OREGON News

EUGENE, Ore. -- A Eugene police detective will
be honored for his work to end the prostitution of seven minor girls and
the arrest of the pimps and johns involved in their exploitation.

On May 19, Detective Curtis Newell will receive the 2010 National
Exploited Children's Award from the National Center for Missing and
Exploited Children (NCMEC) in Washington, D.C.

The NCMEC says by building a rapport and trust with the minors,
Newell was able to get additional information and convince them to
testify. He also used surveillance techniques and sting operations
throughout the investigation. Law enforcement have made 28 arrests and
obtained 11 convictions so far.

Newell has created a model for mid-sized police departments to
conduct these types of investigations.

NCMEC will honor law enforcement officials from Oregon, California,
Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, and Australia for their efforts to
recover missing children and resolve child sexual exploitation cases.

Dan Rather
Tue May 18, 10:34 am ET

Child prostitution has become a national
problem in this country. Yes, I know that you have trouble believing
that. You don't want to believe it, so you tend not to.

"Widespread trafficking in children?", you may be saying to yourself. "Sure, it happens
overseas in places like Thailand and Moldova, and
while there may be some of it here there's not that much of it in our country."

Based on a months long investigation and some reportorial digging, I'm
here to tell you that you are wrong. We all are. We're in denial.

In covering news for more than 60 years, I'd like to think that few
stories shock me anymore. But this is one of them. We ran across it
late last year and the more we dug, the more disturbing it became.

Eighty-year-old men paying a premium to violate teenage girls, sometimes
supplied by former drug gangs now into sex trafficking
big time? You've got to be kidding. Nope. That's happening and a lot
more along the same lines.

The business is booming. One of the worst areas for it runs along lines
running roughly from Seattle to Portland, to San Francisco and Los
Angeles, to Las Vegas. But no place in the country is immune.

To pick just one example among many, Portland, Oregon is without doubt one of the
nation's treasures. It has been voted one of the best places to live
and work. But according to police, the city and its outlying
communities has become a hub for the sexual exploitation of children
In a recent nationwide sting by Federal, state and local law enforcement agencies,
Portland ranked second in the country for the number of rescued child prostitutes. And
according to Doug Justus, the workhorse sergeant in charge of Portland's
tiny Vice Detail, many of the children caught up in this are middle class kids from the area.


The rest of the article: http://news.yahoo.com/s/huffpost/20100518/cm_huffpost/580035

The Bend chapter of the abuse prevention organization Saving Grace is
seeking the help of volunteers and the donation of stuffed animals for
its Saving Grace Children’s Festival, which will be held July 17 from 10
a.m. to 3 p.m. at Drake Park, according to a news release from the
organization.Those who would like to donate can drop new or
lightly used stuffed animals off at the administration office at 1425
N.W. Kingston Ave. in Bend. The organization’s goal is to send a stuffed
animal home with every child attending the event.Those
interested in volunteering can call 541-382-9227 to help with the
festival.The Saving Grace Children’s Festival is an annual
fundraiser for the organization. It has been held for the past 21 years.

Lisa Smith traced her finger across the faces in a
wedding photo behind her desk at Jackson County's Court Appointed
Special Advocates office in Medford.
The picture shows smiling faces of Smith's large family, with children
ranging in age from 4 to 25.

Did you know?
Every year more than 1,000 children are abused
and neglected in Jackson County. Most end up in foster care because they
are no longer able to live safely at home. Each would benefit from a
court-appointed special advocate to ensure they don't get lost in the
overburdened legal system or languish in a group or foster home.
What can you do?
Become a CASA volunteer. For many children,their CASA
volunteer will be the only constant adult
presence — the one adult who cares and speaks
only for them in court — advocating for the
child's placement in a safe,permanent and nurturing home.
For more information Call Lisa Smith at CASA of Jackson County
at 541-734-2272 or visit mailtribune.com/dontturnaway.
Don't Turn Away is an ongoing project of the Mail Tribune, KOBI Channel 5 and the
Jackson County Child Abuse Network to bring awareness to the community
about child abuse and its effects.

"This is my husband, Jack," she said, then
paused on each child in a brood that includes two biological daughters, a
stepdaughter and six adopted foster kids.
"People always ask who's adopted," she said with a laugh. "I usually say 'I
don't remember. I've had them all so long.' "
Smith, 46, is CASA's new program director, and she's the perfect person for
the job, said Jennifer Mylenek, CASA's executive director.
"It's her heart," Mylenek said, but she also noted
Smith's ample experience with foster children and her CASA work for 17
abused and neglected children in the court system.
Every year more than 1,000 children are abused and
neglected in Jackson County. Most end up in foster care because they are
no longer able to live safety at home.
Into their lives come a series of strangers: police, foster parents,
therapists, social workers, judges, lawyers and others. CASAs are
trained community volunteers appointed by a judge to advocate for the child.
There are currently 262 children from 175 different families waiting for CASAs in Jackson County. After the
former program director moved out of the area last fall, Mylenek tapped Smith to take her place.
"I became the CASA supervisor in November," said Smith. "I think every child in every
dependency case should have a CASA. I just feel like I was made for this job."
Ten more CASAs graduated from training
and were sworn into duty by Jackson County Circuit Court Judge Patricia
Crain on June 4. Another training session starts in September.
CASAs provide judges an educated and independent
viewpoint in dependency cases, Crain explained.
"The courts rely upon the CASA," she said. "We look
to them as perhaps more objective than any other person involved in the
case. They are an independent voice for the child."
A CASA may be the one person who follows a case from
start to finish. Caseworkers and judges often come and go, but the CASA
remains on the case, Crain said.
"They are often the one person the child can relate to and feel like someone is
looking out for them," Crain said. "If someone in the community wanted
to do something for a child, being a CASA is a way to make a difference."
Smith attributes her American Indian heritage to helping her understand what it takes to protect and
nurture children. The "takes a village" approach has helped her support
the children's biological families' continued participation in their lives, she said.
"I love children," she said.
"I always wanted a big family. But I had a tough time being pregnant. I
learned that biology doesn't make you a mom. It's the nitty-gritty daily
stuff that makes me a mom to all my kids."
Smith's children have faced and overcome many challenges — from fetal alcohol
syndrome and high-level drug exposure to long-term sexual abuse and
painful medical conditions, she said.
"But we don't focus on what they can't do," she said, adding that several of her
older children attended college and are now married and starting
families of their own.
"All my kids have a great work ethic," she said.
After adopting her last two children, who were members of the Spokane tribe, and
deciding her family was complete, Smith joined Jackson County's CASA
program in 2007. She often tackles the complicated cases that involve
multiple siblings who need individual and collective care, she said.
"As a CASA, your main job is to advocate for the
best interest of the child," Smith said. "That said, you investigate
everything. You go to schools, talk to teachers, doctors and especially
the child. You volunteer to be nosy and involved."
Smith said the training process can be difficult.
Volunteers learn facts related to neglect and abuse that can be hard to
hear, but she said sharing her life experience helps new CASAs
understand their advocacy will help children survive and thrive.
"I tell them these kids are not damaged. They are
traumatized," Smith said. "They can walk through that trauma with our
help and come out whole on the other side. Best thing to do is be their advocate."

Court to decide custody battle involving woman who killed children

by KING 5 News

Posted on August 25, 2011 at 1:24 PM

SEATTLE -- An Oregon mother wants to keep a
convicted child killer away from her kids. That killer is a woman who
murdered her own two little girls in their sleep, but a King County
court could allow her to continue living with two other children.

There are no words for Trisha Conlon, who lives in Silverton, Ore. She
worries for her sons as she fights for their custody at the King County
courthouse. Also there is her ex-husband, John Cushing, who shares
custody of the boys on Vashon Island.

But it's his current wife, Kristine Cushing, who is at the center of the controversy.

Kristine Cushing shot her two daughters to death in California in 1991,
when she was married to John. She was found not guilty by reason of
insanity and spent four years in a mental institution.

John Cushing divorced Kristine and married Trisha Conlon in 1995. The
couple had two kids of their own, but now they've divorced and John
remarried the woman who killed his daughters 20 years ago.

For three years, Colon said, she had no idea her boys, now 13 and 14
years old, were spending time with Kristine Cushing. She claims her
ex-husband concealed the fact by instructing the boys to refer to their
stepmom by a different name – “Mrs. M.” Colon and her attorney hired a
private investigator, who confirmed Kristine Cushing had return to
Cushing’s home.

Conlon went to court to alter the parenting plan for the two sons she had with Cushing, but the court ruled against Conlon.

Commissioner Leonid Ponomarchuk said that since the boys had been
spending time with Kristine Cushing since 2008 with no problems — even
if it was unknown to Conlon — there wasn't evidence of a change in
situation that would warrant an alteration of the parenting plan.

Conlon and her attorney are appealing the decision to the King County
Superior Court judge assigned to their case. That hearing was scheduled
August 25, and a judge could rule on the case Friday or Monday.

http://www.king5.com/news/local/Court-to-hear-appeal-on-woman-who-killed--128415983.html

Oregon sued over foster abuse in Salem home

Jun. 25, 2013

PORTLAND — Lawyers for 11 young children who reportedly suffered sexual abuse at a Salem foster home have filed nearly $23 million in lawsuits against the state’s Department of Human Services.

The lawsuits represent one of the most sweeping cases brought against the state child-welfare agency over abuse by one foster parent, The Oregonian reported (http://is.gd/dibMku).

An agency spokesman referred questions to the Oregon Department of Justice, which declined comment Monday.

James Earl Mooney was sentenced last year to 50 years in prison after pleading guilty to five counts of first-degree sodomy. His wife wasn’t charged with any wrongdoing. The couple has divorced.

The newspaper says 50 babies and toddlers lived in the foster home from 2007 to 2011.

“The notion that these kind of crimes can occur serially in a home where the state pays to house children is a tragedy beyond measure,” said David Paul, a Portland lawyer who filed suit on behalf of one child, now 5.

Lawyer Steve Rizzo filed two suits Friday in Multnomah County Circuit Court and U.S. District Court on behalf of 10 foster children.

In those lawsuits, Rizzo says Mooney and his wife were 22-year-old newlyweds and didn’t have children when DHS approved them as foster parents. Their application, background checks, home study and training took less than two months, the lawsuits contend.

Rizzo’s filings accuse agency employees of allegedly ignoring escalating signs of abuse from the children — including complaints of pain, redness on their buttocks and unusual behavior, such as smearing feces on walls.

The molestations came to light in April 2011, the newspaper reports, after one of the foster children moved from the home and told a prospective adoptive parent that Mooney had sexually abused her in the shower.

DHS spokesman Gene Evans said he couldn’t discuss specifics, but did talk about department policies that allowed Mooney and his wife to become foster parents.

People as young as 21 — newlyweds, cohabitating couples or single people, regardless of whether they have children — can apply to be foster parents of children who aren’t relatives, Evans said.

In 2007, a supervisor would have been required to OK a screener’s decision to approve the applicants, but not necessarily in writing. In 2010, the department began requiring supervisors to commit their signatures to paper. The agency also gave supervisors more training, Evans said.

The agency also does a better job of sharing information among caseworkers who supervise children in the same home, Evans said. Now anytime a report of abuse is made against a foster parent, all involved caseworkers are automatically alerted.

http://www.statesmanjournal.com/viewart/20130625/UPDATE/306250046/Oregon-sued-over-foster-abuse-Salem-home