On July 18, 2023 YRJ and the Oregon Law Center (OLC) scored a big win for Oregon’s foster children when U.S. District Judge Michael McShane found the Oregon Department of Human Services (ODHS) in “substantial noncompliance” with a 2018 agreement to wind down the practice of “hoteling” children for whom the state claims it is otherwise unable to find adequate placement.
In 2016, YRJ and the OLC filed a class action lawsuit against ODHS over the agency placing foster children in hotels and state offices, also known as “hoteling.” The case was settled in 2018, with the agency agreeing to decrease the practice to no more than 12 children per year after June 2020. In the last six months of 2022, the agency lodged 67 children in hotels. YRJ and the OLC asked the court to appoint a special master (outside expert) to ensure ODHS complied with the 2018 settlement resulting from the 2016 lawsuit. Judge McShane agreed to the request, stating ODHS’ “argument has become nothing more than a stale mantra and the Court has lost faith in ODHS’ ability to end this entrenched policy on its own.”
Lead YRJ attorney Maggie Carlson discussed the practice: “This is incredibly harmful for these kids. They are spending months and months in hotels with a rotating cast of caregivers all the while getting the message they are unwanted and can’t do well with a regular family and they are different and unlovable. It really affects their mental health in the long term.”
Carlson noted “when it began in 2016, 2017, it was an anomaly, and now there is a process, a procedure to place kids in hotels…it’s become a normal option for caseworkers.”
Carlson also pointed out that “there is a significant racial disparity in the kids spending extremely long times in hotels. The kids who are being placed in hotels are disproportionately Black and brown children and the kids who are staying in hotels for months who are languishing there are disproportionately Black and brown children.”
ODHS has a history of noncompliance with the 2018 settlement and YRJ had already gone back to federal court in 2019 to address the lack of progress. ODHS was required to comply with new standards at that time.
The judge’s order on July 18 also found ODHS in substantial noncompliance with the 2018 settlement and McShane appointed a special master to make recommendations for the court to help bring ODHS into compliance. The special master will make specific recommendations to ODHS, and, if necessary, the judge could order the state to follow their recommendations.