SIUSLAW NEWS ❚ WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2017
5 A
Youth Authority seeks coastal foster parents
Join us for our
Holiday Open House
Saturday, December 2nd
9:30am-5:30pm
Treats and Treasures
Grab a deal with $5 or $10 grab bags
Stocking stuffers and gifts for all ages
Complimentary gift wrapping
We are so much more than a kitchen store!
Let us help you with your holiday gift shopping
shopping!!
Bath by the Bay/Baby corner & gifts
1258 Bay St. Old Town Florence
541-997-6060
C
harlene Hall gets so
many calls on Mother’s
Day that she has to turn
off her ringer to enjoy the holi-
day with her family.
No matter how many mes-
sages the Junction City resident
receives, she returns them all.
She only has three biological
children, but about 500 young
people can call her mom — the
youth she took in over the past
33 years as an Oregon Youth
Authority (OYA) foster parent.
Hall was their second-
chance family; their second
chance at having a supportive,
safe home, and their second
chance at changing their lives.
Many OYA youth could ben-
efit from foster parents like
Hall, but there aren’t enough
homes to send them to.
Lane County has zero OYA
foster homes on the coast.
Statewide, OYA only has 36.
OYA is the state’s juvenile
justice agency. It provides safe
FREE MEMORY SCREENING
Wednesday, November 29th at 6pm
Are you caring for someone with Dementia
or Alzheimer’s? Do you have questions or
concerns about providing care or handling
diffi cult situations?
Joins us for our Caregiver Series
Th e Last Wednesday of Each Month at 6pm
Call to book your spot now! 541-997-6111
GUEST VIEWPOINT
B Y K ELLY O KILI
O REGON Y OUTH A UTHORITY
environments and opportunities
for rehabilitation of youth, ages
12 through 24, whom the courts
commit to OYA custody.
While some youth go to
juvenile correctional facilities,
the majority live in community
settings where OYA tries to get
them the treatment and support
they need to be crime-free, pro-
ductive members of their com-
munities.
OYA’s foster care program
doesn’t do adoptions. It only
serves teens working their way
toward returning home and
older youth who need help
learning independent-living
skills.
It often tries to place youth in
foster homes near their regular
homes so they can be close to
family and local support net-
works. But with no coastal fos-
ter homes in Lane County, local
youth who are good candidates
for foster care have to live else-
where in Oregon — or it may
not have any available homes at
all.
So who can qualify to be an
OYA foster parent? Parents
must:
• Be at least 21 years old, or
25 if you are working with
youth 18 and older.
• A U.S. citizen or permanent
resident.
• Able to pass a background
check.
• Able to provide basic hous-
ing, food, clothing, transporta-
tion and other incidentals for
youth.
OYA youth have a state med-
ical card to pay for medical,
mental health and other treat-
ment costs. Foster families
receive a monthly payment to
reimburse them for services
they provide.
You don’t need previous fos-
ter care experience. OYA pro-
vides a wide range of training
specific to the needs of its
youth.
OYA foster parents also have
a strong support network. OYA
calls and visits regularly, and it
provides continual support via
phone or email.
Youth in the OYA foster care
program reap countless bene-
fits from supportive homes, but
its foster parents also see
rewards.
Just ask Hall.
When those youth call her
year after year, they often share
news of jobs, college, spouses
and children.
She gave them a second
chance. — And it made all the
difference.
And so can you.
Kelly Okili is Oregon Youth
Authority's Lane County foster
care certifier. To learn more
about OYA foster parenting,
contact Kelly at Kelly.Okili
@oya.state.or.us or 971-803-
8154, or visitbit.ly/ oyafoster-
care.
Hatfield Visitor Center to close for maintenance
NEWPORT — The Visitor
Center at Oregon State
University’s Hatfield Marine
Science Center, which annual-
ly draws some 150,000 visi-
tors, will close on Dec. 5 for
maintenance and renovation.
The Visitor Center’s front
exhibits and auditorium are
tentatively scheduled to
reopen on Feb. 1, though there
will be no public access to the
H OLIDAY
back exhibits.
The rest of the Visitor
Center is scheduled to reopen
on March 25.
“A couple of the larger tanks
in the back exhibits need to be
re-secured to the foundation,
and we’ll take the opportunity
to do some additional plumb-
ing and renovation,” said Bob
Cowen, director of the
Hatfield Marine Science
FOOD DRIVE AT
The Florence Christian
Church, in partnership with
Fred Meyer, will be holding a
holiday food drive on
Saturday, Dec. 2, from 11 a.m.
to 3 p.m.
Center.
Some of the Visitor Center’s
exhibits include a large octo-
pus tank, tanks with near- and
offshore sea life, touch pools,
coral tanks, displays featuring
marine studies and current
research, three wave tanks, an
augmented sand table and a
variety of other hands-on edu-
cational exhibits.
F RED M EYER
All food and cash donations
will benefit Florence Food
Share.
Most needed items for the
local food pantry are: Flour,
coffee, baby and adult diapers,
ON
S ATURDAY
Hamburger Helper, mac and
cheese, canned meat (tuna,
chili, Spam, etc.), canned
tomato
products
(diced,
stewed, etc), milk and eggs.
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