An advocacy group of foster youths sets its sights for the 2019 legislative session on issues such as preventing houselessness Foster care youths past and present are drawing on their own traumatic experiences to help create policies to improve the system ...
14 Sep 2018 - Libby Dowsett
The state is not only willing, but eager to work with LGBTQ couples as foster parents Growing up LGBTQ can be tough. For kids growing up Oregon’s foster care system, it can be even tougher. From the time Rickey Bedolla was about 3 years old, he spent mos ...
16 Jun 2017 - Emily Green
The midfielder is a phenomenal athlete – with a bent for human rights, fine literature and rock ’n’ roll El Maestro. El Rey. St. Valeri. Since arriving in Portland in 2013, Timbers midfielder Diego Valeri has accumulated an array of adoring nicknames. Wi ...
8 Jun 2017 - Jules Boykoff
Gov. Kate Brown signs the legislation that foster youths brought before lawmakers On May 17, Gov. Kate Brown signed the Oregon Foster Children’s Sibling Bill of Rights into law. Oregon Foster Youth Connection, a youth-led advocacy group composed of curre ...
18 May 2017 - Emily Green
According to state law, Oregon should be providing every foster child with an advocate as they’re ferried through the system, but most kids go it alone Oregon has no shortage of unfunded mandates, but there is one on the books that, if fully funded, could ...
30 Mar 2017 - Emily Green
Foster youths have created a bill that would make sibling contact a legally binding right It’s been two years since DeAnna Baker has seen or heard from her two little brothers. Baker, 16, and her younger siblings have been in and out of Oregon’s foster ca ...
2 Feb 2017 - Emily Green
The first Native American to represent Portland in the state Legislature brings an eye on affordable housing, the Superfund clean-up and our problematic foster care system Portland has often been described as a “white city.” Just this summer, a lengthy ar ...
8 Sep 2016 - Stephen Quirke
Conversations about Oregon’s shortage are moving forward, but progress is slow It’s been six months since an Oregon Judicial Department task force quietly released a report outlining troubling shortfalls in the state’s placement and treatment of children ...
14 Jul 2016 - Emily Green
Oregon Foster Youth Connection empowers youths to help develop policies and programs that improve the lives of foster kids Oregon Foster Youth Connection is a statewide, youth-led advocacy group of current and former foster youths ages 14 to 25. OFYC trai ...
7 Jul 2016 - Street Roots
Advocates are hoping a bill in Salem will change DHS policies to give foster parents an equal voice in the future of foster children Caleb was only an infant when he was sent to live with Emily and Greg Sisk in 2009. He had seven broken bones and shaken b ...
29 May 2015 - Emily Green