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Our View: Foster care problems run deep Sunday Sep 4, 2016 at 12:01 AM It's unsettling to learn that foster children in the care of the state child welfare system wind up sleeping in state offices or motel rooms. But that's just scratching the surface of a state system that is failing on multiple levels. A federal study made public in April after a public records request by The Oregonian found that state caseworkers failed to meet time limits for investigating allegations of abuse and neglect more than half the time, and in the most serious cases, where workers are required check in within 24 hours, the state met the standard less than two-thirds of the time. That's rarely an indictment of the child welfare workers involved but rather of a system that gives them unmanageable case loads. The state is also failing to protect children from further harm, and has had trouble providing mental health care to children who need it, the study found. Oregon's performance slipped from a similar study in 2008, and the number of available foster homes is going down, not up. In Jackson County, a story in Saturday's Mail Tribune describes a foster care system that is at capacity. While children have not yet been forced to sleep in state offices here as they have in other parts of the state, the Department of Human Services is installing bunk beds in a foster parent resource room at the Medford office, in preparation for what they know is coming. There are several reasons why foster homes are in short supply. Taking on foster children is a big challenge, especially when the children may exhibit violent or disruptive behavior as a result of the abuse they have suffered. The demand for available placements is especially acute for grade school-age and younger children. Another factor is foster parents who wind up adopting foster children in their care. That's great for the children involved, but it can take those parents out of the foster care system. In addition, foster parents can become frustrated by the rules that say the child's Court-Appointed Special Advocate and caseworker make all decisions, even though the foster parent is in daily contact and functions as a parent. Finally, the reimbursement the state pays to foster parents — $575 a month for children 5 or younger, $655 for children ages 6-12 and $741 for children ages 13-20 — may need to be increased to attract more foster parents, especially those with training in handling children with mental illness. Statewide, nearly 11,000 children spend at least one day in foster care every year, Oregon Public Broadcasting reports. In Jackson County, 400 are in foster care. Juvenile and family court judges here and across the state have signed a petition calling for emergency funding for the child welfare system — a rare step into advocacy for judges, who usually prefer to steer clear of public policy issues. Lawmakers will have their hands full when they meet next year to craft a new two-year budget for the state. But a followup federal study is expected later this year, and if the state system is still found to be failing, federal funding may be at risk. That's a consequence the Legislature cannot afford to ignore.