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Wyden, others help agency through crucial first year
LEE PERLMAN
THE MID-COUNTY MEMO
The Multnomah County Children’s Center, though it has faced long odds since it was first conceived, has had the benefit of loyal supporters in high places.
Last month, one of them came through once again. On January 30, Senator Ron Wyden officially presented the staff of the facility at 10305 E. Burnside St. with a check for $250,000, the sum of a one-time federal grant. The sum represents half the center’s yearly budget, and ensures that it will survive its first year of operation.
The center provides eight beds for children ages three to 12 who have been removed from their homes by court order because they have suffered from neglect or abuse. At the Children’s Center they are evaluated and placed in the most appropriate setting, whether that is a foster home or the home of a family member. Since its opening last January it has served more than 250 children.
“By the time they get here, their world has been turned upside down,” Wyden said of the children at the press conference. “They’re confused and resentful. But within a few days, there’s a wonderful process of healing. After a few days, when they get suffused with all this affection, many don’t want to leave.”
Of course, there are many more legitimate funding requests than there are funds to give them. “We have a tremendous number of requests,” Wyden said. “There’s a lot of want, a lot of people who have really taken a pounding. We tried to evaluate priorities. We decided this is an investment the government couldn’t afford not to make. There’s a moral need to stand up for kids because it’s right. But it’s also a politically right move. We avoid the future need to pay and pay and pay for consequences.”
What about next year?
Of course, this is a one-time grant. What, Wyden was asked, will happen next year? “It was our judgement that it was crucial that the center be fully funded this year,” he replied. “Then they could showcase the good work they were doing, and stand on their own feet. There’s extreme pressure for all kinds of deserving programs. But there’s an alliance here that’s not going to quit.”
Some of the alliance Wyden referred to was at the press conference - Multnomah County Commission chair Diane Lynn and commissioner Lisa Naito, county district attorney Michael Schrunk, and city commissioner Dan Saltzman. The latter had worked for creation of the center for 10 years, beginning when he was a Multnomah County commissioner, and had obtained slightly less than $1 million from the fledgling Gateway Urban Renewal District when its development budget came up short. His office wrote the $250,000 grant that Wyden helped get approved.
“This is a way-station for children leaving their private hell on the way to a better life,” Saltzman said. Before the center opened, in the placement of children in these circumstances, “They were often moved too often, or reunited with their parents too early, creating more abuse and trauma. There are a lot of important things, but this is probably the most compassionate investment we can make.”
Naito said, “I believe we can have confidence we can continue with this very important service. At times we haven’t known how we’d keep this going. The state tells us, ‘We’d like to do more but we don’t have the funds. We need the county to do more for prevention.’ This has made such a difference in these very vulnerable children’s lives. We’re all in partnership together and we won’t give up.”
Schrunk added, “We have advocates and champions in the senate, the county commission and the city council.” Wyden gave credit to republican senator Gordon Smith and republican congressman Greg Walden. “It would be wonderful if we didn’t have to have such wonderful places,” Wyden mused. “Hopefully we can stop the cycle of neglect and abuse. But this is the first step on the road to healing.”
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