By Marshall Hammond
Oregon’s oldest child welfare agency, Boys & Girls Aid, celebrates its 140th anniversary this year. But widespread government funding cuts—at the city, county, state and federal levels—are making it increasingly difficult to serve children in need.
The Boys & Girls Aid Society of Oregon was founded in 1885, when much of the work in child welfare was carried out by Humane Societies, which were working on behalf of both animals and children. At that time there was a “prevailing belief among a certain class of persons that children and animals possessed no rights which they were bound to respect,” according to documents published by the Oregon Historical Society. One of the society’s founders, Thomas Lamb Eliot, founded the Oregon Humane Society in 1882 and later helped found Reed College.
The mission was to “rescue homeless, neglected or abused children of Oregon.” That hasn’t changed, but what started as a single orphanage in Portland has grown into a multi-service agency supporting children and young adults across Oregon and southern Washington.
“We have a combination of services that no other organization in Oregon has,” says Boys & Girls Aid President and CEO Andrea Logan Sanders. “We have adoption, foster care, permanency services, shelter and housing, and the combination of all these services supports young people from birth until the age of 25.”
Logan Sanders has been with Boys & Girls Aid since 2006 when she was brought on to oversee the creation of Safe Place, an emergency shelter the organization operates in Hillsboro for youth aged 12-20.
“We serve about 150 youth per year through that program,” says Logan Sanders. “We help them get a GED or a diploma or, if they’re ready, to start higher education. We help them find jobs and keep jobs, we help them find housing, we have a whole homelessness prevention program.”
Around 5,000 children are in the foster care system in Oregon. Logan Sanders points out that the connection between foster care and homelessness is a close one. “47 percent of kids aging out of foster care without a permanent family will experience some kind of homelessness by the time they are 27,” she says. “So the system is not doing a great job of preparing young people to age out. They are very likely to experience homelessness and we have very high rates of homelessness here in Oregon.”
By connecting youths who are in crisis with foster care, emergency shelters, adoption and permanent and short term housing, Boys & Girls Aid helps provide the stability necessary for youths to support themselves as they grow into adults.
Sadly, while the number of homeless and at-risk youth has been growing, fewer have been entering foster care. And with decreases in funding and the availability of foster homes, there aren’t enough resources to meet the needs of the kids who are already in the system.
The state’s housing crisis has exacerbated the issue, reducing the number of available foster homes. As affordable housing becomes scarcer, fewer families are in a position to care for a child.
“There’s been about a 30 percent decline in the number of foster homes available in the past five years,” says Logan Sanders. “I would attribute it to Covid and the long term effects of that. People are still getting back on their feet, in terms of being able to afford housing with an extra bedroom or being able to have a schedule that allows the flexibility to care for a foster child. Those things have become really challenging.”
According to Logan Sanders, 78 percent of Boys & Girls Aid’s funding comes from government sources. “In the past few months, we’ve really unexpectedly seen decreases across many of these sources,” says Logan Sanders. “Even private foundations are giving smaller awards than they have in the past or just not giving awards at all, which is really unusual.”
Boys & Girls Aid receives a federal grant through the Department of Health and Human Services, which has seen steep staffing and funding cuts tied to Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) efforts.
“We’re certainly seeing effects of the work that’s being done, for example with our federal grant, those staff have been cut off from contacting us,” says Logan Sanders. “One [staff member] just flat out was terminated in the middle of the night.”
The administration’s targeting of DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) initiatives is particularly concerning to Logan Sanders. “Kids in these systems that we’re talking about, foster care and homelessness, kids of color are already way over represented,” says Logan Sanders. “And especially with trans kids and LGBTQ kids, they’re the ones getting kicked out of home more often, they’re the ones getting bullied and dropping out of school, they’re really struggling, and the current climate in our country isn’t helping with that. It’s really creating even more instability for these individuals.”
One ray of hope is that Boys & Girls Aid continues to see consistent funding from private individuals and businesses. “Our private funding is really strong this year. I think because of our 140th anniversary, people are really interested in that. It’s something that people can really invest in—an agency that can survive 140 years.”
Those looking to support Boys & Girls Aid can attend the annual Foster Love Gala at the Sentinel Hotel Saturday, May 17. People can also contribute by donating, volunteering or—if able—fostering or adopting a child in need. Find out more about the organization at boysandgirlsaid.com.