Lawmakers push bill to close loophole hurting vulnerable foster kids

A state senator is pushing to close a loophole in state law and require providers supervising foster children in hotel rooms or short-term rentals to follow the same rules as other care providers. 

Under Oregon Department of Human Services rules, licensed child-caring agencies must follow a long list of requirements that includes their governing, record keeping, training and procedures for complaints and reports of abuse. It also mandates background checks, defines abuse, details allowed and prohibited discipline and restraints and covers procedures for handling complaints and abuse reports.

DHS officials say the current law allows unlicensed providers to supervise children in temporary lodging, which child welfare advocates say puts those kids at risk. Sen. Sara Gelser Blouin, D-Corvallis and  chair of the Senate Committee on Human Services, introduced Senate Bill 1521 to end the practice and require supervising providers to be licensed.

“The reason this is important right now is we have kids that have been harmed by this practice,” Gelser Blouin said at a hearing last Wednesday.

Advocates, caseworkers and lawyers who represent foster kids support the bill. But DHS’ child welfare director, Aprille Flint-Gerner, argued against it on Wednesday. She said the proposal would restrict the number of providers available to care for foster kids in hotels.

“Many of our service providers see the CCA licensing and regulatory environment to be a barrier, as they may not be able to meet the extensive requirements to become licensed as a CCA and then remain in compliance,” Flint-Gerner said. “We really can’t risk the further reduction in current service providers during a provider workforce shortage.” 

DHS Director Fariborz Pakseresht also oppsed the bill: “I just plead with this committee and others not to pass additional legislation that prohibits our ability to serve kids.”

Gelser Blouin worked with DHS on the bill over the weekend and added wording to clarify that it only applies to providers responsible for care or supervision of foster kids in temporary lodging, and not mentors, counselors or others who are not responsible for their oversight. In response, a child welfare official, Michelle Pfeiffer, indicated in testimony at a hearing on Monday that DHS was now less opposed to the bill because it would only apply to up to seven providers, not the 40 the agency had previously identified.

When asked about the agency’s position on the bill on Monday, spokesman Jake Sunderland said: “We are neutral today.”

The bill would affect the supervision of the dozens of children a year who are placed in temporary lodging, sometimes for months at a time. 

As of Feb. 1, about 4,000 children in Oregon were in foster care, according to Jake Sunderland, a spokesman for DHS. Only a small fraction are in temporary lodging at any time. For example, from December 2022 through November 2023, about 120 children or young adults were in temporary lodging at any time, according to a December DHS report. Children placed in temporary lodging often have suffered trauma and abuse and been shuffled from home to home. In hotels, they lack stable oversight and instead are cared for by two state employees or contracted workers. 

Worries about Dynamic Life

One unlicensed provider, in particular, has drawn deep concern among advocates: Dynamic Life Inc., a Keizer-based nonprofit created by a pastor. Documents filed with the Legislature show that several of Dynamic Life’s employees were not properly trained in the use of restraints but used them anyway, including illegal maneuvers. The nonprofit didn’t even run background checks on 23 individuals who restrained kids.

Not only that, DHS also paid Dynamic life more than 100 times what it typically pays foster care parents to care for children in short-term rentals, according to an investigation by OPB last year. Over 12 months, the state paid Dynamic Life more than $7.8 million to care for children in temporary lodging around the clock, oversee medication and mental health and addiction treatment, provide transportation and food and tending to other needs. Yet it was not licensed as a child-caring agency and didn’t have to follow the appropriate statutes.

Oregon lawmakers seek ways to help foster children in hotels

They include the Foster Care Bill of Rights, required certifications in using restraints and prohibited restraints, abuse definitions, reporting abuse, investigations, access to advocates, caseworkers and attorneys and required notifications to caseworkers, attorneys and advocates.

Gelser Blouin figured all providers caring for children in temporary lodging had to be child-caring agencies and was surprised to learn from DHS that was not the case. The loophole also has angered many providers and attorneys who represent children in care. Simon Fulford, executive director of Parrott Creek Child and Family Services, a child-caring agency in Oregon City, said it is emblematic of the worsening state of Oregon’s child welfare system.

“The decisions made by the Oregon Department of Human Services to contract with unlicensed and poorly regulated entities to provide temporary lodging services is just one very front of mind example,” Fulford said during a hearing last week. “It is, sadly, also an insult to the dozens of licensed, professional and highly dedicated child-caring agencies who work hard every day to care for children and are not offered $3,000 per day to do so, yet, are also regulated and audited to almost an inch of their organizational lives and incur those additional costs uncompensated.”

Advocates, lawyers testify

Fulford, other providers, caseworkers and lawyers who represent children in care testified about the bill. Abigail Wafula-Card, a supervisor in Multnomah County at CASA for Children, an advocate for children in the foster care system, said last Wednesday she oversees 58 children and has wide experience with children in temporary lodging. She said one child, in particular, stands out for the poor treatment they received while in the care of Dynamic Life. 

She said the child was put in three hotels over six months, and during that time, did not always have their medication because Dynamic Life staff failed to have it refilled on time. Two Dynamic Life staffers also manually restrained the child, even though they weren’t qualified to do so, Wafula-Card said. A DHS email from a child welfare analyst in Grants Pass also cited instances of Dynamic Life staff using restraints while lacking certification.

“This child was often in extreme states of crisis, and while this child did have a mental health team, Dynamic Life did not call that mental health team,” Wafula-Card said. 

After pressure from advocates, DHS rescinded its contract with Dynamic Life last year. Nevertheless, Gelser Blouin said a rule change is necessary to ensure the same situation does not happen again. 

The committee is scheduled to vote on the bill on Wednesday.