PORTLAND, Ore. - More state requirements and fewer people to carry them out. That's how child welfare workers summarize what's happening in Oregon, and they're in Salem today to make their case to lawmakers.

For two years, they have been under a hiring freeze like many state agencies, with two caseworkers doing the work of three. Add a challenging new software system, and mandates to remedy racial inequalities in the foster care system and find more relatives to place children with – and Barbara Casey, an in-home caseworker at the Alberta Child Welfare office in north Portland, said they have their hands full.

"All of that, they're all good mandates, all good goals: preserving families, reunifying families, strengthening them," she said. "It's just compounded to get to it, when you just don't have enough people there."

Almost 1,300 case workers respond to more than 75,000 reports of child abuse and neglect in Oregon, and they supervise about 13,000 children in foster care. Gov. John Kitzhaber's proposed budget for Child Welfare services would bring the agency to 80 percent of its staffing needs, up from a current level of 67 percent.

One area affected by the staffing cuts is the amount of time at-risk parents can spend with their children, Casey said. The visits have to be supervised, she explained, and there aren't enough workers - called social service assistants - to meet the needs. Child welfare workers play an important role for Oregon families, she added, and many resent being called "bureaucrats" during budget debates.

"We're not pushing papers - we are intervening at a very difficult time in people's lives," she said. "To me, it's a sacred trust. I have children and I have moms and dads that I want to reunite and keep at home."

The governor's budget includes money for a new approach to dealing with suspected child abuse cases that focuses on early intervention for families and keeping children out of foster care. The number of suspected child abuse cases in Oregon has risen for a decade, which could mean that more people are coming forward to report abuse and neglect.




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May is Community Action Month, and local agencies helping low-income families hope Congress signs off on a plan to bolster and modernize their federal support.

Community Action Agencies help carry out services such as job training and energy assistance. The House recently approved a ten-year reauthorization of the Community Services Block Grant (CSBG) program. Among the changes is a proposed permanent increase in income eligibility for those served by local programs.

Annie Shapiro, advocacy director for the Minnesota Community Action Partnership, said it is especially timely for families struggling with inflation and making just enough money to lose out on aid.

"Maybe they add an extra shift at work, and they start making more," Shapiro explained. "But in reality, their actual spending power is either not changed because they lost a lot of those benefits or is even less than what it was before."

The reauthorization also would increase annual funding to $1 billion. Shapiro pointed out it would give agencies more flexibility to tackle areas such as housing aid, in light of skyrocketing costs for rent. While the plan has bipartisan support, some House Republicans questioned the idea of expanding the scope of the program without knowing its effectiveness on a broader level.

Shapiro countered giving individual agencies a blanket assessment is impractical, because they each respond differently to the needs in their service area.

"For examples from Minnesota, some of our agencies use their CSBG funds to help fund their food shelves," Shapiro noted. "Food shelves get some funding, but are often not funded by other sources. "

Emily Bombich, director of planning for the Arrowhead Economic Opportunity Agency, said part of their funding has gone to efforts to provide shoes and boots to community members in need. She argued an overwhelming response for the items leads them to believe they could help others with additional support from Congress.

"If we were able to give them this gift where they don't have to buy their kids shoes, then maybe they can stretch their money farther," Bombich suggested.

Supporters said the grant program has not seen a reauthorization like this in nearly two decades, and are hoping bipartisan support will carry over into the Senate.

An initiative that would repeal Washington's capital-gains tax on the state's richest residents is struggling to gain traction.

Initiative No. 1929 would eliminate a 7% tax on stocks, bonds and other assets worth more than $250,000, which lawmakers approved in the 2021 session.

The tax is projected to bring in $415 million dollars for child care and education if it goes into effect in 2023.

Aaron Ostrom, executive director of the progressive organization Fuse Washington, said it would only be levied on a small number of people.

"These are people who own yachts and are looking to buy a second yacht," said Ostrom. "This is not just rich people, this is the ultra-wealthy who are looking to further rig a system that's already rigged in their favor at the expense of child care and early childhood education."

Supporters of I-1929 argue that the tax passed by the state Legislature last year is an income tax, which is unconstitutional in Washington state. A judge agreed in March and overturned the measure lawmakers passed last year.

Attorney General Bob Ferguson is appealing that decision to the Washington Supreme Court.

Organizers of I-1929 have until July 8 to collect about 325,000 signatures. Ostrom says they are far behind and have not even reached $1 million in donations for the campaign.

"The longer you wait, the more expensive it gets," said Ostrom. "So they would probably have to pay over $10 million to get on the ballot at this point, and they're not raising funds that are anywhere near that neighborhood and they're not showing any signs of actually starting to move into signature gathering."

Ostrom disagreed that the capital gains tax passed by lawmakers qualifies as an income tax.

"It's a tax on extraordinary capital gains for a tiny number of ultra-wealthy people," said Ostrom. "And Wall Street speculation is not the same thing as earning income."

Gov. Tom Wolf, lawmakers and community leaders are calling on the General Assembly to pass legislation that would send checks of up to $2,000 to millions of Pennsylvanians.

Earlier this year, Wolf unveiled a $1.7 billion proposal aimed at helping communities recover from the pandemic through American Rescue Plan dollars.

Part of that plan includes the $500 million Pennsylvania Opportunity Program, which would provide direct payments for households with an income of $80,000 or less.

Wolf said with inflation climbing, more Pennsylvanians are experiencing financial insecurity.

"The problem is that far too many people live paycheck to paycheck," said Wolf. "And even now, with a small increase in living expenses - even if that's all people were facing with the inflation, that can have devastating consequences. Pennsylvanians deserve better and there are ways we can help."

Pennsylvania has $2.2 billion unused American Rescue Plan dollars that must be used by the end of 2024.

Democratic leaders in the state Senate and House have introduced legislation to support the Opportunity Program. Both were referred to the respective chamber's Finance Committee last month.

Wolf and legislative leaders also are continuing their calls to increase the state minimum wage, which is currently $7.25 per hour and has not had an increase since 2009.

State Rep. Patty Kim - D-Dauphin - has introduced a bill that would raise the minimum wage to $12 per hour by July and would reach $15 by 2028.

"If we learned anything from this pandemic, we need to go back to the basics," said Kim. "We need safe, affordable housing, we need good schools, we need a living wage, we need to value our workers and we need each other."

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Living Wage calculator shows that today, a single adult in Pennsylvania needs to earn nearly $17 per hour to support themselves - while a single adult with one child needs nearly $33 per hour to support their family.