Oregon Public Broadcasting

Child welfare managers from Oregon and Washington signed an agreement Monday. It aims to streamline the placement across state lines of children in state custody. 

Washington Department of Social and Health Services spokesman Thomas Shapley says prior to this agreement, an inter-state transfer could take 30 to 90 days to process. 

Now for example, a child taken from a home in Vancouver, Washington because of abuse or neglect could be placed with a grandmother in Portland in as few as seven days. 

Thomas Shapley: "The sooner we can get a child placed in a safe home, the better. It just doesnít seem practical or fair to let something as artificial as a border interfere with getting a child into a home where she is safe, comfortable and knows the people."

The border agreement between Oregon and Washington will be limited initially to 75 children from each side for the first year. 

The expedited placements also apply initially only to five Portland metro counties: Clark and Cowlitz in Washington and Multnomah, Clackamas and Washington counties in Oregon.