Governor Creates Advisory Board to Tackle Foster Care Crisis

SALEM, Ore. (AP) – Oregon Gov. Kate Brown has created an advisory committee tasked with drafting solutions to the state’s troubled foster care system.

The governor issued an executive order Thursday establishing the Child Welfare Oversight Board. The board, along with a new crisis management team, will advise the governor and help draft legislation on some of the most pressing challenges within the Department of Human Services, which oversees the foster care system.

The move comes as DHS faces a federal lawsuit over the alleged mismanagement of the 7,500 foster children in its care.

The lawsuit, filed earlier this week, claims foster children are often shuffled between homeless shelters and refurbished jail cells out of a lack of placement options. Children have also been increasingly sent out of state to for-profit institutions where advocates say they are exposed to further abuse and neglect.