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Children
‘Friggin’ Awesome’
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Montreal granville, a case manager
(L) and Patrick Floyd, a proctor
parent, both work for Morrison Child
and Family Services. They attended
the conference to learn, they said,
and planned to attend a session on
healing trauma in teens.
children were killed by family members in
2010. Yet data shows that putting children
in foster care often fails to stop the cycle of
abuse. Frequent moves, failed placements,
broken family attachments and abuse with-
in the system can traumatize children fur-
ther, according to outcome studies by the
Annie E. Casey Family Foundation.
ter care during the study period were chil-
dren of color, despite the fact that children
of color make up only 11 percent of
Oregon’s general child population.
American Indian/Alaskan Native children
were more than five times more likely, and
African American children two times more
likely, to be represented in Oregon’s foster
care population than in Oregon’s general
population.”
Cahn said three factors contribute to the
disproportionate numbers of children of
color in care: individual bias; institutional
bias and poverty. Nationally, children’s
advocates want to change child welfare
policies and provide more support to birth
families.
“Our families need housing, jobs, and
access to drug treatment, mental health
counseling, food and transportation,” she
said. “Too many of our children and moth-
ers don’t get the help they need. And we
know there are too much untreated trauma,
untreated mental illness and untreated sub-
children of color
More African American and Native
American children go into foster care.
They also stay longer. Efforts are under-
way to keep more children with their bio-
logical families, but the figures remain
daunting, and Portland’s Native American
children and African American children hit
hardest. According to a state task force
that reported this year:
“About 20 percent of all children in fos-
Among those attending the foster
care conference were Eva Williams (L)
and Alise Sanchez from NAYA, the
Native American Youth and Family
Center
Author and filmmaker Michael Moore spoke at Occupy Portland on Oct.
31, encouraging protestors. “You don’t know how friggin’ awesome this is,”
he said. “Portland, Portland, Portland! This is the seat of our new
democracy!”
stance abuse.”
The state task force on the issue and a
2011 Multnomah County workgroup report
both set targets and outlined plans for
reducing those numbers. Cahn noted that
one example of efforts to remove institu-
tional bias is a move to treat parents who
have crack convictions in the same way as
parents who have abused cocaine.
Famously, Black Americans have been
charged and labeled as felons for crack
abuse, when cocaine abusers, more likely to
be White, have received lesser penalties.
Tuesday’s panel discussion showed how
the foster care system can amplify family
trauma and keep generations of families
stuck in the system.
Briggs, who is white, told how she went
into foster care when she was 8 years old
because her father was in prison and her
mother was a meth and later a heroin addict.
After watching a television program about
HIV and AIDS, Briggs told her mother that
her grandmother’s partner was sexually
abusing her. Child welfare got involved and
Briggs was placed in foster care. An
untreated addict, her mother never regained
generational impact
See FoSter on page 8
Shelter
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works to set up homeless men and women
with jobs and provides a space for homeless
children and their families.
“Homelessness has increased especially
in East Portland and East Multnomah
County,” says DeMaster.
She pointed out that they have a Warming
Center on 125th and Halsey, which relies on
public donations, most of which have come
from faith organizations. The center
has cots for families to sleep on but
it can’t provide pillows and blankets
unless people donate money.
Human Solutions has also opened
up the 60-bed Family Winter Shelter
at East Presbyterian Church and the
eight-bed Common Cup Shelter at
the Sunnyside United Methodist
Church.
Other year-round services include
the Goose Hollow Family Shelter,
operated by Portland Homeless
Family Solutions, Human Solutions
Daybreak Shelter Network, and My
Multnomah County and the Family Shelter-
to-Housing Partnership.
She says she met a lot of volunteers who
worked with her family and even helped her
kids with homework.
“I learned how to see credit, do back-
ground checks and fill out applications for
landlords,” she says. “I also built friend-
ships that will last forever.”
The woman said her family
would be moving into an apart-
ment the next day. She pledged to
come back and volunteer.
Multnomah
County
Commissioner Deborah Kafoury
said that the county added $1.6
million for families in crisis.
“Critics complain that govern-
--Jean DeMaster ments shouldn’t interfere,” says
Kafoury. “I disagree. It is our role
to help families find stability.”
Sally Erickson, the Ending
Homelessness Initiative manager
gave testimony on her experiences with of the Portland Housing Bureau, noted that
the government can’t take on homelessness
alone. She emphasized that people vote on
initiatives affecting homeless families.
Erickson says that there will be a big job
ahead for Portland this winter. Shelters are
opening early in preparation for the cold
weather.
Erickson notes that shelter beds have
almost doubled since 2004 and that the
coalition has managed to help more than
7,000 families get off the street since the
2010 program.
“I grew up in the 60s,” says Erickson. “It
has not always been like this.”
A Homeless Day of Awareness is set for
Nov. 15 from 7-8:30 a.m. at the Downtown
Chapel.
Liesl Wendt, the CEO of 211 Info, says
that among the many services the group’s
telephone referrals offer is help with trans-
portation.
She
says
211
Info’s
website,
www.211info.org, is constantly updating
information on available beds as well.
Meaning of Multiculturalism Today. Nov.9
at 3:30 p.m.
Karen “Kemi” Coutinho, student, accom-
plished playwright and coordinator of the
symposium’s Race Monologues,
which explore race, ethnicity and identity
through poetry and prose. Nov. 11 at 7 p.m.
Don’t miss this chance to see a student-
curated art exhibition built around the
theme mul-ti-cul-tur-al-ism: defined, It fea-
tures work by campus and community
artists. All events are free and open to the
public. For a complete schedule, visit
www.lclark.edu.
Father’s House and My Sister’s House in
Gresham.
Services for homeless families with chil-
dren are available at the day shelter at 13
Salmon Family Center, and the day facility
at the Daybreak Shelter. Additional housing
placement is provided by Human Solutions.
Following DeMaster’s presentation, a for-
merly homeless woman named Georgina
‘Homelessness has increased
especially in East Portland and
East Multnomah County’
Symposium
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beyond will consider these questions in a
series of panel discussions and lectures.
Keynote Speakers include:
Gary Younge, the Chicago-based colum-
nist for The Guardian, a highly respected
British news source. Younge will speak
about differences in the Occupy movement
at home and abroad. Nov.9 at 7 p.m.
Geneva Gay, an award-winning professor
from the University of Washington, Seattle,
will speak about what’s NOT working in
multicultural education. Nov. 10 at 7 p.m.
Gary Okihiro, one of the founders of the
field of ethnic studies will speak to the
future of these specialized departments.
Nov. 10 at 7 p.m.
Jan Campbell from Portland’s new Office
of Equity and Jilma Meneses, PSU’s first
chief diversity officer, will be part of the
panel Beyond the Word: Exploring the
november 9, 2011
The Portland Skanner page 3