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Keeping
Theater in View
No federal
charges in
Campbell
shooting
Housing plans raise
issues in Hollywood
See story, page 3
See story, page 3
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Read back issues of the Portland Observer at www.portlandobserver.com
‘City 0/Roses’
Volume XXXXI. Number 23
Wednesday • |une8. 2011
Committed to Cultural Diversity
Emanuel Tower
for Pediatric care
Children’s Hospital Rises
C ari H achmann
T he P ortland O bserver
by
A blur of neon orange and yellow illume across giant
glass windows that adorn the new lobby of Legacy Emanuel’s
soon to-be Children’s Hospital as a group of construction
workers file off-site for a lunch break.
Rising behind them, adjacent to the Legacy Emanuel
Medical Center along North Gantenbein Avenue is the near
complete, nine-story, 334,000 square foot and future 165-
bed sustainable sanctuary of pediatric medical care.
Set to open in February, construction on the $245 million-
collar hospital began after plans were made in 2005 to
replace Legacy’s current two-floor, 145-bed windowless
children’s wing.
“Our new home will be able to accommodate our region’s
children well into the future,” said Dr. Molly Burchell,
Legacy clinical health vice president of pediatrics. Receiv-
continued
on page 4
photo BY M indy C ooper /T he P ortland O bserver
A local family gathers on the front porch o f their northeast Portland home to bring awareness to the issue o f
children in the state foster care who remain separated from their loved ones despite family members who want
to care for them. Pictured from left are Wanda Griffin, Ricky White, Jawanda Griffin and Margaret Curtis.
Family’s plea: ‘Give
Us Our Children Back’
Relatives pushed aside despite laws to keep families together
by M indy C ooper
T he P ortland O bserver
photo by
C ari H achmann ^T he P ortland O bserver
The sky reflects in the light-filled windows o f Legacy
Emanuel’s new Children’s Hospital in north Portland.
Construction o f the nine-story, $245 million facility is
near complete, with an opening due this February.
D em anding actio n , a sm all group o f p aren ts, g ran d
parents and frien d s have g ath ered for w eeks on the
busy co rn e r o f N o rth east M artin L uther King Jr. B ou
levard and A lberta A venue to raise m oney to hire a
law yer and fight fo r th eir ch ild ren who are in the
custody o f O re g o n ’s fo ster care system .
In both rain and shine, the message is delivered on protest
signs that read ‘Give us our children back’ and ‘Do you know
where your children are? We don’t’.
A lthough both federal and state statutes exist to
ensure reasonable efforts are m ade to keep children with
their relatives and out of the foster care system , one
Portland family explained their frustration with the efforts
of O regon’s child welfare system , which they believe
isn ’t giving them a fair chance.
Margaret Curtis, 67, the mother of six children, the great
grandmother of eight kids, and the adoptive parent of three
of her grandchildren, has been working tirelessly to adopt or
at the very least have regular visitations with her youngest
great-grandchild Aveana, who has been in and out of foster
homes since she was bom almost three-years ago.
“We are protesting because the Departm ent o f Human
Services has taken kids out o f their hom es, and most of
them aren ’t returned from their foster or adoptive care,”
said Curtis. “If we could ju st see the baby twice a month,
even that would be okay.”
Baby Aveana was put into open adoption at the end
of April against the consent o f the fam ily, and since then
they have no idea where she is since visitation rights
have been term inated.
Curtis, along with several of her adult family members,
have offered to adopt the child and have completed several
continued
on page 4