Oregon
Oregon Department of Human Services’ internal review validates concerns about the care of vulnerable children
Nine months after it was revealed the state of Oregon was paying millions of dollars to an unlicensed, religious nonprofit to watch some of the state’s most vulnerable children, an internal review by the Oregon Department of Human Services validated concerns from those outside of the agency that there was a lack of oversight and children’s safety and well-being could not be assured.
The internal audit is noteworthy in how rudimentary the recommendations are. The report suggests ODHS officials run background checks on providers before they are placed in homes to watch over vulnerable children. The audit also states more fiscal oversight over such contracts is needed, highlighting one instance where a provider overcharged the state by more than $88,000.
In November, OPB first reported Oregon child welfare officials signed a contract with a Keizer-based nonprofit, Dynamic Life, paying them up to $2,916 per day, for every child or teenager placed in their care. It was a shocking amount, especially compared to the $795 per month the state pays a foster parent.
After OPB wrote about the state’s arrangement in November, the state canceled the contract with Dynamic Life and the arrangement was the subject of legislative hearings.
People who’ve been through foster care systems, like the Oregon Department of Human Services, are more likely to suffer from chronic health conditions later in life, according to a new study.
Bradley W. Parks / OPB
The recent audit, released at the end of June, found that the invoicing for the contracts was often muddled. In one instance, Dynamic Life overbilled the state by $19,236. In another, they overcharged by $88,200. The state paid millions of dollars to Dynamic Life in a short period of time. And they weren’t the only organization the state was partnering with to help kids at risk of being placed in hotels. Another one of the providers, LC Beach House, which has ties to Dynamic Life, overbilled by $4,032 and charged the state $45,000 for services that did not appear to be included in any contract, according to the internal audit.
Here is one of the audit’s big takeaways: “Without sufficient oversight of contracts there is no assurance providers can meet the needs of the children in care and ensure their safety,” it states. “In addition to potential harm to children, the agency may continue to suffer reputational harm if these conditions are not corrected. There are also legal and financial risks associated with the lack of oversight for the children in the care of contracted providers.”
Sen. Sara Gelser Blouin, D-Corvallis, who held legislative hearings on the matter, said the audit confirmed what many outside of the agency, including her, had been saying for months, but didn’t answer any of the big questions about accountability or how the misspent money would be recouped.
“So much missing money,” Gelser Blouin said in an interview on Thursday. “Where is the big outrage we had over designated bottles of Pappy van Winkle?” she added, citing the scandal at the Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission with hard-to-buy liquor.
“The lack of energy around this is incredibly concerning.”
Long-term care struggles
Oregon’s struggling child welfare system has been under the spotlight for years. The state recently settled a class-action lawsuit that aimed to improve its trouble-ridden foster care system days before a high-profile trial was set to begin. More recently, its senior services program has been garnering headlines.
After a woman wandered away from a long-term care facility and died of hypothermia, nobody from the ODHS licensing team immediately visited the facility. Finally, after 28 days, they went to inspect the now-shuttered Sandy facility in light of Ki Soon Hyun’s death. When they did, a litany of concerns prompted them to immediately close the facility. They moved 13 of the remaining residents to other facilities ill-equipped to care for them late on a dark, rainy night.
The woman’s death and the state’s poor treatment of the remaining vulnerable residents highlighted systemic failures in how the state cares for vulnerable adults. The governor’s office has called for an independent audit into what led to her death.
But the governor is trusting that the state’s Department of Human Services will both identify a third-party entity to do the work and pay for it, essentially making them the auditor’s client.
State Rep. David Gomberg, D-Otis, who sits on the governor’s commission on senior services, said he’s in favor of an independent audit, but has several questions.
“Who is doing the audit? What’s the oversight? How are we assured it’s going to be independent? I can’t answer those but I can ask the questions,” he said.
Those are particularly important questions given ODHS leadership has historically pushed back when confronted with problems. After the state ombudsman released a report highlighting that the state missed numerous red flags leading to Hyun’s death, ODHS head Fariborz Pakseresht returned a three-page leader noting they didn’t “agree with many of the report’s statements or its representation of the agency’s options.” And after reports of Dynamic Life became public, the head of the state’s Child Welfare program, Aprille Flint-Gerner, told lawmakers the story was factually incorrect, according to multiple sources. When OPB reached out to the state to see if anything needed to be corrected, a Human Services spokesman answered no.
In an email, the governor’s spokeswoman said she trusts that the agency can identify an appropriate entity to offer an independent review. Gov. Tina Kotek said the agency should be “continuously identifying ways to improve the services they provide” and that she has confidence in the agency’s leadership.
Oregon
Several blazes, including a 'megafire,' growing in Oregon amid dry fuel and high temperatures
A slight respite from hot, dry weather Monday slowed the hunger for acreage among Oregon’s eight major wildfires, but an ominous forecast loomed as the state welcomed outside help.
Oregon’s largest blaze, the Cow Valley Fire along the state’s desolate eastern flank, stood at 132,528 acres Monday, with 5% containment reported late Monday along its 163-mile perimeter, according to the U.S. Forest Service, other federal agencies and state fire officials.
When it surpassed 100,000 acres sometime late Friday or early Saturday, the blaze became what the U.S. Interagency Fire Center deems a “megafire.”
Early Monday, the winds that sustained roaring flames and their consumption of dry, 3-foot-tall brush died down, slowing the fire’s expansion and giving firefighters hope of victory, the agencies said in a daily update.
Citing critical fire danger, Gov. Tina Kotek on Monday declared an extended state of emergency in Oregon. On Friday, she had invoked the state’s Emergency Conflagration Act to bring more resources to the Cow Valley Fire, which started the previous day.
“Wildfires are active across Oregon and are growing at a concerning pace,” Kotek said in a statement Monday. “Hot and windy conditions this weekend, including forecasted lightning in some areas, are threatening even larger wildfires.”
Just south of the megafire is the 2,275-acre Bonita Fire, reported Monday to be 40% contained, federal agencies said. Both blazes were under the management of the Cow Valley Fire federal task force.
Both were characterized as human-caused, although an exact mechanism and who was behind those origins appeared to be unknown, with state and federal authorities investigating.
Kotek’s actions were bolstered by two Oregon State Fire Marshal task forces assigned to the Cow Valley Fire and help from two Washington state task forces, the fire marshal’s office said in a statement Monday.
The weather was enough of a help Monday — a high pressure dome that had been baking the West since early this month shifted to the east and deflated temperatures by 4 to 10 degrees in parts of Oregon — that the task forces were being moved to other fires, the office said.
In addition, evacuation readiness levels near the Cow Valley Fire were downgraded Monday in some cases, although the Westfall area was under “get ready” status, which urges residents to be packed, charged and fueled up as flames near, according to the Malheur County Sheriff’s Office.
Resources from Alaska, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas, as well as from the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbia, Saskatchewan and the Yukon and Northwest Territories, were also being assigned to the state’s major fires, the fire marshal’s office said.
The state’s second-largest fire is the Falls Fire in Malheur National Forest, about 5 miles southwest of Butte Falls, according to National Interagency Fire Center information.
The blaze was measured Monday at 64,225 acres, with no containment, federal agencies said in a daily update. Unwelcome winds as strong as 20 mph were expected Monday night, the update said.
Parts of Grand and Harney counties were under mandatory evacuation orders, and authorities closed down U.S. Highway 395 near the community of Riley on Monday evening as the fire raged nearby.
Oregon’s eight fires had consumed about 250,000 acres by Monday, the National Interagency Fire Center said. Four people have been injured and four structures have been destroyed in the Cow Valley Fire and the Falls Fire, the state said on its fire information dashboard.
The National Weather Service office in Portland said hotter temperatures would return this week and continue to climb into the weekend, with a 10% to 20% chance of lightning starting Tuesday. Inland areas of the state could get high temperatures of 95 degrees by the weekend, the weather service said.
A red flag warning calling for dry conditions and possible lightning strikes was in effect Monday night for an area east of the coastline in the extreme northern reaches of California to Medford, Oregon.
The National Interagency Fire Center urged summer travelers to be cautious and careful.
“We cannot stop the hot weather and lightning storms, but we can do our part to be fire wise when we are recreating, traveling, or staying home,” it said in a daily report Monday. “Take the time to find out the weather conditions and fire danger where you live and plan to vacation.”
EA Sports College Football 25 is officially here.
The long wait is over for gamers who have been itchy for the last decade without a new college football video game. While the official release is Friday, those who ponied up some extra money for the deluxe edition or who had EA Play got to jump in early on Monday afternoon.
The Oregon Ducks Football team is one of the best in the game. The overall rating is 93 while it is 94 for the offense and 90 for the defense. As such, many of the top players are sporting the green and yellow.
As noted during Rankings Week when EA released the top 100 players in the game, Oregon is home to five from that list. We can now see what the full roster looks like in the game.
Here is the top 10.
With these ratings, we also can see how EA auto-fills the depth chart. This is what the 2024 Ducks look like on offense, defense, and special teams.
Offense
Defense
Special Teams
And we can’t forget how Autzen Stadium looks on game day. Check out the video below for the team’s introduction.
Did you think we wouldn’t show the uniforms available on Day 1? Think again. Check them out.
If you haven’t picked up EA Sports College Football 25 yet, you can still jump in for $69.99 for the standard version of $99.99 for the deluxe edition. You’ll get a chance to take Oregon to a national title or two before the Ducks make their own run this fall.
Stay up to date on all things Oregon Ducks by visiting Oregon Ducks on SI daily and following Oregon Ducks on SI on Facebook and X.
CORVALLIS Ore. (KPTV) – The Summer State Games were back in Corvallis after the Summer Special Olympics returned following a seven-year hiatus.
Around 900 athletes and 300 coaches from around the state came together to compete in various games including golf, softball and track.
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“In general, I love how there’s so much sportsmanship,” one participant said. “Once you become a part of it you do it for the rest of your lives because it makes such an impact on so many people’s lives.”
Special Olympics Oregon said nearly 1,000 volunteers helped put this event on.
Copyright 2024 KPTV-KPDX. All rights reserved.
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