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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (May 30, 2012)
ÿortlanô (Observer Maj<30, 2012 State Audit Not Enough co n tin u ed fr o m fr o n t audit found w as the w orkload that case w orkers have m akes it difficult for them to spend the tim e that is needed to help get kids hom e and put their efforts into reunificatio n ,” said E vans. “ R ight now , w e have about less than 70 percent o f the casew orkers w e need to fully do this jo b .” E vans said the audit also proved the need to continue and increase efforts to keep children out o f foster care in the first place. H e said the D epartm ent o f H u m an S ervices has reduced the n u m ber o f k ids w ho com e into state care by 20 percent in recent years, but O regon rem ains one o f the highest rates o f fo ster care in the country. “O n any given day 8,500 are c h il dren in foster care in O regon,” he said. “W e do a good jo b o f getting kids back hom e, but in O regon, there is m ore w ork to be d one,” he said, adding that m ore kids also need to be returned hom e safely to their families. Still, he said, the audit d id n ’t re veal m uch that the agency d id n ’t already realize. “T h e audit d id n ’t look at issues w ith fam ilies. It really ju s t looked at w hat child w elfare was doing,” said Evans. “T h e audit also failed to look at how w e interact w ith fam ilies, o r how the decisions are m ade,” he said. “It (the audit) w as only about h a lf the p icture.” A c c o rd in g to C a ro lly n n S m ith , h e r re la tio n s h ip w ith D H S C h ild W e lfa re d iv is io n b e g a n in th e m id 80s, a fte r h e r first g ra n d c h ild w as b o m . “ M y d a u g h te r h a d n in e c h il d re n , a n d I g o t th e first o n e ,” she said . “ S h e ju s t k e p t h a v in g b a b ie s .” W hen one baby w as put into the custody o f the state, Sm ith w as d eterm ined to find a w ay to get the children back into the hom e o f a fam ily m em b er instead o f a foster care. “I alm ost w ent through foster training,” said Sm ith, w ho explained she decided against it because she w anted to raise her fam ily, not som e one e lse ’s children. D ecades later, how ever, Sm ith, now a grandm other o f 17 and a great grandm other o f 20, is still fighting for the right to keep her fam ily to gether. Inside her house in north P o rt land w here she has lived for m ore than 40-years, im ages o f children decorate the w alls and top the b o o k shelves in the living room . W hile sm all, the hom e, equipped with a full furnished kitchen and four room s, is filled w ith toys, gam es, a TV , and even a b a rb e r’s chair. A lthough a busy w om an, Sm ith said she enjoys taking care o f the people she loves, including her five g randchildren w ho cu rren tly live in her hom e. “I d o n ’t like D H S because o f w hat they have done to m e. T hey took m y tw o babies, and w o n ’t give them b ack ,” she said. Sm ith said she is as determ ined as ev er to gain custody o f h er tw o grandchildren, now 11 and 8-years old, w ho w ere taken from th eir m o th er’s hom e in 2007. ‘T h e y (D H S) gave m e six o f them, but they w o n ’t give m e tw o o f them b ack ,” she said. “ I know th e y ’re ju s t d o in ’ w hat they think is right, but I d o n ’t get it. I d o n ’t u nderstand w hy they c a n ’t stay w ith m e.” H er grandson T az, a student at Je ffe rso n H ig h S c h o o l, said he m isses his baby b ro th er and sister, w ho h e m erely sees staring b ack at him through rarely receiv ed p ic tures. “I h a v e n ’t seen them in a long tim e,” he said. “ I d o n ’t th in k it is right. T hey are living w ith a random fam ily w hen they co u ld be living w ith their g ran n y .” W hile S m ith said she know s th e re ’s a state casew orker assigned for the children in h er custody, she d o e sn ’t get m uch interaction. “T h ey aint calling m e, and they d o n ’t tell you nothing w hen you need to know som ething. I have teenagers. I d o n ’t get it,” she said. “T h ey are playing this gam e, and as they go along, they are changing the rules. T hey have changed a lot o f stuff, but I keep asking them if I am going to get m y babies back, and they keep saying no.” A ccording to Evans, he hopes the state w ill co n sid er m ore funding fo r the agency. H e added b etter co m m u n icatio n is also extrem ely im portant. “T he m ore contact, the m ore abil ity to bond w ith the child. T hat is one o f those findings w e agree w ith,” said Evans. “W e need to find a w ay and a place to have those parent child m eetings m ore regularly and freq u en t.” A n increase in parent and fam ily contact w ith the casew o rk ers is also im portant, so they can gain m ore understanding and inform ation to m ake good decisions, and so c h il dren can be reunified w ith their loved ones faster, he said. “I think what Salem can do is make sure that we set the expectation and continue to reinforce that message to caseworkers that getting children safely back home is a priority.” W e need to do m ore, he said. “ W e certain ly have w o rk left to d o.” THE LAW OFFICES OF Patrick John Sweeney, P.C. 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