Oregon Public Broadcasting

Kids in Oregon are twice as likely as children nationwide to be placed in foster care. And child advocates say that's a problem.

Mainly because national statistics on the success of foster kids aren't good -- a quarter have been homeless at least once by age 23, and almost half have been on food stamps by the same age.

Kristian Foden-Vencil / OPB

Marquez shows scars from abuse suffered while in foster care.

In fact, the feds are pushing states to reduce their reliance on foster care.

In Oregon, several new programs have been set up to keep children in stable family homes.  

Nico Marquez was taken away from his mother when he was three. She worked as a prostitute, he says, and had drug problems.

He says that over the last 15 years, he's lived with 15 different families and says some were abusive.

"I always found, what I called 'the crazies.'  So, I started developing aggression to anyone who tried to get close to me. Now I'm very soft spoken and a laid-back guy. But mainly it was I didn't like people getting close to me because I just got hurt all the time. So a lot of it stemmed from that," Marquez said.

The Department of Human Services confirms Marquez was in the system and had moved multiple times. But for privacy reasons, the agency says it can't confirm any allegations of abuse. Marquez says he experienced both verbal and emotional abuse.

Marquez: "And as well as that, I've gone through multiple sexually abusive homes as well as physically abusive homes. My arms display a lot of scars."

Kristian: "You've got cut marks all over."

Nico Marquez: "Right."

Kristian: "Was that to control your behavior or something."

Nico Marquez: "Partly that. But also one of my foster parents had a penchent toward alcholoism, so ..."

Marquez is out of that home now and recently secured a Ford Family scholarship to attend university. So he's doing okay.

But while the fact that he was placed in so many homes may be disturbing, it's not unusual. Many children bounce from one foster care situation to the next. And there are several reasons: some have health issues that are difficult to deal with; others have trouble finding a home that's a good fit.

Lois Day oversees Oregon's child safety, for kids who are under state care, and says that while there are many good foster homes, it's not good that kids in Oregon are twice as likely to be placed in care.

"We do have a high placement rate when compared with other states nationally. And we have a very focused and concerted effort to reduce that placement rate safely and equitably attempting to keep children at home, or returning them sooner from foster care, so their length of stay is not as long," Day said.

Day says Oregon is in the third year of a five year plan to reduce the number of kids in foster care. To that end, the state is encouraging permanent adoptions, as a way to provide stable homes. To do that, it's using several different programs.

For example, leveraging the experience of older people.

This spring, there was an opening celebration at Bridge Meadows in Portland. It’s a new housing complex where families pay less rent if they agree to adopt three children. And older people, like Linda Komanecky, also move in nearby. They also get a reduction in rent if they agree to volunteer at least 10 hours a week helping adoptive families.

"I just go with the flow and when the children are ready and they'll come to me. Like they did yesterday and all of a sudden there were like eight kids in front of my house. And some are very shy because they're very wounded. And I just let them be and do what they need to do," she said.

The hope is adoptive families will be more successful with the help of neighbors like Komenecky.

Across town in West Linn, another non-profit 'Oregon Intercept' helps adoptive families by providing caseworkers. They turn up at the door three, four, five times a week if necessary.

Chasey Wallace is visiting the Anderson family in Oregon City. Marci Anderson adopted an 8-year-old girl a couple of years ago. But Anderson says the child was physically and sexually abused and has serious behavioral problems.

"She told us that if she died, that would be better because she wouldn't have pain anymore in her heart and she'd be in heaven," Anderson said.

The eight-year-old throws tantrums and hardly sleeps. When she ended up in a psychiatric ward recently, Wallace was assigned to help. One of the first things she suggested was putting alarms on the bedroom doors -- so the family would know when the girl gets up at night. Mom, Marci Anderson says she's learned a lot from Wallace.

"So if she is doing something we don't want her to do. Maybe she's jumping on the couch and we're saying it's time for dinner and she won't stop. We use, 'This is prompt number one.' That means that you need to stop that behavior and turn it around. So when you get to prompt number three, if she hasn't stopped and she's escalating into yelling and screaming. Then we can say, ‘You can take time in your room or if you can't get up there and stop the behavior. Then we'll help you go to your room,'" she said.

Oregon Intercept follows up with these families after caseworkers move on. Their researchers keep tab on what happens to the children.

Oregon Intercept says that 87 percent of kids are still living at home, two years after families finish the program.

Caseworker, Chasey Wallace, says that means adoptive kids are more likely to grow up in a stable family home and avoid the problems associated with multiple foster care stays. I ask her whether she isn't a little like 'SuperNanny' from the TV show.

"We do see those exact kind of extreme behaviors and we do like Supernanny does and walk through them with the family and be their cheerleader right there. We may not use all of the same techniques that she uses. I don't know where her techniques comes from, ours are evidence based practices that we use. But it is a fair comparison," Wallace explained.

And in an effort to reduce the number of kids who are taken out of biological family home, the Legislature gave the state permission this year to try a more nuanced response when less serious problems come to light. So, for example, if there’s a report of a dirty home, or poor supervision of children, the state will work with families to correct the problems. Lois Day, of the Department of Human Services, says in these instances, instead of doing an in depth investigation and naming a perpetrator, they're going to try to handle the situation more delicately.

"Really you're going in looking to see what happened, acknowledging what happened and asking the family what they need to ensure that it doesn't happen again. What supports do they need to change the dynamics that are going on in the family?" she said.

Twenty-two other states have adopted a similar approach.

The state says last year, 62 percent of kids in care had two or fewer moves. That compares to 50 percent, five years ago.

The Department of Human Services hopes to continue reducing that percentage.

Meanwhile it should be said that Oregon does have many loving and nurturing foster families. Remember Nico Marquez, the 18-year-old we met earlier? Despite his experience, he says, there is a real need for the system.

"I definitely promote foster care because of the reason that, just because somebody has a natural family doesn't always mean that that natural family can provide the best support system for whoever is in need of it," Marquez said.

Once the state's five year program finishes in 2013, state officials hope to increase the number of children placed with relatives by 50 percent.