local news
reform
good in the Hood
continued from page 1
had a “difficulty to engage families of color
in safety and permanency planning.” That
same system had little respect for the impor-
tance of extended family in that planning;
the report found similar patterns of behavior
across the state.
Like Murray and members of
Grandparents Raising Grandchildren, a
group founded by grandparent caregiver
Carolyn Smith, the Multnomah County
Child Welfare Workgroup takes an interest
in reducing the number of placements in
foster care. Put quite simply, placing a child
in foster care may
cause more harm than
the home from which
they were removed.
Most children are
not removed from
homes because they
have been abused. In
50 percent of cases,
there is only the
“threat of harm” and in 30 percent of cases
it is “neglect,” which can include homeless-
ness. In some cases, if one partner commits
a crime of domestic violence against the
other, the children are taken away and the
victim must then work to regain custody.
Furthermore, a 2005 “Northwest Foster
Care Alumni Study” by Peter Pecora, Ph.D.
et. al., found that one-third of former foster
children reported that they were abused or
maltreated in their foster homes.
In Oregon, Child Welfare case workers
place nearly twice the national average of
children into foster care. We’re fifth in the
nation for foster care placements (5.6 place-
ments per 1,000 children), behind West
Virginia, Alaska, Nebraska and Washington
D.C. (which is more than three times the
national average with almost 19 placements
per 1000 children).
In 2009, a coalition of state agencies –
including DHS – came up with six goals to
safely reduce the number of children in fos-
ter care.
1) Safely reduce children in foster care by
20 percent; 2) Increase relative placements
by 50 percent; 3) Reduce children entering
care by 10 percent; 4) Increase foster care
exits by 20 percent; 5) Reduce dispropor-
tionality and disparities for Native and
African American children, and; 6) Hold the
child re-abuse and neglect rate stable.
Gene Evans, spokesperson for the
Department
of
Human Services,
says the agency is
on track to meet
several of the
goals. Here’s a
breakdown
of
where the agency
stands on the goals:
1) Children in
foster care have been reduced by 19 per-
cent; 2) Relative placements have doubled
since 2006, and children immediately
placed with relatives instead of foster fami-
lies is at 25 percent, up from 12 percent in
2007;
3) Not met; 4) Native American exits have
been increased by 20 percent, but African
American exits have remained flat; 5)
Remained flat; 6) The re-abuse rate has
declined from 7.5 percent to 4.2 percent in
2010
Murray says she wants Child Welfare to
remove subjective barriers for relatives who
wish to adopt that she says are rooted in cul-
tural differences. She says she’s met many
relatives who have worked hard to comply
with the demands put forth by case workers,
only to see children permanently adopted
out to non-relative families.
Murray has a long list of reforms she’d
like to see, including to see so many power-
ful psychotropic drugs prescribed to chil-
dren. Children in foster care are prescribed
these medications – some of which have
been shown to cause brain shrinkage
according to at least one study http://arch-
p
s
y
c
.
a
m
a
-
assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/68/2/128 – at a
much higher rate (13 to 52 percent of foster
care children depending on the state) than
the general youth population (4 percent).
The Child Welfare agency itself does not
directly prescribe medication and new rules
require permission from program adminis-
trators before a foster parent can administer
these drugs.
She also wants to see parents get a “First
Call Option” so children can stay with rela-
tives instead of foster families; recruit more
African American foster parents; and create
a family defense fund to teach both parents
and relatives caregivers about their rights
when dealing with DHS.
ter to be a beacon of hope for the teens
there.
Funding for the project came from ’s 2
percent for art program, set aside in the
mid-90s when the was built. The Regional
Arts and Culture Council commissioned the
project as part of its artist-in-residence pro-
g r a m ,
‘Intersections’.
In his speech
Cogen
too
talked about
the value of art,
especially in
places of confinement and despair.
“It is going to change lives,” he said. “We
believe in the power of transformation and
that there is potential in these young people:
potential to contribute to our community.
“They are learning they have something
to offer and that they can be part of some-
thing bigger than themselves, something
beautiful, something transformational.”
Richard Hall, who has spent 19 years
working with youth in the detention center,
told the Skanner News that detention staff
get close to the teens and want to see them
succeed.
“We get all kinds of kids,” he said. “Some
should be here; others it is their situation
that got them here. We form relationships,
and it’s hard to see them come back.”
Hall said sometimes he will be out and
about when he will hear his name called. A
young man will come up and say ‘Hi
Richard, remember me?’ Maybe he is now
married with children, living a normal,
happy life.
“That happens sometimes,” he said. “Just
not often enough.”
Artist Arvie Smith also spoke, quoting
Cornel West and W.E.B. Dubois. But per-
haps his most moving words were about the
fate of those youth he came to know well
during his time as their art master.
“We must show them the spirit of love and
forgiveness that gives hope to those who
have been cast aside,” he said.
“Most of the children charged under
Measure 11 are of a darker hue. We can’t let
these children land on the garbage heap of
disappointment and despair. These children
are looking for hope; hope for a better
future; hope for a better world. We must
give them that.”
The first names of the young artists who
worked with Smith are etched into an extra
panel. That panel is all the more poignant
because at least one of those students is now
dead: a victim of gun violence.
youth group, United Voices: Vy Nguyen,
18; Indasia Summerfield, 17; and Jessica
Valdesiera, 17. More students have also
helped with the project, including
Christopher Luchini 15.
These same four kids won second place in
a national video competition earlier this
year, creating a film, “Trillionaire,” on the
subject of, “If I Had a Billion Dollars.”
Medina said the group had attended a
Freedom School organized in Seattle last
winter, and they decided it is something
needed in their own home town.
“Young people are not learning a lot of
these things in school, they’re not learning
about why some people are poor and what is
race and what is racism – so it’ll answer a
lot of questions,” Medina said of the week-
end events.
“One of the kids told me yesterday, the
reason why it’s important to her is she does-
n’t want to live in the past anymore she
wants to live in the future and for young
people to build the future.”
Medina, who works with the young peo-
ple all year round, says youth of color need
to be educated about their political and
social history as a way of combating a sense
of oppression they carry with them which
damages their self-esteem.
“The subject matter may seem kind of
adult, but the young people need to learn
about the history of immigration in this
country, and some things about race and
police in this country, and what to if you’re
stopped by the police and what your rights
are – things that most often impact the lives
of people of color,” she said.
They’ll also be looking at issues that
impact others – such as age-ism.
“It should be a pretty inclusive and cool
three-day training, then the last day we’re
taking a field trip to MercyCorps,” she said.
This event was made possible by the City
Of Portland Youth Action Grant Program
and Portland AFSC.
Murray wants to see
parents get a ‘First Call
Option’ so children can
stay with relatives ...
Hundreds turned out Saturday for the good in the Hood parade up Martin
luther king Jr Boulevard, which featured community groups and girls drill
teams from Seattle. See more pictures from the good in the Hood parade
on The Skanner News Facebook page.
Art
continued from page 1
one room. That won’t happen again soon.
At 8 feet by 15 feet, the murals are larger
than life. But they were made in panels so
they could easily be deconstructed and
moved. Two of the murals will stay in the
detention center: one in the lobby and the
other behind the locked doors where youth
See them in real life at the Courthouse
or the Central Police Precinct
await trial or serve their time. You will have
a chance to view the other three murals in
all their real-life splendor, simply by visit-
ing the downtown police precinct and the
Multnomah County Courthouse. Eventually
they will return home to the detention cen-
Freedom
continued from page 1
vanized youths to mobilize against oppres-
sive institutions, often in the face of gov-
ernment violence.
“It’s something that was done quite a bit
in the 60’s and vary sparingly since then,
but its just carrying on a tradition that got
lost somewhere,” Medina said.
Portland’s Freedom School is named in
honor of Jacqueline Holmes, a community
organizer who worked with the Bradley-
Angle House, the Albina Ministerial
Alliance, and the Metropolitan Public
Defender.
The local Freedom School is funded by a
Youth Action Grant grant written by three
teenagers who participate with the AFSC
June 29, 2011 The Portland Skanner Page 3