10 MAY 1, 2003
Smoke Signals
Foster Care Program Regroups, Pulls Together To Help Children
Recruiting foster families is top priority
By Ron Karten
With the closing of the emergency
shelter facility and the loss of staffer
Danis Bazzy-Bucknell to the joys of
motherhood last fall, the Foster Care
Program in the Tribes' Social Services
Department has been resting on the
shoulders of Program Coordinator Me
lissa Sampson-Grier.
The shelter provided temporary rests
for stressed-out parents and children.
"When the shelter was open," she said,
"we had time to do an extensive rela
tive search. Without the shelter, a lot
(of foster kids) are going first into emer
gency placements."
As a result, the program is working
hard both to find new long term foster
families and families to serve as tem
porary emergency placements.
Still, the loss of the shelter and one
staffer came from a model program
that has been very successful in the
face of an increasing case load and an
economy that has hit the state social
services programs hard.
"When the economy is down," said
Social Services Director Dave Fuller
ton, "that puts more pressure on pro
grams like ours. It's the bubble effect.
When you push in one side, it comes
out another. As the unemployment
rate rises, that puts more stress on
families."
The state has cut fees for foster fami
lies by 7.5 percent, said Sampson
Grier. At the same time, Tribal fees
have held steady so that today, the
Tribe pays more to foster families. In
a tough atmosphere for low-income
families and thus for the kids most
likely to face the foster care system,
this slim ray of light means that foster
families are theoretically better dis
posed to the Tribal program.
"More for the older kids, it's almost
an incentive," said Sampson-Grier, al
though the Tribal program has not yet
experienced a significant increase in
interest. Foster care families that have
been involved for a decade or more and
know the system well have been the
first to contact the Tribal program,
said Sampson-Grier.
The 85 Tribal children in foster care
today is up from 35 in the program
four years ago. And four years ago,
the program "was lucky to get 25 per
cent" into Tribal foster homes while
today, with more than twice the num
ber of kids, half are in Tribal homes.
The growth in the number of kids
in foster care is more a factor of
greater awareness, Sampson Grier
believes, than because more families
have problems, although a poor
economy always puts additional pres
sure on families. The growth in the
number of kids living with relatives
and other Tribal members rather than
strangers is a credit to the professional
quality of the program, specifically to
the relationships it has built with the
state program and the National In
dian Child Welfare Association
(NICWA), said Sampson-Grier.
The Tribal-state relationship is
"ideal," according to Sampson-Grier.
By keeping current with Tribal-state
agreements and keeping contact with
Tribal-state advisory boards, the
Tribal program is able to provide "con
sistency of service."
"A lot of Tribes," said Sampson
Grier, "don't have any contact with
the state."
Tribes sometimes harbor distrust of
the state but long-term relationships
between Tribal and state staffers here
have helped diffuse that distrust.
The National Indian Child Welfare
Association has been another valuable
professional source. "They (NICWA)
provide technical assistance," said
Sampson-Grier, "and they review the
structure of the program."
In mid-March, the program solved
one of its problems by hiring Matt
Bucknell to replace Bazzy-Bucknell. It
was a case of husband replacing wife
in this case.
For the six months that the position
was empty, the situation was kept
under control by the nature of the staff
ers throughout the department.
"Staff at Social Services really help
each other out, regardless of job title,"
said Bucknell. "Everybody pulls to
gether." Now that he is on the case, Bucknell
is working on two projects: an appre
ciation dinner for foster parents in the
program and an outing for foster kids
in the program.
As lead Before and After program
tutor, Bucknell worked with many of
the same issues that he will face in
his new position. "There's always a
level of stuff the kids talk to you about,"
he said, "especially mentoring kinds of
things."
The priority for the department, how
ever, is recruiting foster care provid
ers. "We need to develop an entire re
cruitment plan," said Sampson-Grier.
That plan will likely include commu
nity activities to raise awareness of the
program.
The program provides reimbursement
for foster care, but in an effort to fore
stall the need for foster care, the pro
gram also provides parents money for
child care and respite care (which might
provide parents a weekend offfrom their
children if things get too stressful), and
in addition, money is provided to foster
families for children's clothing, to pur
chase beds, and for transportation.
When foster care is necessary, the
children, depending on their age and
maturity, may be asked for their
choices of families they'd like to stay
with. The first goal is to keep them at
home, but state law requires a perma
nent solution within 12-15 months, so
when home is not possible, relatives
are often a next best solution.
Before leaving her Foster Care Re
cruitment position to become a full
time mom, Danis Bazzy-Bucknell pro
vided some insights into this vital piece
of the Social Services puzzle.
"We're always in need of foster fami
lies," she said. "Every family and ev
ery kid is different. We want the right
fit, so a resource list (of foster fami
lies) is important.
"We're always looking for houses in
different areas, too," she said, "so kids
can stay in the same area when they
are removed from home."
When a move has to be made, the
first choice is always with relatives.
Second to relatives, the ideal placement
will take all of the kids that need to be
moved, but that is not always possible.
Otherwise, caseworkers strive "to
make sure that there is sibling con
tact," said Bazzy-Bucknell.
The job also includes working with
foster families to make sure they have
the skills and facilities they need to
house and care for the children in the
program. That could mean education
and it could mean funding, and on the
kids side, it definitely means picnics
and other activities that bring siblings
together as often as possible and take
their minds off- for the time being -the
more difficult issues that have in
vaded their lives.
"We're always in need of foster families. Every family
and every kid is different. We want the right fit."
Danis Bazzy-Bucknell
Apparent Suicide Attempt On Highway 18 Leaves Police Baffled
A sad story about a distraught OSU student left on the road for dead.
-A
'St JW.
Ml"-' '
By Ron Karten
Not every question has an answer,
at least not right away. Twenty-two-year-old
Oregon State University stu
dent Erik Michael Counts is a case in
point.
The call about him, that a young
man with a significant head wound
was lying part on Highway 18 about
six miles west of Grand Ronde near
mile post 14 and part on the shoul
der, came in to the state police office
at 4:06 a.m. on Thursday, April 17.
The victim's car, a Toyota, was
stopped at the scene on the shoulder
heading east. Police never did deter
mine where he had been or where he
was going. Where he ended up, how
ever, was Emanuel Hospital in Port
land. "A note left at the scene that kind of
fits with the way he had been acting"
lead police to believe that this was a
suicide attempt, said Lt. Dale
Rutledge, Regional Administrative
Lieutenant with Public Information
Officer duties for the state police.
"There are any number of scenarios
where people get out of their vehicles,"
said Rutledge. What the police do
know, however, is that "he wasn't hit
square on. What we suspect is that it
may have been a glancing blow of some
thing protruding from the vehicle, like
a mirror or something."
The geography student from
Broadbent, Oregon may have tried to
step in front of an oncoming vehicle.
"It appears that's what his attempt
was," said Sergeant Jim Ragon, whose
office investigated the case, "but it's not
like you have pieces of the glass mir
ror or paint transfer on him."
The only information the police re
ceived from the public came from the
motorist who found Counts at four in
the morning, and waited for the police
to arrive.
"The DA has pretty much declined
to take the case as a criminal case,"
said Rutledge. And the State Police
are "wrapping up the investigation,"
according to Ragon.
"You scratch your head," said Ragon,
"and ask, why would you do that? But
in their mind at the time, it was per
fectly natural."
Although police believe Counts re
mains at Emanuel, and is improving,
the family has requested that no in
formation be given out, and the hospi
tal is honoring the request.
It was very close to this spot that a
passing motorist found injured Or
egon State University student Erik
Michael Counts.
Photo by Peta Tinda