The Silenced: Children Ignored by DHS in Oregon

Photo illustration by author, May 14, 2016

On Sept. 4, 2009, I called 911 at 1:50 a.m. for someone to come save my mother, who I believed was being beaten. My call is only a number in the system, and report 09-17840 did nothing. It only mentions that my father was advised not to drive, as he was drunk. He was allowed to drive anyway.


The report does not mention the door torn angrily from the hinges, nor the china shattered across the house.


The report does end the way I remember it, though. An officer explained to me it was better safe than sorry; so thank you very much for calling.

The case was never opened, an investigation never launched. I was a child completely lost and overlooked by the system, joining thousands of others. I was just a trace along the edge of the shadow of the nightmare that haunts every overworked social worker at night. We are the children they might have saved.

I am not the only child to fall through the cracks like this. Susan Goldsmith, an Oregonian reporter, wrote “Oregon DHS repeatedly failed to help abused girl, report finds” on January 27, 2010. DHS ignored 4 out of 5 calls made to them about Jeanette Maples over a four year period, they ignored that California’s office had taken her from her mother, because her mother was determined to be dangerous. They responded to one call, and concluded that Maples was okay because she was 15, and therefore old enough to report it herself.


Jeanette Maples was murdered December 9th, 2009 by her mother and stepfather. The article was later updated to say that Jeanette Maples was starved, and beaten to the point where her bedroom was described as “bloodspattered”. Her step-grandmother was urged not to view the body, as it was too horrific.

Another girl, mentioned in The Oregonian’s Steve Mayes’ article, was 4 when she was raped on three occasions while in foster care in 2015.

The Statesman Journal reported that nine medically fragile children from ages 2 days to 3 years old were repeatedly sexually abused by their foster parents for years. The foster parent who did most of the abusing, James Mooney, was given permission to foster parent despite his heavily questionable background.

Governor Kate Brown called out DHS in December 2015.

“I want you to hear it from me. In no way do I see this level of services as being acceptable.” Brown went on to state that despite funding being an issue, too many children were being abused by the system. Brown is advocating for more funds to go into the system, but overall sees that, “...there is no excuse, there is no policy, there is nothing in the state of Oregon that justifies what happened to these kids.”

There is nothing in this world that justifies what's happening to children in the state of Oregon. Children can’t publish articles, they can’t call up their Representative and ask for change, they are silenced. We must lend them our voices.

My story wasn’t woven from just one bad night, or one missed call to DHS. It was a lifetime of misses. Calls were made, teachers and doctors told, and nothing happened, the abuse and neglect continued.

While not as severe as what happened to Jeanette Maples and so many others, the system had left us behind after far more than just one chance to make a difference. Yet all so many children are met with silence, until they age out of the system, or die early, whether through murder or by their own hands.

This is not acceptable and letting the system fail us for so long while we turn a blind eye will be a blight on our history.

Brown got the ball rolling in 2015 by starting to audit DHS and trying to figure out where the problems lie, and how we can fix them. The investigation is ongoing, and in The Statesman Journal's article from April 2016, Gordon Friedman wrote that DHS in Oregon fails all of the federal child care standards.

Without public advocacy for change, kids will keep slipping through the cracks for decades to come.

One can write directly to their representative or governor, but even in day to day life, you can make a difference. If you see a child who is obviously being abused, or a child says they are being abused, call. Do not pause, do not wait and sleep on it. Call DHS, call the police, notify someone. With enough calls, that child cannot be ignored.

Will you stay silent?

At a Glance:

• Oregon DHS Website: http://www.oregon.gov/dhs/Pages/index.aspx
• Reporting child abuse in Oregon: http://www.oregon.gov/DHS/CHILDREN/CHILD-ABUSE/Pages/Reporting-Numbers.aspx
• Are you a mandatory reporter? Find out here: https://www.oregon.gov/dhs/abuse/pages/mandatory_report.aspx
• Signs a child has been abused: http://www.safehorizon.org/page/signs-of-child-abuse-58.html
• More signs of abuse: http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/child-abuse/basics/symptoms/con-20033789