A12 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 28, 2018
NEWS
STAFF PHOTO BY E.J. HARRIS
Rep. Greg Walden, right, listens to swing shift team leader
Richard Lewellen talk about the veneer production line at
the Greenwood Resources tree farm Friday, Jan. 22, 2016,
near Boardman.
Pundits see Walden as
safe bet for re-election
By PHIL WRIGHT
STAFF WRITER
EO FILE PHOTO
CASA volunteers take the oath of office from Umatilla County District Court Judge Lynn Hampton in August at the Umatilla
County Courthouse in Pendleton.
Many ways to help foster kids
By JAYATI RAMAKRISHNAN
STAFF WRITER
Whether opening up
your home or being their
cheerleader, there are many
ways to help foster children.
Children in foster care
have varying needs, from a
temporary place to stay to
therapy for emotional and
behavioral issues.
Some people help fos-
ter kids as Court-Appointed
Special Advocates, or
CASAs. These volunteers
will spend time with and get
to know a foster child, serv-
ing as a friend and stabiliz-
ing force for them. CASAs
will speak on the child’s
behalf at court hearings,
based on the time they’ve
spent with them.
“By visiting with the
kids, it gives us the ability
to advocate for what’s in
their best interest,” said Judi
Allison, a recently sworn-in
advocate. “Most likely
they’ll say, ‘I want to be
with mom or dad.’ That may
not be in their best interest.
But we have that time to be
able to invest with them.”
In Umatilla and Mor-
row counties last year, there
were 83 foster youth paired
with 42 special advocates.
Once a child enters foster
care, they will be assigned
an advocate who is usually
with them all the way until
they find a permanent home.
“Even if a kid moves
from home to home, their
CASA is ideally consis-
tent,” said Jesus Rome,
executive director of Uma-
tilla and Morrow County
CASA.
The advocate meets
with the child at least once
a month, whether at their
home, school, or at the
child’s extracurricular activ-
ities. They also communi-
cate with the other people in
the child’s life — foster par-
ents, caseworkers, teachers.
“It removes that sense
that they’re a number,” said
Maureen McGrath, direc-
tor of Umatilla Morrow
Head Start, CASA’s parent
organization.
Steve Frazier, an advo-
cate in Hermiston, noted
that often they are the only
consistent person to spend
time with a child through
the life of their case.
“There’s a lot of pieces
to the puzzle,” he said. “We
have the opportunity to
make sure things are going
OK.”
Advocates can choose if
there’s a certain age group
they like to work with. Fra-
zier said he tends to work
with teen boys, while Alli-
son is currently working
with several elementary
school children.
CASAs can’t trans-
port children, but can meet
them at their foster homes,
school, or at sporting events
or activities.
While many CASAs are
over 55, Rome said anyone
can do it, whether a young,
single person or a retiree.
CASA is offering a training
starting April 2.
Deeper needs
The Department of
Human Services contracts
with various behavioral
rehabilitation services for
some of the higher-needs
children. One program is
Therapeutic Foster Care,
run through the coordi-
nated-care
organization
Greater Oregon Behavioral
Health, Inc. Children will
be referred to that program
if they meet the DHS defi-
nition of having a “debili-
tating psychosocial or emo-
tional disorder.”
Adam
Rodakowski,
director of the program for
GOBHI, said the TFC pro-
gram faces many of the
same challenges as DHS,
including recruiting par-
ents willing to take on the
responsibility of a high-
needs child. Throughout
their service area, which
includes Eastern Ore-
gon, the Columbia-Pacific
region and parts of the Wil-
lamette Valley, Rodakowski
said there are about 25 chil-
dren in the program, and
23 therapeutic foster care
families.
He said they’ve found
the most success recruit-
ing through current foster
parents.
Once a child is in the
program,
Rodakowski
said they typically stay
anywhere from six to 18
months, but there is no
maximum length of time.
Children in the program
usually have some sort of
treatment plan, which par-
ents help facilitate.
The goal, he said, is to
transition the child out of
the program.
“That doesn’t necessar-
ily mean into a different
foster home,” he said. “It
may mean parents choose
to adopt the child.”
He said one component
of training foster parents
receive is in collaborative
problem solving, an inter-
vention strategy which is
taught by GOBHI employee
Kate O’Kelley.
The method is used in
foster care as well other set-
tings, such as school and
juvenile justice.
“The primary philoso-
phy is that people will do
well if they can, and that if
people are struggling, it’s
because there’s some situ-
ation that’s hard for them,”
O’Kelley said. “They don’t
have the [cognitive] skills
in that moment.”
O’Kelley said collabora-
tive problem solving helps
children develop those
skills by shifting away
from blaming them for their
behavior, and instead try-
ing to help them understand
why something may trigger
them. They work with chil-
dren on behaviors ranging
from aggressive outburts to
understanding boundaries
to impulse control.
“We give them sim-
ple prompts — OK, you’re
mad. What made you mad?”
O’Kelley said. “Building
new cognitive skills — it
does take time.”
Mounting caseloads keep DHS workers busy
By JAYATI RAMAKRISHNAN
STAFF WRITER
Child welfare casework-
ers often spend money out of
their own wallets, hours after
the work day ends.
“I remember once I took
a kid out of detention, and
had to take him to Portland
for drug and alcohol rehabil-
itation,” said Jody Frost, the
supervisor for DHS District
12, which oversees Child
Welfare for the Department
of Human Services in Uma-
tilla and Morrow counties.
“He came out wearing an
orange jumpsuit. I had to take
him and buy him clothes.”
DHS workers face a chal-
lenging job — helping chil-
dren and families in peril,
while managing ever-grow-
ing caseloads.
The state’s foster care sys-
tem and DHS recently came
under scrutiny, An audit of
the state’s foster care system
released in January said the
system’s needs are mounting,
and criticized practices such
as case workers housing fos-
ter children in motel rooms.
The audit made recommen-
dations to DHS, including
organizing its management
system and finding a con-
sistent plan to recruit foster
parents.
Local case workers said
they face the same issues as
the state — a dearth of foster
parents, growing caseloads,
and a lack of time to recruit
new employees.
There are 5,256 foster
homes statewide, including
106 in Umatilla and Morrow
counties. Of those, 60 are rel-
atives or somehow known to
the foster children.
She said DHS always
attempts to place children
with family members, or
with someone significant in
their lives, such as a coach or
a neighbor.
According to a DHS
report, a total of 11,645 chil-
dren statewide were in fos-
ter care for at least one day
in fiscal year 2017. Of those,
just over 4,000 entered the
system that year.
Frost said the national
average for caseworkers is
eight new cases per month,
while in her district it’s 14 to
16.
“They’re doing their best
to ensure the child is safe
while getting assigned new
cases all the time,” Frost
said. A case can take any-
where from a few months to
a few years to be resolved,
and case worker is only reim-
bursed for $150 per child for
the life of the case, no matter
how long.
“Caseworkers spend so
much money out of their
pockets,” she said. “They
buy kids lunch, haircuts.”
She said the most needed
STAFF PHOTO BY E.J. HARRIS
Monica Gilbertson, with the Morrow County Department of
Human Resources, looks through donated foster care bags
as Ron Benage drops off more donations from the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Hermiston on Tuesday in
Boardman.
donations are hygiene items,
baby wipes and diapers.
Frost said there are never
enough general applicants to
be foster parents.
According to the DHS
audit, because of that short-
age, many longtime foster
families have been asked to
take care of more children
than they can handle.
“And very few are willing
to take in teens,” said Marvin
Hamilton, a DHS certifier.
Certifiers work with families
on adoptions, and to make
sure a family is ready to fos-
ter or adopt.
Many children enter fos-
ter care with high emo-
tional needs, often the result
of abuse or neglect. Those
challenges can deter poten-
tial foster parents, Frost said.
Children with severe psycho-
social or emotional disorders
often need to be placed in
behavioral rehabilitation ser-
vices such as therapeutic fos-
ter care.
While there is some reim-
bursement for foster parent-
ing, the audit said the recent-
ly-revised payment model is
still inadequate, granting fos-
ter parents roughly $26.50
per day.
There are other options
to help foster children and
families outside of full-time
care, Hamilton said, includ-
ing weekend and respite care.
Most national pun-
dits see Republican Greg
Walden as a lock to win
an 11th term representing
Oregon’s 2nd District in
the U.S. House.
Political analysts Char-
lie Cook, Larry J. Sabato
and Nat Gonzales all have
Walden rated as “safe” for
reelection. Yet the grip he
and the GOP have on the
district shows signs of
slipping.
The district is larger
than 29 states and primar-
ily conservative. But Ore-
gon political analyst Bill
Lunch said that has not
curtailed energized Demo-
crats this year, with seven
vying in the primary for
their party’s nomination to
challenge Walden.
“I think that reflects
the level of unhappiness
among active voters with
the Trump administra-
tion,” Lunch said. “And
we’re seeing that all over
the country.”
The U.S. has about
7,400 state legislative
seats, and many of those
state level offices are effec-
tively held by one party,
he said, predominately
Republican or Democrat.
“But we’re seeing
Democrats filing for lots
and lots of seats, which
(had been) effectively out
of reach for them,” he said.
Republicans and polit-
ical insiders considered
the 18th congressional dis-
trict in Pennsylvania out
of reach for Democrats.
The Cook Political Report
even rated it the same as
Oregon’s 2nd — solidly
Republican. Yet Dem-
ocrat Conor Lamb then
squeaked out a win in the
March 13 special election
against Republican Rick
Saccone in a race where
there was no incumbent.
The Pennsylvania 18th
consists largely of south-
ern suburbs of Pittsburgh,
but there are rural swaths
on its eastern side. Voters
in the rural parts shifted
Democrat, but Lunch
said that shift away from
Republicans in the subur-
ban areas was “massive.”
Using the 18th as a
model for what could take
place in the Oregon 2nd,
Lunch said Walden could
run into trouble in parts of
Bend and Medford. And
Hood River, Walden’s
home county, is firmly
blue. The latest voter reg-
istration statistics from the
Oregon Secretary of State
show Dems have almost
twice the votes there as
Republicans.
Walden is less likely
to run into trouble around
Klamath Falls in the south
or Pendleton to the north.
But a “slow transforma-
tion” is coming over the
district, Lunch said. The
high-tech companies set-
ting up shop along the
Columbia River bring
employees that tend to be
Democrats. Local govern-
ments, including Uma-
tilla and Morrow coun-
ties, want those workers
to move into the Oregon,
buy homes and get on the
tax rolls.
Hood River County,
then, could be on the lead-
ing edge of change or just
an outlier as other coun-
ties in the Gorge remain
Republican strongholds.
Morrow County Com-
missioner Jim Doherty
said he also sees politi-
cal change in the district
and thinks a Democrat
could get some traction.
Walden’s views still repre-
sent the majority of voices
in the district he said, but
this year his margin of vic-
tory could drop to 60 per-
cent, maybe lower.
Lunch said Walden’s
margin taking a signifi-
cant drop would not be a
surprise, but “it is a real
stretch to see him losing.”
Walden’s closest mar-
gin was 61.2 percent in
1998, the first time he ran
for Congress. Two years
ago he won with almost 72
percent. A 12-point drop
would show significant
erosion of support, maybe
enough to embolden Dem-
ocrats and donors in the
next election cycle.
Democrats nationwide
have the opportunity to
pick up as many as 110
seats in the U.S. House.
But Lunch said that’s not
going to happen.
“I can see them picking
up 50 seats,” he said, in a
wave akin to 2010 when
Republicans gained 61.
In 80-90 percent of the
races, he said, Republicans
have better funding. Fed-
eral Elections Commis-
sion campaign financial
summaries show Walden
has more than $3.1 mil-
lion cash, while Jamie
McLeod-Skinner
leads
the Democrats with just
$37,000.
Some of the Dems
have not even met the
$5,000 threshold to report
finances. Walden has
spent more than $930,000
already this election cycle,
about six times as much
as the entire field of seven
Democrats has raised.
Walden came into office
as a moderate Republican,
but how moderate he is
today is debatable. Walden
is firmly ensconced in
Republican
leadership,
supporting both House
Speaker Paul Ryan and
President Donald Trump.
Walden supported the
heath care bill that dropped
coverage for pre-existing
conditions after he said at
Oregon townhalls that he
would not.
That kind of back-track-
ing should give challeng-
ers openings to attack. But
Umatilla County Commis-
sioner George Murdock
said the emotions sur-
rounding the health care
vote along with tax reform
have subsided to some
degree, even if the issues
have yet to play out. Mur-
dock, who is plugged into
the area’s politics, said the
race has one overriding
theme: No one is talking
about it.
For challengers, silence
does not bode well, and
Walden’s name recog-
nition alone gives him
a huge advantage in the
race. Walden’s seniority
and leadership position in
the House also help him
to deliver on key issues,
such as more funding
for wildfires in the bud-
get that passed the House
on Thursday. And the
needs in the district vary
so much from one area to
the next that single-issue
candidates cannot cobble
together a majority.