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Dear Child Welfare Community Partners,
In a recent message, Director Fariborz Pakseresht shared highlights from the 2023 Legislative Session including new investments in programs that serve Oregonians. You can read his message below.
I want to share additional information with you about actions taken in session related to Child Welfare programs, including investments in two key areas that are vital for our work.
The first is a behavior rehabilitation services (BRS) $9.7 million investment, increasing provider rates. The second is a $16.8 million allocation to raise the monthly reimbursement rate for resource families who provide foster care for children and young people by an average of $241 per month. This is the first increase in several years, representing a jump from 48 percent to 64 percent of the Cost of Raising a Child. BRS rate increases start on July 1, 2023, and the increase to resource parent rates begins January 1, 2024.
Legislation supporting the young people we serve was also passed, improving process and policy in several areas. The following is a list of those bills:
Youth Rights
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Senate Bill 202 grants young adults ages 18 to 21 participating in the Independent Living Program (ILP) rights that were previously limited due to their status as wards of the court. This legislative fix will allow young adults formerly in foster care to sign for their own driver’s license, get married, travel out of state or join the armed forces without state authorization.
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Senate Bill 556 prohibits ODHS from using money received on behalf of a child in foster care for maintenance costs, unless it otherwise must be retained under federal or state requirements, court order or for other legal reasons.
Youth Privacy
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Senate Bill 209 allows ODHS to keep sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression (SOGIE) information for children in ODHS’ custody confidential and not subject to ODHS’ discovery obligations in a juvenile dependency or termination of parental rights (TPR) proceeding. This information was previously discoverable in court without youth consent.
Child Abuse Reporting
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Senate Bill 231 allows ODHS to develop a centralized child abuse reporting system that includes a telephone hotline and online reporting. This bill updates the 2019 Senate Bill 804, which did not allow for an online reporting option. Previously, reporting by telephone was the only option in statute that satisfied a mandatory reporter's obligation.
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Senate Bill 93 modifies the definition of "abuse" for purposes of child abuse reporting and investigation. This primarily seeks to align the processes for investigations of children in care. The bill also modifies the definition of mental injury, modifies restraint and seclusion definitions, adds parties to the mandatory reporter definitions, and allows disclosures to certain nonprofits involved in the recovery of missing children.
Adoption
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Senate Bill 865 makes multiple changes in the substitute care ORS, including requiring ODHS to provide written notification to the parent about the existing current caretaker statute when a child comes into care. It also requires the department to reconsider any relative or current caretaker taken to adoption selection, but not selected, as an adoptive resource if an adoption is disrupted.
Education
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Senate Bill 449 expands the tuition waiver eligibility for children formerly in foster care to those who were in foster care for a total of six months and were adopted after January 1, 2012, creating the new definition, “adopted former foster child.”
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Senate Bill 819 modifies abbreviated school day program requirements that have historically been used to keep youth who are being disruptive and youth with disabilities from participating in the classroom.
Developmental Disability Foster Homes
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House Bill 3256, sponsored by the ODHS Office of Developmental Disabilities Services, allows young adults receiving developmental disability services in developmental disability child foster homes to remain in homes until 26 years of age, providing continuity and stability.
There will be more information to share in coming months as rulemaking and policy work on these bills gets underway. It is energizing to look forward to the new investments and positive changes to our system stemming from the 2023 Legislative Session.
I look forward to working with you as we implement these changes and appreciate your partnership as we continue to make progress towards achieving the Child Welfare Vision for Transformation.
Best regards,
Aprille Flint-Gerner (She/her)
Interim Director, Child Welfare Division
Oregon Department of Human Services
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 June 28, 2023
To: All Child Welfare Staff
From: Fariborz Pakseresht, ODHS Director’s Office
Subject: Oregon Legislature passes budget that helps ODHS advance priorities
The 82nd Oregon Legislative Assembly concluded its 2023 regular session June 25, passing a biennial budget that includes $5.7 billion in General Fund dollars and more than 11,000 positions for the Oregon Department of Human Services (ODHS).
It was a busy session that carried especially high stakes for the communities we serve, as billions of dollars in federal COVID-relief funding – along with the Medicaid continuous enrollment provision that helped people access crucial benefits during the pandemic – reached expiration. Across our programs, ODHS staff worked diligently to ensure lawmakers had the information they needed surrounding human services in this complex budget environment. I am deeply grateful for your efforts during these critical months, and for the excellent results you helped deliver for the people we serve.
In January, Governor Tina Kotek released her recommended budget for the 2023-25 biennium. The budget zeroed in on priorities including improving Oregon’s behavioral health systems, addressing the state’s housing and homelessness crises, and ensuring every family has access to affordable childcare. The budget also reflected the Governor’s commitment to putting customer service at the forefront of state agencies’ work. From technology investments to added staffing, it identified vital resources needed to help our state workforce deliver for people in Oregon.
Thanks to spending packages passed this session, ODHS will be able to advance the Governor’s priorities in several key areas. For example, a $30 million staffing investment in the state’s ONE eligibility system, combined with $16.2 million to fund ONE system maintenance, will help ensure that eligible families can continue to access health care, childcare and other critical benefits. Additional investments will enable supports for people experiencing houselessness or at risk of becoming unhoused, including a $19.9 million investment in our Youth Experiencing Homelessness Program and $20.9 million for humanitarian efforts serving individuals and families arriving by way of the nation’s southern border.
Other key investment packages will allow ODHS to make important strides in our agency-wide focus areas such as strengthening our foundations and creating the future of human services. Highlights of investments, in General Fund dollars, include $239.3 million toward rates for providers who deliver essential services to people with disabilities and older adults; $9.7 million to increase rates for behavior rehabilitation services (BRS) providers; and $16.8 million to raise by an average of $241 per month the monthly pay for resource families who provide children and young people with foster care.
You can learn more about the session’s investments and policy highlights in the ODHS End of Session Report, to be published next month. Watch for a link in Discover in the weeks ahead.
I want to thank the Oregon Legislature for demonstrating throughout the session its commitment to providing equitable and effective human services. I am indebted to our ODHS staff, working all around the state, who continue to translate the legislature’s investments into positive outcomes for people, families, Tribes and communities in Oregon.
Sincerely,
Fariborz
You can get this document in other languages, large print, braille or a format you prefer. Reply to this email, contact 503-945-5600 or check the Services Guide for Language Access: Office of Equity and Multicultural Services. We accept calls from all forms of relay service for people who are Deaf, deaf-blind, hard of hearing or have a speech disability. For more information about relay service providers visit Oregon Relay or Federal Communications Commission.
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