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Director's Message
June 11, 2004
To: DHS Employees
From: Gary Weeks, Director
1. Connecting with schools
In last week's message, I introduced you to Five Key Objectives for DHS:
- Integration
- Community focus
- Results
- Accountability
- Investment in our workforce
In coming messages, I'll be sharing examples of work that can help us meet these objectives. I'd like to start with an initiative that touches on the first three: We will be partnering with some East Multnomah County school districts to help kids in our care do better in and out of school.
Common interests: There are children who struggle in school every day, falling behind academically, causing disruptions in class, and taking large amounts of teachers' time and energy.
Many of these children are on our caseloads. Helping their families address issues such as unemployment, domestic violence or drug abuse will increase these kids' chances of succeeding in school.
To explore these connections further, our staff will be getting together with representatives from three school districts that have expressed interest in working with us: Reynolds, Gresham-Barlow and Centennial. We will build neighborhood-based foster care, which can reduce the need for foster kids to move so frequently from school to school, a cause of academic problems. We will also look for other ways that our caseworkers can collaborate with teachers, counselors or other educators.
Strengthening the links: As you know, advocates from the human services, education, public safety and employment systems often find themselves competing for scarce state dollars. This is unfortunate. The truth is that these systems are connected, that they serve many of the same people, and that none can succeed if the others aren't viable.
This has long been a subject of interest at the Portland Leaders Roundtable, a group of top local government, education and business leaders. State school Superintendent Susan Castillo and I also serve on the group.
At a recent Roundtable meeting, I had a chance to speak about the potential for closer connections between human services and education. I'm pleased that representatives from the three East County districts have agreed to build strategies with us to help our clients achieve better outcomes.
We will work with the other school districts in Multnomah County in the future, and I hope we can eventually strengthen our ties with education across the state.
In closing: I know that we already have close working relationships with local schools in some parts of Oregon. I appreciate those efforts and encourage continued progress.
This is exactly the kind of work that fits with our key objectives. Teaming with our school partners represents an integration of separate parts of a larger whole. It builds our connections with communities. And it seeks to produce tangible improvements in results for the people we serve.
2. Foster parenting story in The Oregonian
This past Tuesday, The Oregonian ran an opinion piece written by Angela Dobbins, who has been in our foster care system for five years. Now 18 and moving on to college, Angela tells of her experience living with her foster mother, Carol, and how it changed the direction of her life.
Angela describes herself as someone who, only a few years ago, was skipping school, doing drugs and wasting her life. For someone to have taken the helping hand offered her and turned her life around in the manner she did, is a tribute not only to Angela, but to her foster mom as well.
I share this article with you because it demonstrates the difference one individual can make in the life of another. It is clear evidence of the value of foster parenting — and of the debt of gratitude we owe to all foster parents throughout the state.
I've included the text of the piece at the end of today's message.
3. Food for thought
"Never believe that a few caring people can't change the world. For, indeed, that's all who ever have."
— Margaret Mead
4. Staff news
View the current issue of DHS Staff news on the Web.
Text of the foster parenting story in The Oregonian
A way to give teens stability, safety and second chances
Tuesday, June 8, 2004
Angela Dobbins
IN MY OPINION
No one chooses to be a foster child.
By the time we come into the system, our bodies may be battered, our minds tormented and our spirits crushed. Some might say we are damaged goods.
I have been in foster care for five years, since I was 13. I have experienced good times and bad times, but mostly good. The good times have been with a woman named Carol, whom I now call Mom. She has been fostering teenagers for more than 20 years.
She says being a foster parent rewards and enriches her life, but I will never be able to give to her what she gave me: a second chance.
I had been going down a different path, a destructive path. I was skipping school, doing drugs and wasting my life.
When I met Carol, I was skeptical at first. Why should this woman or these kids be any better or different from where I had been living?
Everything was different and better. I went to school and there was someone to make sure I did — and cared that I did — my homework. There were regular meals and plenty to eat. We were treated kindly and respectfully. My life had a purpose. Carol showed me a new path but never forced me onto it.
Oregon needs more foster homes for children of all ages, including teenagers. There is no cost to become a foster parent, and each month you will receive a reimbursement to help with the cost of caring for a child in your home. Our medical and dental costs are covered under the state's insurance program.
To become a foster parent, you don't have to be a parenting expert or even have kids of your own. The essentials are really patience, flexibility and a sense of humor. Don't be afraid to enforce rules and set boundaries. We test them because we're kids, but structure and consistent expectations make us feel safe and secure.
There are some really helpful things you should know about fostering teens:
There are no bottles, formula or diapers to change. And we sleep through the night.
We will be ready to move out sooner (but we can still visit and have a place to call home).
We will keep you up to date with the latest fashions and will teach you how to run your computer.
We can drive you places and we can help around the house.
We can learn from you.
Legally, I am an adult now. Because someone chose to be a foster parent, I experienced a safe, stable family life. I have graduated from high school and I will be getting a job and going to college. I will be contributing to society, not taking from it.
I did not choose to be a foster child, but you can choose to be a foster parent and give a person like me a second chance.
Angela Dobbins of Portland is a 2003 graduate of Partners in Vocational Opportunities Training, a U.S. Job Corps training program housed in Monroe. For information about becoming a foster parent, call 800-331-0503 or visit the DHS foster care Web site.
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This message is intended for all Department employees. Please read it electronically, if possible. Managers and supervisors are asked to share the message each week with employees who do not have email access.
If you have a disability and need a document on this Web site to be provided to you in another format, please send an email to dhs.forms@state.or.us or call (503) 945-7021, fax (503) 373-7690 or TTY (503) 947-5080. If you know of others who need this accommodation, please let them know it is available.
Oregon Department of Human Services
Director's Office
500 Summer St. NE E15, Salem, OR 97301-1097
Phone: (503) 945-5944
Fax: (503) 378-2897
TTY: (503) 947-6214
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