERNLIGHTSTHEATREPUB.COM Summer Award Program See 5 movies and get a Small Popcorn and Reg Soda. Pick up a punch card at the box offi ce. See a movie, get a punch. Collect 5 and Redeem. SUMMER FAMILY MOVIE SERIES $1 KID MOVIES (M-F) Andre (PG) July 30 - August 3 Labyrinth (PG) August 6 - 10 Jumanji (PG) August 13 - 17 UFC227 - Sat, Aug 4 Dillashaw v. Garbrandt BANTAMWEIGHT TITLE FIGHT 9 FIGHTS IN ALL ON THE HUGE SCREEN Live Fights at 5:00 (21 & Over) - Tickets $13 Reserved Seating Available Now Online. Today in History The House Judiciary Committee recommends that America’s 37th president, Richard M. Nixon, be impeached and removed from offi ce. The impeachment proceedings resulted from a series of political scandals involving the Nixon administration that came to be collectively known as Watergate. — July 27, 1974 Food 4 Thought “From Watergate we learned what generations before us have known; our Constitution works. And during Watergate years it was interpreted again so as to reaffi rm that no one - absolutely no one - is above the law.” — Leon Jaworski, special Watergate prosecutor The Month Ahead Through Saturday, July 28 Shakespeare in the Park. Keizer Homegrown Theater presents The Tempest, at Keizer Rotary Amphitheater at Keizer Rapids Park. Performance at 7 p.m. Free parking. No outside food or beverages allowed. Donations gladly accepted. Continues following weekend in Aumsville. keizerhomegrowntheatre. org. Saturday, July 28 Saturday Night Dance & Potluck. Features music by Crossfi re. Admission is $5. 7 to 10 p.m. at the Keizer/Salem Area Seniors, 930 Plymouth Drive NE. Wednesday, August 1 Intake for Keizer Art Association’s August exhibition, Member Showcase, 3-7 p.m. Enid Joy Mount Gallery, Keizer Cultural Center, 980 Chemawa Rd. NE. keizerarts.com. Thursday, August 2 Southeast Keizer Neighborhood Association meeting, 6:30 p.m. Keizer Civic Center. Friday, August 3 Keizertimes presents a Hawaiian Luau featuring Paradise of Samoa as part of the Free 2018 Summer Concert Series located at Keizer Rotary Amphitheater at Keizer Rapids Park. Gates open at 5 p.m., show starts at 6:30 p.m. Beer, Wine, & Spirits available from Santiam Brewing Company. Please no outside food or beverages. No pets allowed inside the amphitheater. For complete concert schedule go to Facebook. com/KRAORG. For more information, call (503) 910-3232. Friday, August 3 – Sunday, August 5 2018 Hoopla Tournament, more than 950 teams vie for top ranking in 3-on-3 basketball. The event will result in the closure of several streets in downtown Salem. More information at: oregonhoopla.com. Homer Davenport Community Festival in honor of nationally- renowned political cartoonist and Oregon native Homer Davenport. Festival will have crafts, food, music, and more. A contest for political and editorial cartoons is also being held; they will be on display at the festival and judged by a panel. Prizes up to $750 are available. Takes place in Silverton, Oregon; homerdavenport.com Saturday, August 4 ServeFest by Lakepoint Community Church. New location at Claggett Creek Middle School, 1810 Alder Drive NE. 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. A free, family-friendly event. Kids carnival, hot dog lunch, haircuts for kids, manicures, bike repairs, pet grooming, family photos and more. Monday, August 6 Keizer City Council meeting, 7 p.m. Keizer Civic Center. Wednesday, August 8 Keizer Planning Commission meeting, 6 p.m. Keizer Civic Center. Thursday, August 9 Keizer Traffi c Safety/Bikeways/Pedestrian meeting, 6 p.m. Keizer Civic Center. Committee Saturday, August 11 Englewood Forest Festival, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m, at Englewood Park, 1260 19th Street NE in Salem. Free family-friendly art & environmental workshops, children’s activities, music, dance, food trucks, and booths featuring local artists, cottage industries, businesses and community resources. Free admission. Tuesday, August 14 Keizer Parks Advisory Committee meeting, 6 p.m. Keizer Civic Center. Add your event by e-mailing news@keizertimes.com. sudoku Enter digits from 1-9 into the blank spaces. Every row must contain one of each digit. So must every column, as must every 3x3 square. system that allows the foster system to func- tion. Yet, foster parents and the Department of Human Services (DHS) cannot create the best environment The foster care system in Marion for youth without the County is struggling to meet demand. support of the com- This is the fi fth part of a continuing munity. series in the Keizertimes This mindset of investigating the state of local DHS is a new one. foster care and shedding light on Billy Cordero, director ways to get involved. of the DHS GRACE Check back next week for grant, seeks to use data another installment. known about children in foster care to recruit al — being born into a safe, foster parents that are tailored to specifi c needs. “It loving environment to begin used to be we were an organi- with would be ideal. But be- zation that said foster care or ing placed in a safe, loving fos- nothing and we’re trying to ter home gave him a second chance at success. change that,” Cordero said. After moving to Oregon Considering a youth who ends up in care is already from California to attend col- steeped in extenuating life lege, he learned “things don’t circumstances that impede have to go the way the statis- their path to success, it’s im- tics say” for youth exiting care. Shelly Winterberg, the di- portant to acknowledge the ways the system can change a rector of fi eld engagement for child’s life for the better, even Every Child Oregon, an orga- if the situation is inherently nization that seeks to serve as a launch-pad for people want- not ideal. Cordero experienced fos- ing to get involved in the fos- ter care as a young person, ter care system in any capacity. “We invite anyone and due in part to his parents’ drug addiction. Cordero and everyone to bring what they his siblings spent some time have to the table,” she said, in what he calls “orphanage- whether that’s material re- style care,” followed by a stint sources, monetary resources on the streets, before he was or time. The Marion County placed with relatives. “They chapter of Every Child is still were dedicated to me and in the process of being set up, they loved me,” he said. That but visit everychildoregon.org changed his life. It wasn’t ide- for updates. Become a special advocate Court Appointed Special Advocates, or CASA volun- teers, are meant to serve chil- dren who are often lost in a system that is overburdened and under- staffed. In a court- room, where a child’s voice can often be lost among compet- ing adults, a “CASA vol- unteer is the only person who is there because they want to see the child’s voice heard,” said Shaney Starr, executive di- rector of Marion County’s branch of the CASA orga- nization. CASAs are foster youth advocates who are trained and sworn in by a judge to serve a foster child. The duties of a CASA involve reviewing the information in a foster youth’s case, spending time with the child, inter- viewing caseworkers, foster families, biological relatives, and making recommenda- tions to the court on a child’s case to ensure foster youth have the best outcomes. CASAs may have differ- ent recommendations for the child’s welfare than case- workers, lawyers or others party to a child’s case. Be- cause CASAs report directly to the judge, and have an av- erage caseload of two foster youth, their perspective on a case differs from others party to the case. While “respectful communication and profes- sional interaction” between CASAs, DHS, and other par- ties is a priority, there are times when a CASA will make different recommenda- tions to a judge about how the child’s emotional, medi- cal, and educational needs are met. CASAs must have “a be- lief that every child has a safe and permanent home where they can thrive and the will- ingness to see that through,” Starr said. For these reasons, being a CASA is a two-year commitment, and if the fos- ter child’s case stays open longer, CASAs are encour- aged to stick with that case. CASAs provide oversight in a system that has come under fi re for a lack thereof in recent years. Unfortu- nately, there are currently not enough CASAs for every fos- ter child in Marion County. As of last count, there were about 130 Marion County CASAs and over 600 kids in care. At the currently number of foster youth in the system, the Mari- on Coun- ty CASA branch needs an additional 75 CASAs in order to make sure every foster child has a CASA volun- teer working on their case. For more infor mation on train- ing and get- ting involved as a CASA, visit casamarionor.org, email info@casamarionor.org or call 503-967-6420. Burn out among foster parents is high, but burn out can be mitigated when they have the right support sys- tem, so they’re not doing it alone. Foster Parents’ Night Out (FPNO) is an organiza- tion dedicated to providing foster parents with a child- care break. Two FPNO chap- ters currently run in Marion County, based in the Salem Heights Church and Our Savior’s Lutheran Church, both in Salem. Billy Cordero, who in addi- tion to working within DHS is an FPNO board member and coordinator of the Salem Heights Church FPNO chap- ter, said, “Sitting in a DHS seat, I’m very aware we can’t do everything to make fami- lies successful.” Organizations such as FPNO have been created by the community to fi ll that gap and support local foster families. Once a month, a host organization puts together a night of dinner and entertain- ment for all children in a foster home, whether they’re foster kids or the family’s biological or adoptive children. For four hours a month, FPNO allows foster parents to do “whatever they need to do to take care of themselves,” Cordero said. FPNO has been success- ful because the task of run- ning the once-monthly events falls to the host organization, which is usually a church but can be a different organiza- tion, who provide the space, funding and volunteer power to make the program run. Prior to participating in an FPNO event, organizer host a a three-hour volunteer ori- entation covering the basics of foster care, how to interact with kids who have suffered abuse and neglect, discuss what the purpose of FPNO is, and what expectations exist for volunteers. Volunteers usually come from within the host organiza- tion, but unaffi liated commu- nity members can reach out to FPNO if they’re interested in getting involved with an ex- isting chapter or starting their own. But the organization has other needs aside from volun- teers, including donations and discounts on entertainment and catering. Local businesses and businesspeople who are willing to provide services to FPNO can reach out to the chapter they’d like to support directly. For more information on FPNO and getting involved, visit fpno.org. Volunteer with DHS The Department of Human Services has a long list of mate- rial needs and service opportunities for those seeking involve- ment. Smaller scale material needs include toiletries, new cloth- ing, gift cards, and safety equipment like fi re extinguishers and carbon monoxide alarms, for foster parents to install in their homes and meet DHS requirements. New car seats are also on the high-need donation list for DHS. Larger scale needs include DHS’s Adopt a Visitation Room program, where groups or organizations can sponsor a visitation area in the DHS offi ce. Gwen Slippy, who oversees this program, said that group or organization “would come in and clean, re- place toys, and decorate a room with a theme for family visits that take place at our offi ce.” For those who may not have the resources to donate materi- als, DHS also facilitates direct service opportunities, like volun- teer transportation for youth to get to appointments, making a meal for a foster family, and offi ce buddies, “who come and sit with children, in our offi ce, while they are waiting for a place- ment – so workers are able to get time sensitive work done for the removal,” Slippy said. Volunteers of this type can help fi ll the personnel gap and allow DHS workers to be more effective at their jobs, while also making sure youth get the attention they need. In addition to these ways of getting involved, DHS welcomes new ideas from the community. “If people have service project ideas, they are welcome to share them with me and we can see if it would be a good fi t for the agency,” Slippy said. To get involved in any of these initiatives or for a full list of DHS’s donation and volunteer needs, contact Slippy directly at GWENDOLYNN.L.SLIPPY@dhsoha.state.or.us maze looking back in the KT 5 YEARS AGO Spider-Girl ready to help burglarized dance studio After Classic Tap Dance Studio was burglarized, a 6-year-old who’s family frequents the studio told the owners to strap her to the ceiling so she could watch for intruders. While they refused her help, they appreciated the mini-superhero’s gesture. 10 YEARS AGO Lady Celts fourth at state Keizer’s Lady Celts softball team compiled a 5-2 record at the state tournament, fi nishing fourth place overall against 42 other teams. 15 YEARS AGO Tough economy puts food program in dire straits In light of economic changes that have closed some funding avenues, the Willamette Valley Food Assistance Program is tasked with fi nding a way to keep feeding families as their budget begins to wane. 20 YEARS AGO Maze by Jonathan Graf of Keizer KEIZERTIMES.COM Web Poll Results Would you consider becoming a foster parent? 56% – Yes 44% – No Gun threat prompts teen’s arrest A 16-year-old Keizer boy was arrested last Thursday after pointing a gun at another boy following an argument. Vote in a new poll every Thursday! GO TO KEIZERTIMES.COM
