Law is needed to provide better care for kids
There are two words no foster child ever wants to hear. Those words are "minimally adequate."
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The Oregon Department of Human Services is tasked with the difficult duty of taking custody of children in bad situations. It is the same organization that uses this term to return children, but ironically, it does not have an "adequate" definition for the term. Realistically, what this means is that each caseworker and DHS manager has a different definition.
When confronted about the lack of an "adequate" definition, DHS managers argue that it provides them flexibility. Flexibility for whom? The child? When you ask the child's attorney, he or she generally will answer, "Care that is reasonable." OK, define reasonable care. What can a child expect from their parents upon returning home?
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