How Oregon Plans to Improve Its Foster Care System After Lengthy Class Action Lawsuit Settlement

Oregon’s Department of Human Services has promised a slew of improvements to the state’s foster care system over the next decade, including reducing the rate of child maltreatment in foster care and improving the quality of foster care placements. The promises follow an out-of-court settlement reached in May after five years of legal wrangling in a class-action lawsuit.

The first part of the agreement involved a so-called “neutral” expert to oversee the implementation of these reforms. The judge selected Kevin Ryan, who had been the plaintiff’s choice, as the neutral.

Think Out Loud spoke with Fariborz Pakseresht, director of the Oregon Department of Human Services, and Aprille Flint-Gerner, director of human services at DHS.

The following excerpts have been edited for clarity and conciseness:

What they think about Kevin Ryan being chosen as a neutral expert

Pakseresht: We feel great. We are excited that Kevin will be coming to Oregon and working with us to continue our reform efforts.

Flint-Gerner: He also oversaw New Jersey’s child welfare system and has served as an expert on similar child welfare cases in other states. He is also an in-depth expert on national best practices.

Why the $18 million spent fighting a class action lawsuit over the past five years was money well spent

Pakseresht: We had two primary goals in mind before we could actually sign the settlement. One was to make sure that we could continue to make improvements—that started before the lawsuit was filed—and improve outcomes for children and families in collaboration with other partners in the system. And two, to be really fiscally responsible about the money that we spent defending this lawsuit.

From 2019 to 2024—the same five years we negotiated to get a proper settlement—the state of Texas spent $58 million to pay the monitor as a result of his involvement in a similar case. That’s about $12 million per year. Our settlement agreement calls for us to pay $250,000 per year.

And at the same time, today’s lawsuit, when you look at the initial filing and what was contained in it, is completely different than what we ended up with. Because over the last five years, the court has issued a series of different rulings that have significantly narrowed the scope of this agreement.

What improvements are already underway?

Pakseresht: Our goal is to reduce the number of children entering foster care and to ensure that children and families have a shared future.

Flint-Gerner: Over the last five years, we have worked with our community, our system partners, and the Legislature to make important investments in children and families, including the launch of our statewide Family Preservation Program, our statewide Continuous Quality Improvement Program, and more. And just a few facts to throw out there: If our goal is to truly safely reduce the number of children in foster care, and we do, we definitely want communities to keep their children safe, but they don’t necessarily have to do that when their children are separated from them. Well, Oregon has seen a steady decline in the number of children in foster care, from almost 8,000 in 2018 to just over 4,500 in 2023. …

We have increased the number of people placed with people we call relatives: grandmothers, aunts and uncles, by 74%.

So we’re talking about building safety in communities, not just focusing on separation to keep kids safe. Of course, we’ll still have a foster care system, but we’d rather serve kids in communities where they’re known, where they’re loved, where we can build lasting safety, rather than traumatizing kids who end up in foster care.

About the areas that need the most urgent improvement

Flint-Gerner: We talk about where we are nationally recognized for our preventive and maintenance work and how we are trying to kind of shrink the front doors of the child welfare system. But what happens if there are families who have basic mental health needs or substance abuse treatment or housing needs? And those things can be addressed to keep their children safe. And as our doors get shorter and smaller and fewer families come in, the families who If Their needs are truly complex.

We’re talking about the intersection of poverty and chronic neglect and lack of resources in communities that is much more difficult to navigate. And to answer your question, I think really getting to high-quality practice with these families takes intention; it takes focus. We have to make sure that we’re serving the right families at the right time and doing it really, really well. So I really want to continue to see transformation in our safety practice. Our foundational practice of building safety for kids in foster care is really important.

What is the plan to ensure the safety of children in foster care?

Flint-Gerner: We started a continuous quality improvement program a few years ago and we’re already seeing improvements in child safety. And it’s really my goal to continue to do continuous quality improvement. Here’s an example: We have a division in the Portland metropolitan area that has focused on accurate and adequate ongoing safety plans in 2023. As part of our continuous quality improvement, we saw that over a nine-month period, the percentage of accurate and adequate ongoing safety plans doubled.

We are seeing these kinds of benefits across the state with the implementation of this new continuous quality improvement program, which is the result of an investment by the Legislature.

To increase the quality of available foster care homes, places and services as agreed in the settlement

Pakseresht: Especially since COVID, we’re seeing fewer people going out there. I think we need to do a better job of organizing to reach people, and we also need to do a better job of supporting foster parents, foster parents. Maybe we need to look at how much we’re paying them. Is the payment enough to care for the children in foster care?

And also, there are always areas for improvement. Can we connect with them better? Can we support them better? Can communication be improved? And we also have to look at the entire country because this is not limited to Oregon. Again, talking to our colleagues in other states, they face the exact same problem, it’s hard to recruit and retain qualified parent resources. But I would say we can always do better, and it’s not even really directly related to the settlement.

Flint-Gerner: That’s a great question because there are so many Oregonians who are fantastic foster parents and have loving homes. They are great partners and care for the children, but the more complex the needs of the child, the more support these people will need to care for them.

People ask me about placement options. And it’s not about the number of beds, right? It’s about do I feel confident that I can take care of the child that’s in front of me? We’ve invested a lot in our foster families recently. We have this amazing support group that foster parents can participate in. And we’ve increased their access to training. And as Fariborz (Pakseresht) mentioned, we’ve increased their rates.

You can listen to the entire conversation with Fariborz Pakseresht, director of the Oregon Department of Human Services, and Aprille Flint-Gerner, director of human services at DHS, at “Think out loud“by pressing the play arrow above.