Community Partners

Albertina Kerr Centers, Morrison Child and Family Services, The Christie School, Trillium Family Services, Cascadia Child and Family Services, and LifeWorks, Northwest (providers):
Community providers that serve children and youth with serious emotional and behavioral disorders in a variety of ways including sub acute care, residential treatment, day treatment, proctor care, group homes, assisted living, therapeutic foster care, outpatient child and family services, child abuse assessment services, family sexual abuse treatment, parent training, and alternative education programs. For more information, visit www.albertinakerr.org.

CareOregon:
A not-for-profit organization committed to improving and protecting the health of low income and vulnerable Oregonians. CareOregon serves Oregonians eligible for the Oregon Health Plan (OHP) who have selected CareOregon as their health plan. CareOregonis committed to providing access to high quality, cost-effective and culturally competent care for our members, and to supporting the providers who care for them. For more information, visit www.careoregon.org.

CASA for Children:
CASA for Children works to recruit, train and support citizen volunteers who serve as Court Appointed Special Advocates, or CASA Volunteers.  CASAs are ordinary men and women from all walks of life who volunteer to advocate, in court and in the community, for children who have been abused and neglected, and are temporarily under the protection of Juvenile Court.  CASA’s purpose is to secure a safe and permanent family for each child as quickly as possible.  For more information, visit
www.casahelpskids.org.

Department of Human Services (DHS) – Children, Adults and Families (CAF):
CAF serves children and youth birth to 18. It is the public child welfare agency responsible for all child protective services, foster care, and adoption as well as a full array of support services for children, youth and their families. For more information, visit www.oregon.gov/DHS.

Family Partners:
Family Partners in Children’s Mental Health focus is specifically on children’s mental health advocacy for children with serious emotional and behavioral disorders and their families in Oregon. Over the past year and a half, Family Partners in Children’s Mental Health has worked with children’s community mental health programs to assure improvements in service design, access, delivery and evaluation as well as family involvement. Family Partners in Children’s Mental Health’s mission is to encourage and facilitate the development of strong and effective partnerships between family members and children’s mental health, as well as other community service providers.

Juvenile Rights Project (JRP):
The Juvenile Rights Project is a 30-year-old public interest law and advocacy firm in Portland representing the interests of children and youth involved in the juvenile court system. JRP represents children and youth in the foster care system and in the juvenile justice system. In addition to legal advocacy, JRP also focuses on educational and mental health services received by clients. For more information, visit www.jrplaw.org.

Multnomah County Department of Community Justice (DCJ):
The juvenile side of Community Justice serves youth between the ages of 12 and 18 who have been referred for delinquent behavior. Although the overall goal is public safety, juvenile justice operates under a more balanced approach that includes youth accountability and competency development. For more information, visit www.co.multnomah.or.us/dcj.

Multnomah Education Services District (MESD):
Multnomah Education Services District is a public agency responsible for regional education services to eight school districts in Multnomah County. MESD’s services are those best managed on a regional basis either because they are too costly for an individual district to support, or because demand for the service within a single district is limited. For more information, visit www.mesd.k12.or.us.

Multnomah County Commission on Children and Families:
A local arm of the Oregon State Commission on Children and Families, the Multnomah County Commission on Children and Families makes sure that resources are used in the best way possible to help the county’s children and families thrive. The Commission brings people and organizations together to develop and implement policy and planning frameworks. The Commission also works with community volunteers and partners on projects that focus on Early Childhood, School Partnerships, Youth Development, and Poverty. For more information, visit www.ourcommission.org.

Multnomah County Developmental Disabilities Services:
The Developmental Disabilities Services Division plans strategies and generates resources that facilitate accessibility, inclusion and choices for individuals with developmental disabilities, and their families. The program uses a combination of direct service (intake and assessment, service coordination, protective services), and contracted service (residential and vocational services.) For more information, visit www.co.multnomah.or.us/dchs/dd/.

Multnomah County Juvenile Court:
Multnomah County Juvenile Court has authority over juveniles who commit acts that would be crimes if committed by adults. Some more serious crimes committed by juveniles are now automatically transferred to adult court. The Juvenile Court also works with juveniles who misbehave in some ways that would not be criminal if done by an adult. The Juvenile Court also has authority over juveniles who are dependent or have been abandoned by parents or abused. In circumstances of abuse, abandonment or neglect, juveniles may be taken from the home temporarily or permanently. For more information, visit www.ojd.state.or.us.

Multnomah County Mental Health and Addiction Services (MHAS):
The Division develops, mobilizes and manages resources for services to adults, adolescents and children with mental illness, emotional and addictive disorders (including alcohol, other drugs and gambling). For more information, visit www.co.multnomah.or.us/dchs/mhas.

National Association for the Mentally Ill (NAMI):
NAMI (the National Alliance on Mental Illness) is the nation’s largest grassroots mental health organization dedicated to improving the lives of persons living with serious mental illness and their families. Founded in 1979, NAMI has become the nation’s voice on mental illness, a national organization including NAMI organizations in every state and in over 1100 local communities across the country who join together to meet the NAMI mission through advocacy, research, support, and education. NAMI Oregon is a statewide grassroots organization dedicated to improving the quality of life for individuals with mental illness and their families through support, education, and advocacy. For more information, go to www.nami.org.
Oregon Family Support Network (OFSN):
Oregon families supporting Oregon families who have children and adolescents with emotional, behavioral, mental and/or physical challenges and special needs. OFSN honors the unique culture of every family and promotes working together so children may successfully live at home, stay in school, contribute to their community, have friends and plan for a future of self-reliance. For more information, visit www.ofsn.org.

Oregon Youth Authority (OYA):
The Oregon Youth Authority (OYA) is the state’s juvenile corrections agency. OYA offers community-based parole and probation services to youth offenders as well as facility-based supervision to youth offenders and youth convicted of adult crimes. For more information, visit www.oya.state.or.us.

Portland Public Schools (PPS):
There are 6000 students in Portland Public School’s Special Education Program. Twelve percent of the total student enrollment has been identified. There are 56,000 students in the Portland Public School system. PPS places children in regular classrooms, resource rooms, and self-contained classrooms. PPS also contracts with agencies outside of the school district for those students who need smaller settings (alternative schools) and therapeutic day school programs. For more information, visit www.pps.k12.or.us.

Portland State University Child Welfare Partnership (CWP):
The Child Welfare Partnership is collaboration among the Graduate School of Social Work, the School of Extended Studies and the Oregon Department of Human Services (DHS). It is one of the first university-based programs in the nation to integrate child welfare research, training and graduate education into a unified, coordinated effort to enhance services for families and children. For more information, visit www.cwp.pdx.edu.

Portland State University Regional Research Institute for Human Services (RRI):
The Regional Research Institute for Human Services is the research component of the Graduate School of Social Work at Portland State University, Portland, Oregon. Some of the projects RRI has undertaken include: research and training on family support and children’s mental health; children’s mental health system of care evaluation; and the National Wraparound Initiative. For more information, visit www.rri.pdx.edu.

The U.S. Department of Justice – Portland:
The U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Oregon is committed to improving the lives of children in our community.  The U.S. Attorney's Office supports and oversees the Weed and Seed sites in the Portland area.  Through the U.S. Dept of Justice's Project Safe Neighborhoods initiative, the U.S. Attorney works collaboratively with community partners to reduce youth gun crime through enhanced prosecution, training and community outreach.  In addition, the prosecution of drug crimes involving methamphetamine is a priority for the U.S. Attorney's Office in part because of that drug's negative impact on children. For more information, visit www.ojp.usdoj.gov.