Oregon’s foster care children are facing a crisis, with some children nearly starved to death and a new report outlining systemic failings in the state’s foster care system – but Democrat Governor Kate Brown is acting as if nothing objectionable is going on.
Now, editorial boards across Oregon are slamming Kate Brown for her weak response to the foster care crisis, blasting her lack of leadership and decision to attack the report as partisan, rather than help Oregon’s kids.
The Bend Bulletin editorial board calls it “a question of priorities.”
The thousands of children in Oregon’s foster care system desperately need help, but the eyes of state leaders and most legislators are focused elsewhere.
The Oregonian editorial board goes even further, writing that,
This yearlong, deep dive into a troubled agency was appalling, especially for an agency responsible for children.
Yet Gov. Kate Brown and state lawmakers aren’t acting like it.
…Lawmakers who meet sporadically – this year for just 35 days – aren’t the ones who can consistently ride this issue. That’s Gov. Kate Brown’s job and foster children need more than her “support” to get that done. They need her leadership.
But Brown’s office appears too busy deflecting the audit’s results.
Oregon children deserve a champion, and Kate Brown has proven that she’s either unwilling or unable to lead.
The Oregonian: Child Welfare Audit Is Much More Than 'Just Politics'
How many blistering evaluations does it take to illustrate a child welfare program is utterly failing the young people it's supposed to serve and protect?
It should be one. Yet in Oregon, it's closer to a half dozen.
The most recent, an extensive audit by the Secretary of State's Office, echoed some of the problems that were outlined in earlier critiques, including one dating back to 2002.
...
This yearlong, deep dive into a troubled agency was appalling, especially for an agency responsible for children.
Yet Gov. Kate Brown and state lawmakers aren't acting like it.
Democratic lawmakers say it'll take years to address problems that were decades in the making. They argue that they just budgeted an additional $30 million to address some of these issues.
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