8 JANUARY 15, 2005
Smoke Signals
Citizen Review Board To Honor Tribal Foster Care Program
n Blue Ribbon Award highlights outstanding services in the interests of children as the agency looks for Indian volunteers to fill its ranks.
By Ron Karten
The Tribe's Tribal Foster Care
program is slated to receive a Blue
Ribbon Award for providing "excel
lent services" to troubled Tribal
families. The award is more than
a pat on the back.
"It's not often that you see pro
grams get positive recognition in
this kind of work," said
Dave Fullerton, Social
Services Department
Manager.
"Our program has
built a strong relation
ship with service deliv
ery Area Three, which
is Polk, Yamhill and
Marion counties," he
said, "and that relation
ship has opened up spe
cific services that ben
efit Tribal children,
Tribal families and ulti
mately has resulted in
successful
reunifications for Grand
Ronde families."
The award is pre
sented annually by each
of the countywide
CRBs, and honor "indi
viduals or programs
that exemplify excellent
services in the interest
of children," according
to Tom Carranza, one of
three coordinators of the
Marion CountyJ CRBs.' - ' 7
Efforts on behalf of kids have in
creased since the 1997 federal
Adoption and Safe Families Act re
quired government agencies
charged with this task to have a
permanent home for children
roughly within a year of their first
report.
"The Board makes sure that chil
dren are placed in safe, permanent
homes for the shortest time possible
and are receiving adequate ser
vices from the State," according to
a press release from Ann M.
Hubard, another Marion County
CRB Coordinator.
But foster care is a business that
takes a toll on all involved. Some
parents have a very small window
of time in which to clean up their
acts. Never mind that for most,
these acts were developing for a life
time. It can't be easy.
hoods in what may most neutrally
be called 'non-compliant' homes.
Temporary foster homes are not
deemed an acceptable alternative to
family life, and no doubt some per
manent foster homes are not
deemed acceptable, either, so those
on both sides of the fence face per-
1 " I . V- .. '. .turn O
L t 1
Honored Dave Fullerton (1 to r) , Kristi Petite, Melissa Morris and Shawn Loienzi of the Tribe's Social
Services Department. The Tribe's program was honored with a Blue Ribbon Award.
When'it comes to the world's most
difficult jobs, working with troubled
families has got to be near the top
of the list. It means having the au
thority to tear families apart. And
sometimes it requires actually tear
ing them apart. Those can't be the
good days.
Nevertheless, though the difficul
ties and drawbacks are many, the
professional community has long
favored fast action for children in
troubled families, and with good rea
son. Until the 1997 law, many chil
dren languished their entire child-
ilous choices.
"The reality," said Fullerton, "is
you have to change the thinking in
order to change the behavior. It's
an uphill battle."
Oregon's CRBs for foster care pro
grams came about in 1985 as a tool
of the judicial branch of state gov
ernment. That gave them indepen
dent clout because the actual foster
care programs are under the Gov
ernor and within the Human Re
sources Department.
, The facets of a successful inter
vention are many. Timely assess-
Volunteers Needed For Citizen Review Boards
Yamhill and Marion County Citizen Review Boards (CRB) are looking for volunteers to provide the most
important oversight work any community ever has to do: foster care decisions.
Recently (SS 101504 issue), Smoke Signals put out a call for volunteers for the Tribal Member Review
Board that oversees foster care programs under Tribal jurisdiction. And volunteers continue to be needed
for those posts. If interested in serving on the Tribal Member Review Board, contact: Stephanie Grim at
503-879-1367.
The countywide boards look over the work of state and county programs, and Tribal members should
care what happens there because almost half of Tribal members in custody are in state custody, according
to Fullerton.
Tribal Court currently has jurisdiction over some 40-plus Tribal children, said Fullerton, while state
courts maintain jurisdiction over about 35 Tribal youth.
Board members agree to serve a two-year term, participate in 16 hours of training before serving (as well
as on-going training), and to review the case materials (that can be extensive) before each review. Mem
bers participate in fact-finding at the review by interviewing the caseworker, family members and other
interested parties who are invited to attend the review. '
The Board also develops a summary of the review with findings and recommendations that are sent to
the Juvenile Court and the Department of Human Resources (DHS) or Oregon Youth Authority (OYA).
All information handled by the Board is confidential. The board also makes recommendations to Juvenile
Courts, DHS, OYA and the legislature concerning services, policies, procedures and laws that affect chil
dren, youth offenders and families. ' '
A knowledge of or interest in foster care and child welfare is desired and board members must either
work or live in the county they wish to serve. However, a board member cannot be an employee of DHS or
OYA or any private agency regulated, certified, directed or licensed by DHS or OYA. Nor can a board
member be an employee of a Juvenile Court or the Oregon Judicial Department.
The mandate is to develop diverse boards with board members who have unique life experiences. It is
important that the boards reflect and represent the socio-economic, ethnic and racial groups of the area served.
Anyone interested in serving on a board can call the CRB office in Salem at 503 986-5906 or write to Ann
Hubard, Citizen Review Board, 1163 State Street, Salem, OR 97310, or via email at
ann.m.hubardojd.state.or.us.
ment of the problems and then
timely treatment for the family in
volved may seem to be obvious com
ponents of any program addressing
family issues, but according to
Carranza, not all agencies handling
foster care cases perform these tasks
in a timely way, and sometimes im
portant tasks are not performed at
all, he said.
Part of the problem in
getting the ball rolling
can be the absence of
people crucial to the
process.
"At the Grand Ronde
Tribes," said Carranza,
"almost every time, we
have an ICWA (Indian
Child Welfare Act) care
worker, a DHS (Oregon
Department of Human
Services) worker, Tribal
foster parents, the bio
logical parents, treat
ment providers, other
family members and the
children involved. It's
rarp that, all tlinsp nonnlp
j ,
would appear, but in
. Grand Ronde, (atten
2 dance is) almost always
2 a hundred percent. Ev
eryone is working to
gether the way they
should."
Simply and dramati
cally, the success of the Tribe's Fos
ter Care Program means literally
that many families on the edge do
not slip over the edge and are not
shattered.
Success can be a giant benefit for
the families involved. Convincing
parents to alter behaviors may be
the most difficult problem these
families ever overcome, but it may
end up being the thing that keeps
them together.
Results are bad for a failed effort,
but mostly, efforts fall somewhere
in between, agreed Fullerton.
"Efforts go a lot further with the
work that the state and the Tribe
do together," he said, "and they re
sult in more positive results for
families."
The award presentation will be
made on January 21 at 1:30 p.m.
at the state Supreme Court Build
ing in Salem. Oregon Supreme
Court Chief Justice Wallace P.
Carson Jr. will make the presenta
tion. Tribal Council members
Valorie Sheker-Robertson and
Angie Blackwell, Social Services De
partment Manger Dave Fullerton,
Program Coordinator Ron Hudson
and ICW Unit Supervisor Dana
Ainam will accept the award for the
Tribal program.
Tribal staff deserving credit for
this success also include: Kristi Pe
tite, Lead Supervisor; Melissa
Sampson-Grier, Foster Care Coor
dinator; Shawn Lorenzi, ICW In
vestigator; Shane Degraffenried
Smith, Caseworker; Melissa Morris,
Intake; Donna Hill, Caseworker As
sistantDriver and Chelsea Peters,
Driver.
"We have workers here who have
strong passion for what they do,"
said Fullerton. "It can be a pretty
thankless job."