Oregon has long lacked an adequate number of foster homes for all of the children in foster care. And after revelations of children sleeping in hotel rooms and Child Welfare offices because of that lack, the pressure was on to clean up the system.
The numbers of kids spending nights in offices and hotels dropped, but largely because Oregon began sending foster children out of the state, in many cases to for-profit facilities. Lauren Dake at Oregon Public Broadcasting has covered the story in depth, reading thousands of emails between state workers and the companies that run the foster facilities--which are often locked, like prisons. Lauren joins us for an overview of what she found, and what the state has resolved to do about it.