SALEM — Oregon’s child welfare regulators relied too much on assurances from a for-profit program in Utah that it was a safe and therapeutic place to send foster children, a top official told lawmakers on Tuesday.

“We were not as knowledgeable about what was going on,” Deputy Child Welfare Director Jana McLellan said. “I think we were taking the word that was given to us and sharing that.”

McLellan was responding to a question from Sen. Sara Gelser, D-Corvallis, about the discrepancy between Oregon officials’ generally positive report about Red Rock Canyon School in St. George, Utah earlier this month, and a letter Utah regulators sent around the same time threatening to revoke the program’s license unless it improved.

“How is that the same place (Oregon Department of Human Services) described to us here, on the record, after having visited?” Gelser asked.

Utah officials cited a long list of violations, including that staff put a youth in a chokehold and he subsequently lost consciousness. OPB reported on the contrast between Oregon and Utah officials’ descriptions earlier this month. Oregon child welfare staff have been scrutinizing the program amid concerns over the number of foster children sent out of state, and state employees happened to visit the program immediately after a riot last month in which more than 20 teenagers were injured.

McLellan said on Tuesday that employees from various Oregon programs have been onsite at Red Rock Canyon School on 11 out of the last 14 days, to make sure the remaining 22 Oregon foster children there are safe.

“We’ll continue to visit the site,” McLellan said.

Child welfare staff have also filed public records requests for additional information about this and other out-of-state programs where Oregon foster children live, including incidents reported to local police.

Gelser already obtained local police reports on Red Rock Canyon School that she said showed “methamphetamine (was) brought onto the property by staff.” According to a summary of the police reports Gelser posted on the Legislature’s website, a staff member consumed the drug while at work on May 14.

But the common theme in the police reports were frequent physical altercations between staff and teenagers in the program. Examples included a 250-pound staffer physically assaulting two boys, ages 15 and 16, in January by putting them in headlocks and chokeholds. One of the boys was described as weighing 150 pounds, and the staffer was ultimately charged with assault, according to the documents that Gelser described.

Also in January, a staffer allegedly grabbed a student and threw the teenager against a wall, slapped him and then threw a chair across the room at the youth. Although law enforcement did not charge the staffer with a crime, the person was fired.

In February, a staffer used an “unauthorized jiu-jitsu choke hold” on a teenager in the program. The child eventually broke free by stabbing the staffer, who was later fired, with a pen. It was not the first time the staffer had used that particular hold to restrain the teen.

Gelser wrote that there were multiple police reports in the spring of teenagers at the program physical assaulting other youths, including an incident in which two Oregonians were charged with assault.

The violence peaked on April 28, when 49 police officers were called to the campus to respond to the riot. Gelser said it started with a fistfight between boys. According to Gelser’s police report summary, staff had also threatened and demeaned girls in the program with sexual remarks including referring to them as “thirsty whores” and “horny little girls,” and referred to both boys and girls as “little bitches.”

Gelser wrote that one or more staffers allegedly punched girls in the face with a closed fist and pulled “girls across the floor by (their) hair.” Another staffer pushed, taunted and hit a youth in the program. Teenage boys jointed in the fight, with some defending the girls and others attacking the girls on behalf of staff. Seven children were treated at the hospital for their injuries. One girl, who used a toilet lid to defend herself, was later charged with felony assault. Gelser said the program staff involved did not seek medical attention.

McLellan said Oregon is continuing to transition foster children out of the Red Rock Canyon School, although caseworkers have yet to find new placements for around a dozen teenagers.

Some of the children are going to other out-of-state programs including some operated by Sequel Youth and Family Services, the company that runs Red Rock Canyon School

Gelser said one reason teenagers at Red Rock Canyon School might be reluctant to disclose problems to regulators is that youth entering Sequel programs are told that if they complain, they will “get sent back to square one and have to start your program all over again.” Gelser said she learned that information in a conversation over the weekend with young people who recently spent time in Sequel facilities.

State officials said there are currently 73 Oregon foster children in out-of-state programs, but they have not sent any new children to such treatment facilities recently.

They also gave a brief presentation on treatment programs operated by Oregon county juvenile departments, which the state has sent more than 300 foster children in the last two years. As The Oregonian/OregonLive reported earlier this year, the state has increasingly relied on the county programs and other institutional facilities to care for foster children at the same time it was trying to reduce its reliance on hotels to house certain children.

Sara Fox, manager of the state’s child welfare’s treatment program, said only one county juvenile department that operates treatment programs for foster children — Douglas County — used physical restraints. Fox said the restraints used are “evidence-based” and county staff have restrained 10 children a total of 13 times over the last year, but she did not provide any further details on how staff restrain the foster children.

Gelser said child welfare officials are fielding tough questions from lawmakers and reporters and she appreciates their efforts to respond.

“The hearings and press coverage has created a sense of urgency that is making a difference,” Gelser said.

— Hillary Borrud | hborrud@oregonian.com | 503-294-4034 | @hborrud

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