Volunteers with Project Never Again, an Oregon nonprofit, prepare duffel bags for foster children in August 2022 at its annual event in Hillsboro. (Courtesy of Project Never Again)
More than a year after the Oregon Legislature passed a law to stop forcing foster children to pack their belongings in garbage bags, a nonprofit that pushed for the law is still fielding requests from state caseworkers who don’t know where to find luggage.
The 2023 law, Senate Bill 548, came about after former foster children testified about the emotional harm and hurt they suffered when they were forced to put their things in plastic garbage bags instead of duffel bags. Project Never Again, an Oregon-based nonprofit, advocated strongly for the legislation, which requires the Oregon Department of Human Services to maintain a luggage supply and report how many times foster children use trash bags. The law took effect Jan. 1, and the agency is supposed to provide its first annual report to state lawmakers Sept. 15.
Before the law passed, Project Never Again raised money for duffel bags for children in the foster care system, distributing about 20,000 duffel bags for children in foster care as well as other agencies and organizations like the Oregon Youth Authority and Lane County Youth Services. More than 4,600 children are in Oregon’s foster care system, and the agency recently settled a class-action lawsuit that will require years of improvements.
In 2023 – before the law passed – the Oregon Department of Human Services said the agency rarely if ever uses trash bags and already supplies children with luggage. But more than a year after the law passed, Project Never Again still hears from caseworkers across Oregon who need duffel bags, even as the agency tells lawmakers and the public that all of its foster care offices are authorized to purchase the supplies. In response, the nonprofit decided to pitch in and donate about 1,000 additional duffel bags.
“Every organization has its issues, and this is more like a culture change,” Seema Steffany, the nonprofit’s founder and president, said in an interview. “But communication is the biggest issue with them.”
Before the law went into effect, Steffany said she offered to help the agency find appropriate luggage for the foster children.
“We asked them, ‘Do you need help with bags? If you do, let us know, Steffany said. “They said they’ll handle it, then they couldn’t handle it.”
Agency ‘deeply concerned’ about inquiries
Records show that DHS managers were concerned about foster care caseworkers contacting the nonprofit for help. On June 4, Lacey Andresen, the agency’s deputy child welfare director, emailed Steffany after the organization reached out to district managers.
“I am deeply concerned that you continue to field many inquiries from caseworkers who do not know how or where to locate duffel bags for children and young adults they are serving,” Andresen wrote to Steffany.
Andresen asked Steffany to contact an agency manager when that happens so the agency could handle problems itself. Even after that email, Steffany continued to hear from agency workers.
“I had to refer them to Lacey’s email, because she is the one who said that we will take care of it,” Steffany said. “How they’ll take care of it, they’re not very clear about.”
Andresen was unavailable for an interview.
“Regarding procurement, ODHS tracks luggage inventory and usage, and offices buy luggage locally when needed,” Lisa Morawski, the agency’s communications director, said in a statement.
On Jan. 25, Michelle Pfeiffer, the agency’s child welfare legislative coordinator, updated Sen. Janeen Sollman, D-Hillsboro, and Rep. Anna Scharf, R-Dallas, two sponsors of the bill. The agency has provided billing codes to managers to purchase the supplies, Pfeiffer said.
“We are not aware of any offices that are out of duffel bags or unable to replenish supplies,” Pfeiffer said in the email, obtained by the Capital Chronicle.
In a Feb. 28 report to legislators, the agency reported four instances of children using trash bags instead of luggage since November 2023. In one instance, an ice storm kept a caseworker from retrieving luggage. In another, the clothing needed to be washed.
But as the year wore on, Project Never Again kept hearing from employees. Steffany said caseworkers shouldn’t be responsible for finding appropriate luggage. Some caseworkers have taken creative steps to come up with luggage, like hosting personal parties to get donated luggage or asking friends for help.
“The caseworkers were struggling, and it’s not their responsibility,” Steffany said. “They’re employees. Why do they have to go procure bags?”
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