Oregon
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Pre- Service Training

All potential resource parents, relative resource parents, adoptive parents, or guardians are required to complete Resource and Adoptive Family Training (RAFT) to become certified providers for children in foster care. Adapted from the National Training and Development Curriculum for Foster and Adoptive Parents, RAFT is a 27-hour curriculum that takes place over nine three-hour sessions. Training includes videos, podcasts, and facilitated slide presentations.

The state recommends a specific training on adoption assistance and guardianship assistance, but it is not required.

The state also provides access to the TBRI®-based training Families Are Forever, particularly for families who are adopting children in Oregon’s foster care system from outside the state. Additional optional trainings for prospective adoptive parents and guardians are available through the RAFT program.

Services Offered Through the State’s Post-Permanency Support Program

The Oregon Department of Human Services (ODHS) contracts with Northwest Resource Associates to offer post-permanency services across the state through the Oregon Post-Adoption Resource Center (ORPARC). Additional services are provided in certain areas under contracts with Clarvida and Bridge Meadows. ODHS’s adoption assistance and guardianship assistance staff also provide families with information, referral, and navigation to address any challenges they are facing.

Services include:

All of ORPARC’s services are available to families as they move toward finalization of adoption or guardianship, as well as after finalization.

Family support specialists who are master’s level counselors, psychologists, or social workers help families to address any concerns they may be having. Specialists have all received adoption-competency training and work with families using Trust-Based Relational Intervention® (TBRI®), motivational interviewing, collaborative problem solving, and other tools. The specialists connect parents with adoption-competent therapists for ongoing support, help them navigate systems, or work to track down any supports that might benefit a family. They also work with families to identify community-based respite opportunities and explore with them how to enhance their own support network or find respite with another adoptive or guardianship family.

ORPARC hosts and moderates three private online Facebook groups—one general, one for LGBTQ2S+ parents, and one for KEEP parent graduates. Under a close partnership with KEEP, ORPARC staff attend and support specialized KEEP groups for adoptive and guardianship families.

Family support specialists help families address educational issues, including occasionally attending school, wraparound, or other types of meetings if the parents want the support.

ORPARC staff answer questions from adoptive and guardianship families by phone, email, text, and sometimes in person. Staff make referrals to support groups, respite care providers, and therapists who have completed adoption-competency training. Lists of support groups, adoption-competent therapists, and free or low-cost trainings are also available online. The website has many other resources on adoption and guardianship, including podcasts, articles, videos, and recorded trainings. The program also operates a lending library with materials mailed free of charge—to parents, children, and community partners. ORPARC also provides some books for children and parents free of charge.

ORPARC offers free training for parents, professionals, and other community members. Most training events are virtual but some occur in person. In addition, ORPARC is supporting and hosting Training for Adoption Competency (TAC) and Therapeutic Life Story Work for therapists in Oregon to receive these certifications. ORPARC is also developing a neurofeedback program to scale up therapists to provide neurofeedback for adoptive and guardianship families.

ORPARC collaborates with many local providers to ensure they are more adoption competent and better prepared to support adoptive and guardian families. Through partnerships, they have enhanced adoptive and guardianship families’ ability to access needed services in the community. For example, they helped the KEEP program develop an adoption-specific curriculum for KEEP support groups.

ORPARC provided one-on-one services to approximately 2,000 parents and professionals during fiscal year 2023.

In addition to ORPARC, ODHS funds the following post-permanency services:

ODHS contracts with independent mediators to help adoptive parents and guardians reach a post-finalization communication and contact agreement with birth family members. The service is confidential and voluntary and is designed to support openness.

The Response & Support Network (RSN) provides intensive supports for families in crisis, including in-home visits, parent and youth mentoring, youth skill development, on-call crisis support, and—when available—flexible funds for immediate needs. The service is available only in the Portland tri-county area, but ODHS hopes to expand it statewide.

 ODHS is contracting with Adoption Mosaic to make its adoptee-centered services and programs available free to Oregon adoptees and those in kinship care and adoptive parents and guardians before and after finalization. Services include events, trainings, and consultation. 

ODHS has contracted with the Adoptee Mentoring Society to provide a free mentoring program designed for adoptees by adoptees. The program will serve adoptees ages 12 and up. 

ODHS supports about 10 adoptive and guardian families in each of three Bridge Meadows housing developments. The families receive subsidized housing in an intergenerational community and have access to various supports to stabilize the family, such as parent support and on-site therapy.

For more information, visit:

Geographic Area Covered

ORPARC’s services are provided statewide, including 25 miles across the border into Washington, California, and Idaho, with more services being provided virtually in some areas. Mediation is also available statewide. Adoptee-led services and mentoring are available statewide and are provided virtually. 

The Resource & Support Network is available only in the Portland area, although ODHS’s goal is to expand the program statewide. 

Bridge Meadows has three communities—in Beaverton, North Portland, and Redmond. 

Eligible Population for the Overall Post-Permanency Program

  • All families who adopted from the state’s foster care system

  • All families who adopted from foster care in other states, territories, or tribes

  • All families who adopted through intercountry adoption

  • All families who adopted through private adoption

  • All families who have guardianship of a child from foster care

  • All families who have guardianship of child not through foster care

  • Other (listed below)

    Foster families are also eligible for ORPARC’s general services like the library, website, and trainings

Variations in Eligibility for the Post-Permanency Program

RSN requires pre-approval from the state permanency manager.  

Mediation services and Bridge Meadows are only for children leaving foster care to adoption or guardianship. Bridge Meadows is available only to low-income families.  

Mentoring services and adoptee-led support is available to adoptive and kinship family members who live outside of Oregon if the children placed by ODHS or the placements finalized in Oregon. 

Accessibility

The state contract requires ORPARC to offer culturally responsive services to serve diverse populations, including LGBTQ2S+ children and families. The contract also requires focused supports for relative caregivers.

ORPARC’s resources include culturally specific resources on each topic and they offer tribal-specific resource pages. Many of the library resources—including children’s books—address issues of race, culture, and diversity, including many resources on interracial adoption. ORPARC also offers many trainings on interracial parenting each year. All interracial families are provided with A Practical Guide to Transracial Adoption by Isaac Etter.

Three of ORPARC’s five family support specialists speak Spanish and some trainings are offered in Spanish. Many of the web site resources and library materials are available in Spanish.

The ORPARC program and Northwest Resource Associates (NWRA) agency are certified through the All Children-All Families program as providing LGBTQ2S+ inclusive and affirming practices. For LGBTQ2S+ children or families, staff make referrals to therapists who are known to be LGBTQ2S+ friendly. One of the program’s two Facebook support groups is for LGBTQ2S+ families.

The ORPARC directory of adoption-competent therapists notes which therapists are people of color. Staff have been able to find therapists for families who speak Spanish and other languages, as well as therapists with expertise serving the tribal community. When recruiting for the Training for Adoption Competency (TAC) or other professional training, outreach efforts prioritize people of color, those who are bilingual/multicultural, LGBTQ2S+ individuals, those working in underserved areas, and people with lived expertise.

To reach and support relative adoptive parents and guardians, ORPARC partners with the state’s kinship navigator, has developed a special resource packet and resource page for relatives, and conducts focused outreach for relatives.

The mediation program offers mediation to help tribal nations and guardian or adoptive families to develop cultural continuity agreements when children are covered by the Indian Child Welfare Act. In addition, ODHS has funded the adoption and guardianship mediation training (currently a requirement to qualify for the mediator contract) for prospective mediators who are bilingual, who would provide mediation in an underserved area of the state, or who have lived expertise or other expertise that would benefit the program participants.

Outreach and Engagement

When ODHS opens an adoption assistance or guardianship assistance case, they send a letter to the family explaining the available post-permanency services. In addition, the state periodically sends a letter to all families receiving adoption assistance and guardianship assistance. They include a separate letter from ORPARC about the available support services.

The state provides ORPARC with a list each month of new families who are receiving adoption assistance and guardianship assistance. ORPARC sends a welcome packet to let them know about their support services. Additional outreach efforts include:

  • Sending a quarterly newsletter and other event or resource announcements to the families receiving adoption assistance and guardianship assistance and providers
  • Attending community events statewide to promote the program and sending materials for other meetings or events staff cannot attend
  • Attending ODHS events, including staff meetings, worker unit meetings, and statewide quarterly meetings of caseworkers of children, teens, and families

How the Post-Permanency Program Is Operated

  • Through contracts or grants with multiple private agencies offering different services

  • By specialized state post-permanency support workers

Notes About Who Provides Which Service(s)

 State staff in the adoption assistance and guardianship assistance unit provide information, referral, and navigation. 

Contracted providers include: 

  • Northwest Resource Associates is the contract provider for ORPARC. 
  • Clarvida is contracted to provide crisis intervention services.  
  • Mentoring is provided by the Adoptee Mentor Society. 
  • Adoption Mosaic is providing the adoptee-led support. 
  • ODHS contracts with independent mediators for mediation services. 

Adoption/Guardianship Assistance/Subsidy Review and Changes

ODHS sends a letter, typically every year, to inform families that they should notify the state if there are any changes in their family’s circumstances that might affect their adoption assistance or guardianship assistance.

Adoptive and guardianship families may request a change in the adoption assistance or guardianship assistance agreement when there is a change in the family’s circumstances or the child’s needs. Families may request renegotiation any time by contacting their adoption assistance or guardianship assistance coordinator. The coordinator will send paperwork that the family must complete to formally request the renegotiation and to provide information regarding the change in needs or circumstances. The request for renegotiation of the agreement must also specify the services or goods sought to meet the new need and estimate their cost. The family may also be asked to provide documentation that supports their request.

Tracking Adoption/Guardianship Discontinuity

There is a data field in the state’s data system to report whether children who were previously adopted have entered foster care or have a child protection case.

Post-Permanency Program Spending (FY 2023)

  • $2 million – $4,999,999 million

Funding Sources for the Post-Permanency Program (FY 2023)

  1. Title IV-B, Part 2 (Promoting Safe and Stable Families/PSSF)
  2. Adoption savings (reported on CB 496 Part 4 – Annual Adoption Savings Report)
  3. Adoption/Guardianship Incentive Program Payments (AIPP)

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