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.
Patrick John Sweeney
Attorney at Law
1549 SE Ladd
Portland, Oregon
Portland:
Hillsoboro:
Facsimile:
Email:
(503) 244-2080
(503) 244-2081
(503) 244-2084
Sweeney @ PDXLawyer.com
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