Safety net works to prevent child abuse
A network o f public and private
agencies has joined togetherto assist
families and children at risk for abuse
and neglect. The Community Safety
Net is designed to serve families who
are reported to the State Office o f
Services to Children and Families
Child Abuse Hotline, (SOSCF) but
are then “screened out.” These
situations indicate serious, but not
yet c ritic a l p ro b lem s th at are
documented by SOSCF and do not
require immediate intervention. In the
past, such famil ies may have received
information on available services or
resources, but there was no follow
up or active effort to assist them in
accessing those services.
According to John Richard, SOSCF,
“each month the Multnomah County
Child Abuse Hotline receives up to
450 calls about children and families
who are not assigned to a protective
services worker for in-person contact.
Many o f these children and families
need help with food, child care,
housing, parenting skills, and health
care or counseling.”
This shortfall in the child welfare
system is being addressed by the
creation ot the community Safety Net.
The goal is to provide families with
support at this critical juncture by
linking them with the necessary
services to defuse crisis situations,
enhance family functioning, and
maintain child safety in their homes.
For nearly five years child welfare
advocates have collaborated to
enhance a system o f linkages to
provide early intervention services:
1995 Child Welfare Planning Group
identified the lack o f capacity to
provide services screened out at the
SOSCF hotline
1996-97 Community process designed
“Family Advocate Model”
1996 State Community Safety Net
concept developed
1997 Tualatin Valley Centers began
providing Family Advocate services
through a contact with Multnomah
County Health Department
1999-2000TheCommunity Safety Net
Advisory Council began planning
the next phase of services. Community
Safety Net kickoff event to be held
May 25,2000
2000 Project includes the Youth
Investment System as partner to
address the need o f youth ages 13-
17.
Supporting families is one o f the best
ways to promote children’s healthy
developm ent,” states Multnomah
New requirement destroying
power of voters to amend
Oregon Constitution
for T he P ortland O bserver
Recently the Oregon Court o f Appeals created and announced a new test that
will invalidate all but the most vague initiatives and legislative referrals
proposing amendments to the Oregon Constitution. Under the court’s new
“necessarily implies" test, a constitutional initiative or referral is invalid (and
none o f its provisions take effect, regardless o f the voters, with no evidence.)
Second, voters evaluate a measure as a whole and vote on it as a whole. This
new test will invalidate virtually every, if those elements were stated separately.
“This makes no sense,” said Lloyd K. Marbet, chair o f the Coalition for
Initiative Rights. “First, the court isjust speculating about the wishes o f voters,
with no evidence. Second, voters evaluate a measure as a whole and vote on
it as a whole. This new test will invalidate virtually every amendment to the
Oregon Constitution approved by voters, unless it is short and extremely
vague.”
Under this new test adopted by the Oregon Court o f Appeals, a court first
determines whether any such amendment causes more than one “ change” to
the Oregon Constitution. Such “changes” can be direct. Then the court
determines whether “ a vote in favor o f one [of the changes] necessarily implies
a vote ion favorofthe others.” said Sager V. Keisllng, No. CA A 105193 on May
24. In both decisions issued today by the Oregon Court o f Appeals, the
decided, without taking and evidence on the subject o f voter preferences, that
voters who favor one element o f a measure (and therefore vote for it) might not
“ necessarily” support each and every one o f the other elements o f the
measure. For example, the court concluded:
“A vote in favor of repealing the authority o f state and local government to
rise revenues except by means o f a gross receipts tax does not, by any stretch
o f the imagination, necessarily imply a favorable vote on the alteration of the
imagination o f the people to enact changes to the nature of the tax .” Dale V.
Keisllng, C A A 105873, May 24,2000.
Thus, the court ruled that the proposed initiative would be invalid and ordered
the Secretary o f State not to allow the petitioners to collect signatures.
“This new test would invalidate virtually every constitutional initiative or
referral that contains any specificity or any coherence,” said Lloyd Marbet,
chair o f the Coalition for initiative Rights, “ because it would be easy to
subdivide any such measure into different elements and then speculate as to
whether voters who liked element A might not have liked elements B, C, D, E,
or F. This locks up the Oregon Constitution by making it virtually
unchangeable.”
CIR attorney Dan Meek explained," Assume that an initiative is proposed to
increase income tax and dedicate the funds to school. Under the decisions
announced today, those two effects would constitute two different "changes,"
thus requiring the court to speculate that a voter who approves the tax increase
might not want to have all the funds dedicated to schools. Because a vote in
favor of dedicating the funds to schools, the new test would find this measure
invalid. And the test announced today requires that the court conclude that
anyone who favors an effect o f an initiative (and thus votes for it) must “
necessarily” favor all the other “change” resulting from themeasures. The only
measures that could possibly survive this test would be extremely vague
measures that the Legislature could then later defines to its liking.
The respondents can now ask the Oregon Supreme Court to review the Court
o f Appeal’s decisions, stand, then the people will not be able to propose or
adopt any measure proposing a specific, coherent amendment to the Oregon
Constitution.”
This will also significantly delay any signature gathering efforts on any
proposed constitutional amendment initiative, because it would enable
opponents o f the measures to tied up in court for additional months. The two
proposed initiatives invalidated by the court were filed by their chief petitioners
in August o f 1998. The process took 21 months to determine the validity of
these measures.
Also, this will enable opponents o f virtually any constitutional amendment
which has been approved by voters to challenge the validity o f that amendment
under the new “necessarily implies” test ’
These court decisions are available at: http://www.publications.ojd.state.or.usy
A 105873.htm and http://www.publications.ojd.state.or.us/A105913.htm
Looking for a home
This Father's Day please consider looking into one of over
250 chi Idren waiting in Oregon awaiting adoption. These
adoptions areof no cost and we welcome families, singles
or anyone who has the time, experience, patience and love
to take one of these children into your home.
Blake, age 10
This delightful young man is known for his quick wit and
wonderful sense of humor Blake is active in several team
sports, including basketball, football, baseball and soccer.
A fan of the outdoors, he enjoys negotiating the work on
his sk ateb o ard and ro lle rb la d e s. O ne o f his
accomplishments last year was winning the soapbox
Derby sponsored by his church. Through hard work,
Blake has made great progress and he is very excited about
adoption. He prefers to have both a mom and dad and has
requested a non-smoking family who attends church. He
would be especially pleased if his new family had pets.
Blake, with his generally happy personality, would be a
wonderful addition to a small family.
To learn more about adoption and the chi Idren wait, please
call the Special needs Adoption Coalition at The Boys and
Girls Aid Society at 1 -800-342-6688 or (503) 222-9661.
Agencies waive or reduce fees for the adoption of a child
in state care, and financial assistance is available to help
meet the child’s needs. Stable single adults as well as
couples are encouraged to call.
County Commissioner Lisa Naito.
“We want to recognize the positive
resu lts o f efforts m ade in our
com m unity and invite others to
participate as we plan the next steps.”
Naito was presented at the May 25th
Community Safety Net event.
Com m unity Safety net partners
included: State Office o f Services to
Children and Families, Adult and
Family Services, Tualatin Valley
C en ters, P a re n ts A n o n y m o u s,
P arents
A d v o cates,
Y outh
Investment Services, Mt. Hood Head
Start, Teen Insights, Multnomah
County Health Department, Family
C o u rt S e rv ic e s, M ultnom ah
Commission onChildren, Families and
Com m unity, CARES Northwest,
D epartm ent o f Human Services
C om m unity Partnership T eam ,
Christie School, Early Head Start,
VolunteersofAmericaReliefNursery,
ARC o f Multnomah, CERES, and
YWCA.
Improvements in food stamp system under way
CONTRIBUTED STORY
Managers o f the Oregon Adult and
F am ily
S e rv ic e s
D iv isio n ,
c o lla b o ra tin g w ith com m unity
advocates, are working in the Portland
area to implement solutions identified
at a public forum to better serve food
stamp clients.
“The tremendous response to the
food stamps forum affirmed people’s
need for food stamps," remarked Patti
W hitney-W ise, D irector o f the
Oregon Hunger ReliefTask Force. “It
also helped identify barriers to the
program that need to be addressed
locally and federally.”
A report giving details o f the forum,
just published, is being mailed to
more than 230 participants who
attended the mid-December event in
Northeast Portland.
The Portland Food Stamp Forum is a
compendium o f data and comments,
many o f them critical o f the food
stam p system , operated by the
Oregon Adult and Family Services
Division. The division workedclosely
w ith
com m u n ity
a d v o cate
organizations in hosting the forum
and preparing the report.
“We are working hard to fix problems
and do it in harmony with our critics,”
started Jerry Bums, district manager
o f District 2 in Portland “While we
acknowledge many recipients are
displeased with the amount o f food
stamp benefits they receive and with
our ability to deliver benefits quickly,
many more Oregonians are now
receiving food stamps than at this
time o f the forum.”
AFS data reveal an increase of almost
10 percent in households receiving
food stamps in district 2 overthe tour
months followingtheforum. Factors
likely contributing to the increase:
the December eligibility o f large
num bers o f able-bodied adults
without dependents and the normal
seasonal increase during w inter
months. Food Stamp households in
D istrict 2 went from 16,795 in
December, 1999to 18,409 this March.
Improved access to the food stamp
program is being pro p o sed in
response to the many custom er
service comments a, the Portland
forum. AFS District 2 has implemented
a custom er service w orkgroup,
currently generating suggestions to
make the food stamp process better
and faster, such as processing clients
in any AFS office regardless o f their
home zip codes. This workgroup
includes AFS managers and workers
along with representatives from Legal
Aid and Oregon Food Bank.
Another workgroup is getting the
w ord out about food stam p
availability. The Food StampOutreach
Pilot Project in East Multnomah
County has engaged a contractor to
answer phone questions about basis
food stamp eligibility, created posters
and fly ers, and is w orking to
streamline the food stamp application
form. The outreach w orkgroup
includes representatives ot Legal Aid,
Oregon Food Bank, Oregon Hunger
ReliefTask Force and AFS.
Better com m unication about the
availability o f food stamps is under
way in District 2. This includes
im proved phone m essages that
explain extended hours and special
appointments for persons who have
special needs, particularly those who
work regular business hours.
“I look forward to the efforts AFS has
begun locally,” stated W hitney-
Wise. “Hunger is truly a problem that
needs the government, private sector
and the community to work together
so that Oregon can be a place where
no one need go hungry.”
Forum participants, who came largely
from downtown and east Portland,
sent two clear messages: We like the
food stamp program and we expect
better customer service.
A survey returned by 156 forum
participants revealed:
68 percent received food stamps at
the time o f the forum.
81 percent did not always have enough
food fortheirfamilies.
89 percent found it difficult to get
food stamps.
Further, food stamp clients said they
u n d e rsta n d th at federal rules
establish the amount o f benefits they
receive to meet their needs and wish
for less restrictive rules. They also
said they want a simpler application
process. Clientsexpressed frustration
about how they are treated in the
application process and offered
suggestions for a better grievance
process.
The Portland Food Stamp Forum was
an outgrowth o f the Food stamp
Stakeholder Group, which held three
forums in 1999 in Medford, Salem and
La Grande. Community advocates
cal led for a consumer forum to be held
in Portland. It was held Saturday,
December 11,1999, when more than
230 Oregonians who had received
food stampsjammed the Great Hall at
Westminster Presbyterian Church in
Northeast Portland
Advocates from Oregon Food Banks,
Oregon Hunger R eliefT ask Force,
Oregon Human Rights Coalition and
staff from the Department o f Human
Services, Mt. Hood Community
College along with the DHS Adult
and Family Services worked together
to plan and coordinate the forum.
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