Bill Text: OR HJM12 | 2011 | Regular Session | Enrolled
Bill Title: Urging resumption of White House Conference on Children and Youth.
Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Democrat 13-2)
Status: (Passed) 2011-05-31 - Filed with Secretary of State. [HJM12 Detail]
Download: Oregon-2011-HJM12-Enrolled.html
76th OREGON LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY--2011 Regular Session
Enrolled
House Joint Memorial 12
Sponsored by Representative ROBLAN; Representatives BARKER,
BOONE, DEMBROW, FREDERICK, FREEMAN, GELSER, HARKER, KOMP,
OLSON, TOMEI, WITT, Senators DEVLIN, JOHNSON, MONNES ANDERSON
(Presession filed.)
To the President of the United States and the Senate and the
House of Representatives of the United States of America, in
Congress assembled:
We, your memorialists, the Seventy-sixth Legislative Assembly
of the State of Oregon, in legislative session assembled,
respectfully represent as follows:
Whereas many children and youth in the United States face
serious challenges, including over 3 million reports of child
abuse and neglect and nearly 800,000 children substantiated as
abused and neglected each year; and
Whereas 296,000 children in the United States were removed from
their homes as a result of child maltreatment investigations in
2008; and
Whereas more than 500,000 children and youth were in foster
care in the United States at the end of the federal fiscal year
of 2000 and nearly 800,000 children spend at least some time in
foster care throughout the year; and
Whereas while 54,000 children are adopted from the public child
welfare system each year in the United States, more than 133,000
children are waiting to be adopted; and
Whereas each year more than 20,000 youth in the United States
leave the foster care system not because they have found a
permanent family, but because they reached the age at which
foster care assistance ended; and
Whereas there is an over-representation of certain populations,
including Native Americans and African-Americans, within the
child welfare system; and
Whereas 25 percent of children in out-of-home care in 2007 were
living with relatives, yet the federal government only recently
provided states the option to use Title IV funds for children
raised by relative caregivers; and
Whereas 78 percent of children adopted from Oregon's Department
of Human Services in 2009 were adopted by relatives or
nonrelative foster parents; and
Whereas many children and youth that come to the attention of
the child welfare system and a large proportion of those in
foster care experience physical health issues and between 50 and
80 percent experience a moderate to severe mental health
disorder; and
Whereas youth in foster care are more likely than their teen
counterparts to become pregnant, with one study finding that
nearly 50 percent of teen girls in foster care become pregnant by
age 19; and
Whereas adolescent childbearing, in combination with other
preexisting factors, is linked to negative consequences for
mother and child and is also linked to significant costs to
society; and
Enrolled House Joint Memorial 12 (HJM 12-A) Page 1
Whereas emancipated foster youth are also at high risk of
experiencing homelessness, poverty, incarceration and mental
health problems; and
Whereas there were 11,090 confirmed victims of abuse or neglect
in Oregon in 2009 and 48 percent were younger than six years of
age; and
Whereas 13,291 Oregon children spent at least one day in some
kind of foster care in 2009; and
Whereas state courts are key decision makers in the lives of
children involved in the child welfare system and should be
supported because court decisions may include determination of
abuse or neglect, whether a child should be reunified with the
child's family or should be adopted or placed in another setting;
and
Whereas the child welfare system will never fully address its
primary mission unless the courts are an integral and functioning
component of a statewide system of care and protection; and
Whereas the child welfare system includes a professional
workforce in the courts, public and private child welfare
agencies, mental health and health care programs, education
settings, citizen review panels and volunteers such as the court
appointed special advocates, all of which should be strengthened;
and
Whereas the challenge of child abuse cannot be effectively
addressed in a sustained manner until the nation addresses the
outcomes for children in a comprehensive way; and
Whereas the White House Conference on Children and Youth had
been the oldest White House conference, starting in 1909 and
continuing approximately every 10 years until the last conference
in 1970; and
Whereas these conferences focused attention on the critical
needs of America's children and resulted in significant policies
over the decades, including the creation of a Children's Bureau
and standards of care for children; now, therefore,
Be It Resolved by the Legislative Assembly of the State of
Oregon:
That we, the members of the Seventy-sixth Legislative Assembly,
respectfully urge the United States Congress to authorize and
President Obama to call a White House Conference on Children and
Youth; and be it further
Resolved, That we, the members of the Seventy-sixth Legislative
Assembly, respectfully urge the United States Congress to enact
legislation to make the White House Conference on Children and
Youth a reality; and be it further
Resolved, That a copy of this memorial shall be sent to the
President of the United States, to the Senate Majority Leader, to
the Speaker of the House of Representatives and to each member of
the Oregon Congressional Delegation.
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Enrolled House Joint Memorial 12 (HJM 12-A) Page 2
Adopted by House March 16, 2011
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Ramona Kenady Line, Chief Clerk
of House
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Bruce Hanna, Speaker of House
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Arnie Roblan, Speaker of House
Adopted by Senate May 19, 2011
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Peter Courtney, President of
Senate
Enrolled House Joint Memorial 12 (HJM 12-A) Page 3
