The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current, August 14, 2017, Image 2

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The daily Astorian., August 14, 2017, Page 2A, Image 2

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Newspaper Page Text2A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • MONDAY, AUGUST 14, 2017 Foster care rates rise amid drug addiction Some unable to care for their children By APRIL EHRLICH The News-Review ROSEBURG — When Natalie Robbins went into labor two months earlier than she expected, the doctors said her baby girl had gone into shock. Natalie’s eyes welled and looked to the hospital ceiling. “Oh, my God,” she thought to herself. “I just killed this child because of my drug addiction.” Months earlier, when she ﬁ rst discovered that she was pregnant, she knew she would have to put the baby up for adoption. Struggling with an addiction to methamphet- amine and alcohol, she wasn’t in a place to care for her three children, let alone a fourth. But she didn’t expect her baby to die. Michael Sullivan/The News-Review Natalie Robbins and her daughter Sirenity Mittendorf, 3, pose their home in Roseburg in July. Drug use is increas- ing in rural Oregon, particularly with an opioid epidemic sweeping the nation. As drug arrests, hospitalizations and overdoses have increased, so has the number of children entering the foster care system in these communities. “That was it, that was it,” she recalled, sitting on a sofa in her home in Roseburg. “That was my God shot, my awakening moment, my low- est point of everything.” Then the baby started breathing and crying, and Natalie held her on her shoul- der for a few seconds before the nurses whisked her away to an incubator. She weighed 4 pounds, 11 ounces, but she would survive. FIVE-DAY FORECAST FOR ASTORIA TONIGHT TUESDAY WEDNESDAY 68 54 51 Areas of low clouds and fog Areas of low clouds and fog, then some sun ALMANAC New Salem 51/81 Newport 49/63 Coos Bay 51/68 Full Aug 29 Sep 5 John Day 50/83 La Grande 45/82 Baker 40/82 Ontario 52/88 Bend 44/81 Burns 40/83 Roseburg 53/85 Medford 54/90 Klamath Falls 44/81 Lakeview 43/82 Ashland 55/89 Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2017 Tonight's Sky: The last quarter will be at 6:15 p.m., seven days to the total solar eclipse on Aug. 21, 2017! Source: Jim Todd, OMSI TOMORROW'S TIDES Astoria / Port Docks Time 1:55 a.m. 1:36 p.m. Low 0.6 ft. 1.9 ft. REGIONAL CITIES City Baker City Bend Brookings Eugene Ilwaco Klamath Falls Medford Newberg Newport North Bend Hi 77 78 67 76 66 80 86 77 63 67 Today Lo 40 44 53 48 54 44 54 49 49 51 W pc s pc pc pc pc pc pc pc pc Hi 82 81 68 80 66 81 90 81 63 68 Tues. Lo 42 47 55 50 57 46 57 51 50 52 W s s pc s pc s s s pc pc City Olympia Pendleton Portland Roseburg Salem Seaside Spokane Springfi eld Vancouver Yakima Hi 73 80 73 82 77 67 76 78 74 82 Today Lo 47 52 53 53 51 52 52 48 53 50 W pc s pc pc pc pc pc pc pc s Hi 76 84 77 85 81 68 80 83 79 85 Tues. Lo 49 55 55 55 53 55 55 51 54 53 W t pc pc pc t pc pc r pc pc pc s pc t t t c pc r pc pc pc pc pc pc Hi 88 81 82 84 89 86 94 63 89 87 85 97 74 89 92 86 88 84 91 88 91 83 72 74 85 Tues. Lo 74 67 68 56 71 64 73 47 77 70 71 76 63 76 80 74 78 68 74 70 73 63 59 54 73 Shown are noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day. W t pc pc pc t t pc c pc pc pc pc sh t sh pc t pc pc pc pc t pc pc pc Stranger care Natalie never wanted her children to go into “stranger care,” a name she and other birth parents have given the foster care system. She is thankful her children stayed in the family, but many drug-ad- dicted parents face different outcomes. Drug use is increasing in rural Oregon, particularly with an opioid epidemic sweep- ing the nation. As drug arrests, hospitalizations and over- doses have increased, so has the number of children enter- ing the foster care system in these communities. The num- ber of children who have entered the child welfare sys- tem in Douglas County alone has increased from 41 children in 2013 to 204 children so far this year. That’s a 398 percent increase in less than ﬁ ve years, according to data released this year from the Department of Human Services. For Lisa Hubbard, the clin- ical director at Adapt, parental drug addiction “has everything to do with it.” Adapt is a Roseburg-based nonproﬁ t that provides an array of treatment, housing and medical services, includ- ing Crossroads. “We went from about 400 kids in (foster care) a year or so ago, which was a shocking number at that time, and now the number is over 500,” Hub- bard said. “For a community our size, that’s just a stagger- ing number.” As of July 20, there were 624 Douglas County chil- dren in the foster care system, according to state data. And that number continues to grow. The result is a system ﬂ ooded with children with no place to go. Sometimes state workers have resorted to plac- ing children in hotel rooms or in their own ofﬁ ces, a practice that led to a lawsuit this year. Many children venturing through the foster care system do it with very little guidance. Some are lucky enough to have a court-appointed special advo- cate, a CASA volunteer who monitors a child and advocates for them in court. Now, instead of assigning one case to each volunteer, the organization assigns multiple cases. “Our advocates are really stretching themselves to the maximum to cover as many children as possible,” said Richelle Bryant, the executive director of the Roseburg-based CASA ofﬁ ce. “It really is a cri- sis now.” Children of drug addiction A baby is born with an opi- oid addiction in the U.S. about every half hour, according to the National Institute of Drug Abuse. Those babies remain in the hospital for several days as they endure the same painful withdrawals grown adults experience after they quit using opioids. Locally, drug-addicted newborns stay at Mercy Medical Cen- ter in Roseburg until they are healthy enough to be trans- ferred to a foster home. It’s still too early to tell how opiate addiction will affect infants’ development, although some studies sug- gest they have a higher risk of neurological dysfunction. As for children who are under the custody of drug-ad- dicted parents, they are likely to experience neglect, and in some cases, abuse. “The child wanders out into a busy street, or the river, or they are not getting enough food,” said Kather- ine Elisar, program director at CASA of Douglas County. “Neglect is the real key when methamphetamine or heroin is happening with both par- ents. Then, sometimes other stressors create anger. So we have a lot of domestic vio- lence involved with these cases.” Children of drug-addicted parents have a more direct access to those drugs and can start using those drugs them- selves. Lt. Pat Moore, a for- mer commander with the local narcotics team, recalled a case where the team found a 17-year-old girl who over- dosed on her mother’s fen- tanyl patches, which are a type of opioid prescribed for pain relief. “When we did the autopsy and got her clothing off, we could see the number of patches she had, plus we could see the residual,” he recalled in May. “It looked like she had duct tape on her arms.” Pavement crack sealing project on tap The Daily Astorian W pc s s s s pc pc s pc s TOMORROW'S NATIONAL WEATHER NATIONAL CITIES Today Hi Lo 90 74 80 67 83 66 90 58 87 68 84 65 94 75 61 51 89 76 84 67 85 69 103 78 78 65 83 74 92 80 81 71 90 77 84 70 84 71 86 70 88 71 86 64 69 59 72 53 83 73 Prineville 40/83 Lebanon 49/83 Brookings 51/69 UNDER THE SKY City Atlanta Boston Chicago Denver Des Moines Detroit El Paso Fairbanks Honolulu Indianapolis Kansas City Las Vegas Los Angeles Memphis Miami Nashville New Orleans New York Oklahoma City Philadelphia St. Louis Salt Lake City San Francisco Seattle Washington, DC Mostly cloudy Pendleton 52/84 The Dalles 55/84 Portland 53/77 Eugene 48/80 First Aug 21 High 6.0 ft. 8.2 ft. Clouds to start, then sunshine returns Tillamook 48/69 Sunset tonight ........................... 8:26 p.m. Sunrise Tuesday .......................... 6:15 a.m. Moonrise today .................................. none Moonset today ........................... 1:49 p.m. Time 8:07 a.m. 7:54 p.m. Areas of low clouds and fog, then some sun 67 54 Shown is tomorrow's weather. Temperatures are tonight's lows and tomorrow's highs. ASTORIA 51/68 SUN AND MOON Aug 14 FRIDAY 67 54 REGIONAL WEATHER Astoria through Sunday. Temperatures High/low ....................................... 68°/55° Normal high/low ........................... 69°/53° Record high ............................ 90° in 1942 Record low ............................. 45° in 1955 Precipitation Sunday ............................................. 0.25" Month to date ................................... 0.42" Normal month to date ....................... 0.35" Year to date .................................... 50.09" Normal year to date ........................ 37.29" Last THURSDAY 68 55 Natalie was discharged from the hospital two days later. She went straight to Crossroads, a transitional housing program for drug-ad- dicted people and their chil- dren. She got a bed, and later, brought her baby, Sirenity. She started on a path to get her other three children back, who were under her mother’s care as decreed by the state Depart- ment of Human Services. That was all three years ago. She has since earned her associates degree at Umpqua Community College and has been accepted into Oregon State University, where she plans to study counseling. She has been sober since she left Crossroads and plans to use her education to help people who are trying to do the same. Ask Sirenity how old she is and she will shyly hold up three ﬁ ngers. She dances around the wood ﬂ oors of their large home in a frilly dress that she insists on wearing almost every day. Photos of Natalie’s other daughters are framed along the hallway that leads to their rooms. A contractor for Astoria is crack sealing pavement start- ing Wednesday and continuing through Friday . Temporary road clo- sures and delays should be expected across the city. For questions, call the Asto- ria Engineering Division at 503-338-5173. 10 p.m.: 7-1-8-7 Friday’s Pick 4: 1 p.m.: 5-3-6-7 4 p.m.: 6-4-6-4 7 p.m.: 9-0-0-0 10 p.m.: 4-5-6-0 Friday’s Mega Millions: 23-33- 53-56-58, Mega Ball: 6 Estimated jackpot: $15 million Saturday’s Daily Game: 8-0-5 Saturday’s Hit 5: 04-18-21-31-36 Estimated jackpot: $100,000 Saturday’s Keno: 04-05-06-09- 20-22-33-36-44-50-51-61-67- 69-70-71-72-73-75-76 Saturday’s Lotto: 03-12-14-31- 43-45 Estimated jackpot: $1.3 million Saturday’s Match 4: 04-05- 11-21 Friday’s Daily Game: 2-9-3 Friday’s Keno: 04-06-07-18-33- 37-46-48-49-51-59-61-62-63- 64-67-69-70-75-77 Friday’s Match 4: 02-04-05-16 LOTTERIES OREGON Sunday’s Pick 4: 1 p.m.: 4-1-6-0 4 p.m.: 3-9-2-5 7 p.m.: 7-1-1-0 10 p.m.: 9-2-2-4 Saturday’s Megabucks: 2-6- 10-15-40-42 Estimated jackpot: $5.9 million Saturday’s Powerball: 20-24- 26-35-49, Powerball: 19 Estimated jackpot: $430 million Saturday’s Pick 4: 1 p.m.: 5-6-5-1 4 p.m.: 1-5-9-6 7 p.m.: 3-7-5-8 WASHINGTON Sunday’s Daily Game: 1-6-2 Sunday’s Keno: 01-05-16-25- 32-33-35-36-37-39-43-44-47- 53-55-56-59-65-78-80 Sunday’s Match 4: 06-09-10-19 DEATHS Aug. 13, 2017 GOODENBERGER, John Longstaff, 93, of Portland, died in Portland. Caldwell’s Luce-Layton Mortuary of Astoria is in charge of the arrangements. Weather (W): s-sunny, pc-partly cloudy, c-cloudy, sh-showers, t-thunderstorms, r-rain, sf-snow fl urries, sn-snow, i-ice. K lem p Fam ily D en tistry... W e h elp keep fam ilies sm ilin g! K lem p Fa m ily D en tistry o ffers Th e Pla n m eca Pro M a x 3D X -Ra y Th is 3-D im a gin g m a ch in e Tells th e w h ole story • A complete, highly detailed image of PUBLIC MEETINGS MONDAY Astoria Library Board, 5:30 p.m., Library Flag Room 450 10th St. Youngs River Lewis & Clark Wa- ter District Board, 6 p.m., 34583 U.S. Highway 101 Business. Cannon Beach Rural Fire Department Board, 6 p.m., Fire-Rescue Main Station, 188 Sunset Ave. your oral health in a low dose radiation image. CORRECTIONS • Aids in ideal implant planning and placement. Incorrect date — The Astoria City Council on Sept. 5 will hear an appeal of a Plan- ning Commission decision to allow a permit for Shooting Stars Child Development Cen- • Diagnostics and airway management Aug. 12, 2017 DOWNS, Juanita J., 82, of Warrenton, died in Tualatin. Hughes-Ransom Mortuary & Cre- matory of Astoria/Seaside is in charge of the arrangements. Seaside City Council, 7 p.m., City Hall, 989 Broadway. TUESDAY Cannon Beach Public Works Committee, 9 a.m., City Hall, 163 E. Gower St. Clatsop County Human Services Advisory Council, 4 to 5:30 p.m., 800 Exchange St., Room 430. Astoria Historic Landmarks Commission, 5:15 p.m., City Hall, 1095 Duane St. Warrenton-Hammond School Board, 7 p.m., Warrenton High School library, 1700 S. Main Ave. Shoreline Sanitary District Board, 7 p.m., Gearhart Hertig Station, 33496 West Lake Lane, Warrenton. ter near the Port of Astoria. A 1A story Friday incorrectly listed the date as Sept. 25. Address wrong — The address given for the Angels for Sara Sanctuary fundraiser/ bake sale in the In One Ear col- umn on 1B Friday was wrong. The event takes place from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday and Sat- urday at 60 S. Main Ave. in Warrenton. for DNA & Apnea sufferers. C o m e and see h o w com forta b le d en tistry can really b e... • Reduces the time of X-rays by 50% and the dosage of radiation by 1/5. • Extra oral imaging for patients that typically gag or struggle with x-rays. KLEMP F A MILY D ENTISTRY 1006 West Marine Drive, Astoria (503) 468-0116 www.klempfamilydentistry.com The Daily Astorian Established July 1, 1873 (USPS 035-000) Published daily, except Saturday and Sunday, by EO Media Group, 949 Exchange St., PO Box 210, Astoria, OR 97103 Telephone 503- 325-3211, 800-781-3211 or Fax 503-325-6573. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The Daily Astorian, PO Box 210, Astoria, OR 97103-0210 www.dailyastorian.com MEMBER OF THE ASSOCIATED PRESS The Associated Press is entitled exclusively to the use for republication of all the local news printed in this newspaper. SUBSCRIBER TO THE NEW YORK TIMES NEWS SERVICE MEMBER CERTIFIED AUDIT OF CIRCULATIONS, INC. SUBSCRIPTION RATES Effective July 1, 2015 HOME DELIVERY MAIL EZpay (per month) ................$11.25 EZpay (per month) ............... $16.60 13 weeks in advance ........... $36.79 13 weeks in advance ........... $51.98 26 weeks in advance ........... $70.82 26 weeks in advance ......... $102.63 52 weeks in advance ......... $135.05 52 weeks in advance ......... $199.90 Circulation phone number: 503-325-3211 Periodicals postage paid at Astoria, OR ADVERTISING OWNERSHIP All advertising copy and illustrations prepared by The Daily Astorian become the property of The Daily Astorian and may not be reproduced for any use without explicit prior approval. COPYRIGHT © Entire contents © Copyright, 2017 by The Daily Astorian. Printed on recycled paper