The state of Oregon is celebrating some good news today: Economists reported this morning that state revenues are expected to increase by $270 million—higher than previously expected. As lawmakers sit down now to hammer out a final budget for the state with this figure, higher revenues will be especially important to plug holes in human services funding.
Childhood should be a time of tender moments, wide smiles, and big discoveries—a time for children to grow up nurtured by their families and safe in their homes. But for the 13,000 Oregon children who are removed from their homes each year, childhood can be a time of trauma, sadness, and isolation. The impact of this experience can follow them throughout their lives.
May is National Foster Care Month, a time for us to reflect on the urgent needs of foster children across the country.
Did you know that children who experience foster care suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder at a higher rate than Iraq war combat veterans? What’s more, they are more likely to struggle with homelessness, poverty, and substance abuse as they transition from state care to adulthood.
You may download the 2012 County Data Book: The Status of Oregon’s Children here!
“Supporting Working Parents is Good for Business”
Wednesday, April 17, 2013
Debbie Kitchin, Oregon Business
I spent much of the last 30 years experiencing life as a parent, an employee, and a regional economist. Today, I can add one more perspective to the list: business owner. In 1994, my husband founded InterWorks, LLC, a construction services company that performs as a general contractor and construction manager in commercial and residential remodeling and renovation. I left my job and joined two years later.
Through all these facets of my life and career, a few things have remained constant. One is that workers — whether it was me back in the early 90s or my own employees now — are more productive and happier when they have safe, reliable arrangements for their children while they work. This is especially true in the construction and manufacturing industries, where worker safety and optimal performance require employees to be focused and not distracted by personal stressors.
And yet, too many Oregon workers face significant barriers to this one common, basic necessity.
“After hunt for summer child care, I need a vacation”
Saturday, April 6, 2013
Susan Nielsen, The Oregonian
Ideally, my school-age kid won’t need child care this summer vacation. She will spend her 11-week break from Oregon schools with me, on our private island, after we win Powerball.
But this plan has some holes, so I’m joining the mad scramble of parents who start, right after spring break, trying to piece together a plan for surviving the summer. There are a lot of us, since more than 80 percent of Oregon parents with children under 18 hold jobs, and we can tell you this:
The current system of finding good summer care for school-age children is a costly, stressful free-for-all, especially for lower-income families. Though the modern economy requires most parents to work, the school calendar remains lodged in the last century.
“Parents do keep working during the summer,” says Nancy Hauth, who oversees after-school care, summer care and other programs for Portland Public Schools. “It’s frustrating that we haven’t figured this out.”
Oregon parents with school-age children are no strangers to the travails of finding good child care. Oregon ranks third-worst in the nation for affordable infant care and fourth-worst for affordable preschool. (Both types of care cost more than Oregon college tuition.) In rural and urban areas alike, an inadequate supply of quality care drives up the price.
The struggle doesn’t end once kids hit kindergarten. Cobbling together good care during the school-age years, when the last bell rings by midafternoon and schools are in session for 180 days at most, can make the baby and toddler years seem easy in hindsight.
“It’s even a problem for upper-middle-class families,” says Richard Myers, policy manager for Children First for Oregon, a nonprofit advocacy group. For parents with less money and more unpredictable work schedules, he adds, the challenge of finding consistent, affordable care can be insurmountable.
Child Abuse Prevention Month
By Cara Baldari
March 29, 2013
April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month and provides an important reminder we need to make prevention a priority when it comes to child abuse and neglect. Research suggests that for every dollar spent on early childhood prevention programs we save between $4 and $7. Investing in prevention translates to fewer dollars spent on foster care, welfare, juvenile justice and a host of other programs further down the road.
When it comes to child abuse, we’re clearly talking about more than just dollars and cents. Abuse has detrimental and lasting consequences for a developing child. Effective prevention programs that foster child well-being and promote the security and stability of families hold promise – improving parent-child relationships, reducing likelihood for abuse, promoting child well-being, and lessening the current financial strain on our child welfare system.
March 27, 2013
Chris Thomas, Public News Service
SALEM, Ore. - Someone else is “minding the children” for a while this morning so parents and child-care providers can visit their legislators in Salem.
They’re asking for more state funding for the Employment-Related Day Care program that pays a portion of child-care costs for working, low-income parents. The program has been trimmed in recent years and could be serving 3,000 more families than it does now.
Founded in 1991, Children First is Oregon’s most respected non-profit, non-partisan child advocacy organization committed to improving the lives of Oregon’s vulnerable children and families.
Check out the Oregon Foster Youth Connection, a program of Children First for Oregon.
See all of our supporters.
Children First for Oregon | P.O. Box 14914, Portland, OR 97293 | ph (503) 236-9754 | fax (503) 236-3048
