This is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus to use an image from my favorite sport, golf.  Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all my professional positions, including as press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon (Les AuCoin), as an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, as press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and as a private sector lobbyist.  This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.  I could have called this blog “Middle Ground,” for that is what I long for in both politics and golf.  The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions lie.  And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

If you were in the business of touting positive public policy developments in Oregon, there is at least one issue that would NOT make the list – foster care.

The state’s record in this issue is both terrible and embarrassing.

As someone who was involved in state public policy issues for more than 40 years, I cannot believe that more state managers and workers have not paid a price for this failure.  “Paid a price” means losing their jobs.

This became clear again yesterday as Oregon Capital Chronicle covered the story in this way:

“The Oregon Department of Human Services (DHS), under pressure by lawmakers and advocates over its care of foster children in hotels, released a report on Tuesday acknowledging past mistakes.

“Many were related to its contract with Dynamic Life, a Keizer-based non-profit run by a former pastor, which started at $500,000, but quickly expanded to $12 million for support services for foster kids while they were in hotels.

“The contractor hired staff to look after vulnerable children but didn’t run background checks on them and didn’t give them proper training.  Public records revealed that staff mistreated children by improperly restraining them and withholding medication, among other things, and yet DHS paid Dynamic Life more than 100 times what it typically pays foster parents to care for children in short-term rentals, according to an investigation by Oregon Public Broadcasting last year.”

This is only the latest step in what could be called a crescendo of bad acts dating back more years than are worth counting.

The agency’s report, which was conducted by the DHS Office of Resilience and Emergency Management, detailed mistakes in hiring Dynamic Life.  It also included promises by DHS management to ensure better oversight of contracts in the future.

That response didn’t mollify the agency’s harshest critic in the Legislature, Senator Sara Gelser Blouin, chair of the Senate Interim Committee on Human Services.  She told the Capital Chronicle the report was superficial and doesn’t reflect the seriousness of the problems suffered by children, and the agency’s failure to ensure they were protected.

Her quote:

“Although the report concludes with an acknowledgement of ‘the extreme stress and harm’ to DHS staff, not once does the agency accept accountability for or even acknowledge the severe harm imposed on children. 

“This includes dozens and dozens of inappropriate physical restraints, consistent and severe medication errors, violation of child rights and reported shaming over sexual orientation and gender identity.  These harms were a direct result of DHS’ failure to regulate and monitor these unlicensed organizations despite paying them millions of taxpayer dollars and entrusting them with the lives and bodies of some of the most victimized and traumatized kids in Oregon.”

In this year’s legislative session, Gelser Blouin tried to pass a bill that would have mandated that contractors supervising foster kids in temporary lodging be licensed.  But DHS objected to that requirement, saying it wouldn’t be able to find a provider to care for kids in hotels.  So that provision was removed from Senate Bill 1521 before it passed.

Not good.

Overall, thousands of Oregon children remain in the state’s foster care system.  They deserve better than they are getting from the State of Oregon.