States that have overhauled their foster care systems in the wake of class-action lawsuits may offer lessons The story of three boys trapped in a torturous family circle of abuse, starvation and neglect was the impetus for immediate change in New Jersey’s ...
21 Feb 2020 - Libby Dowsett
Settlement talks have broken down Ten months after the filing of a class-action lawsuit on behalf of Oregon’s foster children, settlement talks have broken down and the case is headed for trial. National watchdog group A Better Childhood has filed a cross ...
21 Feb 2020 - Libby Dowsett
Jillana Goble set out to write about her family’s experiences with foster care and adoption. What resulted was a guidebook. “Signing up for foster care is an invitation to raise your hand and invite heartbreak and suffering into your life.” Hardly the sen ...
1 Nov 2019 - Libby Dowsett
A boost in funding is sought to hire more caseworkers and stabilize existing foster families Marissa Johnson’s former foster child had no place to go. When the youth’s behavior became potentially dangerous to herself and her foster family, the Oregon Depa ...
3 May 2019 - Libby Dowsett
Advocates for foster kids explain the widespread problems in Oregon’s system A federal class-action lawsuit detailing harrowing experiences of 10 children in Oregon’s foster care system comes as no shock to former foster youth Elizabeth Graves. “It should ...
26 Apr 2019 - Libby Dowsett
The plaintiffs detail abuse, neglect, trauma and the state's failure to protect them The lead plaintiffs in a lawsuit filed by Disability Rights Oregon and A Better Childhood against the Oregon foster care system are 10 youths currently in foster car ...
19 Apr 2019 - Libby Dowsett
Expansion proposed of Child Welfare’s Independent Living Program and other transition services Whitney Rodgers has spent nearly half her life moving from placement to placement in the foster care system, but it wasn’t until she turned 17 that she began to ...
8 Mar 2019 - Libby Dowsett
Legislation would establish an ombudsman to work with foster parents Many families believe the first step toward solving Oregon’s foster home shortage is giving current foster parents a spot at the decision-making table. “We weren’t treated like part of t ...
8 Mar 2019 - Libby Dowsett
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