(Salem) – The Oregon Department of Human Services (ODHS), Child Welfare Division, is thankful for the community support to find Alyce Butrick.
Alyce Butrick, age 15, is a child who went missing from Tigard on April 9. She was found April 16.
Sometimes when a child is missing they may be in significant danger and ODHS may need to locate them to assess and support their safety. As ODHS works to do everything it can to find these missing children and assess their safety, media alerts will be issued in some circumstances when it is determined necessary. Sometimes, in these situations, a child may go missing repeatedly, resulting in more than one media alert for the same child.
Report child abuse to the Oregon Child Abuse Hotline by calling 1-855-503-SAFE (7233). This toll-free number allows you to report abuse of any child or adult to the Oregon Department of Human Services, 24 hours a day, seven days a week and 365 days a year.
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(Salem) – This year’s Child Abuse Prevention Month theme, Doing Things Differently: Moving from the Challenge to the Change, emphasizes the importance of innovative prevention-based approaches to supporting children and families. The Oregon Department of Human Services (ODHS) is committed to advancing programs that address poverty and other challenges families face that could put children at risk.
As Governor Tina Kotek’s proclamation states, “Child abuse is a preventable public health issue, and Oregon's children and families deserve intentional, sustainable investments in their health and wellbeing.”
Prevention-based approaches link families in Oregon to voluntary assistance programs from community organizations and ODHS such as food benefits, cash assistance and services for domestic violence survivors. The goal of prevention is to keep children safe by providing support that stabilizes families and prevents unnecessary child welfare involvement.
To expand the agency’s child abuse prevention efforts, ODHS is working with the Doris Duke Foundation to establish the Opt-in for Families initiative in Oregon which will be supported by a $9 million investment by the foundation. The grant will help develop and test a pilot program serving families who have been the subject of reports to the ODHS Child Abuse Hotline but whose circumstances are not considered child abuse as defined in Oregon statute. Opt-in for Families will refer these families to voluntary programs for economic and other supports, evaluating their effectiveness in improving child safety and family stability. Similar programs that support families’ economic stability are being piloted in Klamath Falls and are being introduced throughout the state.
As a result of these and other efforts, the number of children in foster care in Klamath County has dropped by 60 percent with a 72 percent drop in Tribal children in the system.
April also marks the Oregon Child Abuse Hotline’s (ORCAH) fifth anniversary. ODHS centralized ORCAH in 2019 to change the former model of localized child abuse reporting, multiple hotline numbers and lack of operational coordination to an updated model based on national best practices. The new model has improved child safety, screening consistency and coordination with law enforcement, as well as employee retention.
With centralization of the Oregon Child Abuse Hotline, wait times to report abuse reduced by an average of one minute, 59 seconds, down from the 2022 average wait time of two minutes, 42 seconds. The hotline team answered 6 percent more calls compared with 2022. Timely answering of calls ensures rapid response and Child Protective Services assessment to ensure child safety. Other key improvements related to child safety are detailed in the recent 2023 ORCAH annual report.
In addition to centralizing the hotline, ODHS initiatives to prevent and address child abuse include family coaching programs and improved tracking of caseload ratios to ensure caseworkers have adequate time to connect families to prevention-related services. For more information on 2023 work to support children in families in Oregon, see the Oregon Child Welfare Assessment Findings Report published by Public Knowledge.
Oregon needs everyone to contribute to preventing child abuse. Children and families are stronger when communities come together to support them before they reach crisis.
“As individuals and as a community, we play a part in preventing child abuse. We encourage everyone to make a commitment this month to learn new ways to strengthen child and family well-being,” ODHS Child Welfare Director Aprille Flint-Gerner said. “Together, we can make a difference.”
In recognition of Child Abuse Prevention Month, ODHS asks everyone in Oregon to be aware of help available to families to meet their basic needs which is critical in preventing conditions that can result in child abuse. This includes sharing information about food banks, unemployment benefits, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) availability, and educational resources. ODHS values its collaboration with community organizations to prevent child abuse and ensure families in Oregon know about the resources available to help them.
If you suspect a child is being abused, please contact the Oregon Child Abuse Hotline by calling 1-855-503-SAFE (7233). The Oregon Child Abuse Hotline receives calls 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.
More information for resources and support:
- To learn more about food resources including SNAP visit NeedFood.Oregon.gov.
- 211info.org (also by dialing 211) offers connection to local and regional resources for food banks, housing assistance, and mental health services.
- Lines for Life, a nonprofit dedicated to substance abuse and suicide prevention: call or text 988.
- Friends and neighbors can help break the social isolation some parents may experience or encourage parents to seek support when needed by calling the Oregon parent helpline: 971-221-5180.
- Oregon Child Abuse Solutions: https://oregoncas.org/
- Prevent Child Abuse Oregon: https://preventchildabuseoregon.org/
- Oregon Association of Relief Nurseries: https://www.oregonreliefnurseries.org/
Other resources
- ODHS Family Preservation information.
- Summary of 2023 Child Welfare accomplishments.
- Announcement of Doris Duke Foundation grant.
About the Oregon Department of Human Services
The mission of ODHS is to help Oregonians in their own communities achieve well-being and independence through opportunities that protect, empower, respect choice and preserve dignity.
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(Salem) – The Oregon Department of Human Services (ODHS), Child Welfare Division, asks the public to help find Alyce Butrick, age 15, a child in foster care who was last seen in the Tigard area of Washington County on April 9, 2024, at 9 p.m. She may be with a person named Danny. She is believed to be in danger.
ODHS asks the public for help in the effort to find Alyce Butrick and to contact 911 or local law enforcement if they believe they see her.
Alyce may be in the Portland-metro area, near NE 82nd Avenue.
- Name: Alyce Butrick (sounds like “Alee-see”)
- Preferred Pronouns: she/her
- Date of birth: June 27, 2008
- Height: 5-foot-7-inches
- Weight: 150 pounds
- Hair color: Black
- Eye color: Brown
- Other identifying information: no known tattoos; she is Tongan and Alaskan Native
- Tigard Police Department (may be Washington County Sheriff's Office) case #24-0007162
- National Center for Missing and Exploited Children #2017024
Alyce is supposed to be taking medications but does not have them with her.
Sometimes when a child is missing, they may be in significant danger and ODHS may need to locate them to assess and support their safety. As ODHS works to do everything it can to find these missing children and assess their safety, media alerts will be issued in some circumstances when it is determined necessary. Sometimes, in these situations, a child may go missing repeatedly, resulting in more than one media alert for the same child.
Report child abuse to the Oregon Child Abuse Hotline by calling 1-855-503-SAFE (7233). This toll-free number allows you to report abuse of any child or adult to the Oregon Department of Human Services, 24 hours a day, seven days a week and 365 days a year.
(Salem) – Forest fires, heat domes, landslides, floods, drought, pandemics -- all natural disasters that kill thousands of people and destroy billions of dollars of property and habitat each year. That’s why it’s important that each community builds up its resilience to these hazards.
Now, there is help for Oregon’s many communities. The Oregon Department of Human Services (ODHS) Office of Resilience and Emergency Management (OREM) has a $10 million grant called the Resilience Hubs and Networks Grant to give out to eligible people and organizations. The funding comes from the 2023 Oregon Legislature to build resiliency within communities.
“This grant money is part of a long-term goal of having our communities create resiliency so they can prepare for, respond to and recover from disasters. With this grant a community can design what they need to be resilient,” Ed Flick, OREM Director said.
“Applicants could be just about anyone -- schools, cities, counties, non-profits, Tribes -- if they can show how the funding would benefit their community. We’d like to get grant dollars out to populations and areas of Oregon that are not as prepared for climate impacts. Many rural and frontier communities don’t have the tools and resources as larger cities,” Jenn Bosch, OREM Grants Program Administrator, said.
"A Resilience Hub is a living, breathing part of the community already, such as a community center, a Boys and Girls Club, something that is part of their daily life, like a food bank. It’s place they would think to go to get help, such as shelter in an emergency. What they can apply for is very open,” Bosch said.
The things people and groups could apply for includes almost anything that would build and strengthen the communities’ resilience, such as medical supplies, child care, emergency communications equipment, generators, training, water purification, vehicles and more. It also includes things communities can apply for called “typed packages.” These packages are those big containers often used for storage, called Conex boxes. OREM will pack the Conex containers with emergency supplies specific to sheltering in-place or enduring a disaster until further relief arrives, and OREM will deliver to that site.
The network part of the grant is to help communities communicate and share resources more effectively.
“The goal is to break down silos. Here’s an example of what this is - Government doesn’t generally set up shelters – it’s the churches, non-profits and community groups. But often they don’t know what the group down the street is doing. We’re asking them to work together to apply for the grant. Let’s say church is opening shelter but they don’t have food, but in working together with other community groups, they would then know the food bank might have food ready to supply to them,” Bosch said.
Last July through December, Bosch with Spencer Karel, OREM Policy Chief, and partner in the grant process, traveled Oregon on a listening tour. They met in-person or virtually with more than 80 community groups, ODHS programs, Oregon Health Authority, Oregon Department of Energy and other state agencies.
“We wanted to hear from them. It was an amazing opportunity to build the grant and really make it work for the communities. A Resiliency Hub in Grants Pass will look different than one in Wheeler, and those will also look different from one in Tillamook. We’re hopeful that the applications will reflect the broad need,” Bosch said.
She stressed that applying for this grant is easy. The application is a like a survey that the applicant can fill in what they are requesting, with six essay questions. OREM is also partnering with Portland State University to assist applicants that need help completing their application. Information about this help can be found on the OREM website.
“We want to make sure the people who generally don’t apply for or get grants feel like they have a fair opportunity to potentially receive a grant this time – small, rural, frontier areas especially,” she said.
So far there are more than 65 applicants for the grant money. Applications close April 30.
Just to sum up why this grant money to create resiliency is important for communities throughout Oregon, Bosch said, “It saves lives and saves money.”
To learn more about the Resilience Hubs and Networks Grant and to find the application, visit: https://www.oregon.gov/odhs/emergency-management/Pages/resilience-grants.aspx.
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The Oregon State Rehabilitation Council (SRC) meets May 3 from 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. Mountain Time (MT) in Ontario, with the option to attend virtually on Zoom.
The council works to ensure Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) is consumer driven and that available programs, services and resources result in competitive integrated employment. The agenda includes program updates from VR Director Keith Ozols, project updates, partner updates and progress reports from SRC committees. See the full agenda for details.
All SRC meetings are open to the public, and the SRC invites feedback about people’s experience with VR. The agenda includes time for public comment at 9:15 a.m. MT. Public comment may be made during the meeting, with five minutes allotted per person. Comments may also be submitted in writing by April 26 to SRC Coordinator Kaire Downin at kaire.l.downin@odhs.oregon.gov.
Accommodation requests
Accommodations are available, including scheduling an interpreter and getting materials in alternative formats. Although every effort will be made to arrange accommodations with 48 hours’ notice, the SRC requests two weeks’ notice to ensure accommodations. Please contact SRC Coordinator Kaire Downin at kaire.l.downin@odhs.oregon.gov or 971-707-8853 to request accommodations to attend the meeting or to get this announcement in an alternate format.
Join the Zoom meeting
Meeting ID: 160 177 6098
Passcode: 951969
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About Oregon’s State Rehabilitation Council:
Oregon’s State Rehabilitation Council (SRC) is a group of consumers, advocates and representatives from business and the community with lived experience or expertise in disability awareness. Members are appointed by Oregon's Governor to advise the Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) program about how to best help Oregonians with disabilities achieve their career goals and employment potential.
About Vocational Rehabilitation:
Vocational Rehabilitation (VR), part of the Oregon Department of Human Services, helps Oregonians with disabilities get and keep jobs that match their skills, interests and abilities. VR staff work in partnership with community providers and businesses to develop employment opportunities and provide individualized services to each eligible person.