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Oregon CASA Network asks committee to raise DAS funding to $7 million to meet state mandate for foster children
Summary
Kat Hendricks of Oregon CASA Network urged Ways and Means subcommittee members to increase funding in HB 5002 from the proposed $6.3 million to $7 million to ensure every foster child receives a court-appointed special advocate.
Kat Hendricks, state director of the Oregon CASA Network (OCN), told the Joint Committee on Ways and Means Subcommittee on General Government that current funding included in HB 5002 will not meet demand for court-appointed special advocates for children in foster care.
“CASA volunteers develop trusting relationships with the child, creating stability, consistency, and emotional support during the challenges of being placed in foster care,” Hendricks said in public testimony. She described CASAs as volunteer advocates appointed by juvenile court judges to represent the best interests of children removed from unsafe living situations.
Hendricks said OCN is a nonprofit coordinating pass-through funds and training for 19 local CASA programs that serve all 36 counties. She reviewed recent funding levels: OCN received $5,900,000 in the 2023–25 biennium and is included in DAS’s current budget request at $6,300,000. She asked the committee to fund CASA programs at $7,000,000 in HB 5002.
“Due to limited resources, over a third of foster children do not have a CASA,” Hendricks said, and she said increasing funding would avoid program deficits caused by rising costs and inflation. Hendricks added an example from a local program in which $45,000 for one CASA supervisor leveraged roughly $70,000 in volunteer time from 30 CASA volunteers serving 60 foster children.
Hendricks thanked DAS staff and named DAS contacts she said had been helpful in grant administration. The committee did not vote; members acknowledged the testimony and were told written testimony remains open for 48 hours after the hearing. Hendricks’ request will be part of the committee’s ongoing consideration of HB 5002.
