Leaders from county juvenile departments across Oregon are calling on the Oregon Youth Authority to review safety issues and increase transparency amid turmoil at the agency.

“We believe such a review will lead to recommendations for needed changes and system improvements to prevent harm to youth committed to Oregon Youth Authority and anything like this from ever happening again,” Christina McMahan, Clackamas County Juvenile Department director and president of the Oregon Juvenile Department Directors Association, said in a statement Tuesday.

An internal investigation from the Oregon Department of Administrative Services released earlier this month found that the Oregon Youth Authority, which is part of the state juvenile justice system, had a severe backlog of abuse reports. Estimates show the agency had nearly 3,000 cases that had not been investigated properly. A week before the report came out, Gov. Tina Kotek fired the head of the agency, Joe O’Leary.

His firing and news of the backlog were first reported by The Oregonian/OregonLive.

At an informational budget meeting before state legislators Monday, Interim OYA Director Jana McLellan announced several changes in progress at the agency. That includes replacing its chief inspector, who resigned two months ago amid the investigation, and hiring four new temporary investigators to work through open and suspended cases.

The agency is also assembling a safety oversight group.

“This body will receive regular updates about our progress and offer oversight, direction and feedback as we tackle this problem,” McLellan told lawmakers in prepared remarks.

The interim director said their hope is for the group to be staffed by members of the legislature and the judicial branch, district attorneys' offices, law enforcement, and watchdog and advocacy groups, as well as members of county juvenile departments.

Molly Rogers, director of the Wasco County Department of Youth Services and past president of the OJDDA, called the oversight group a “step in the right direction.”

“The other part is really coming up with those key measures to be able to know that investigations are being completed on time, and what other pieces of information we can glean,” she said. “Are there trends? What are they noticing in their youth correction facilities across the state?”

County juvenile departments receive referrals from local law enforcement and can refer youth to placement at OYA.

“So if a youth needs to be removed from the community and placed in residential programs, the counties go to court and we make that recommendation,” Rogers said.

She said when the report came out detailing the backlog of abuse complaints at the agency, it made her second-guess placing youth in OYA’s custody.

“It made me take a second thought,” she said. “Like, ‘what do I need to put in place? How can I support the youth and the system, ensuring that the public is safe and the youth is safe?’”

Rogers said county juvenile department leaders learned about OYA’s backlog of investigations from its former director in February, but didn’t know the extent of the issue. Agency officials confirmed that county leaders weren’t given a sense of the scope, or a final copy of the internal report, until it was made public due to legal concerns.

The Oregon Juvenile Department Directors’ Association is calling on the youth authority to work with them and address critical areas, including “ensuring consistent and safe practices regarding youth in closed custody” and for those involved in parole and probation services.

The group also asked for the agency to commit to open transparency to ensure accountability, and continued modernization of the Juvenile Justice Information System, a database that tracks youth as they move through the system at both the state and county level.

OYA officials say funding for system modernization is part of the governor’s proposed budget, and noted that they regularly meet with county partners and have “increased the cadence in recent weeks.”

“What we’re asking for is a pathway forward to build trust,” Rogers said. “That trust has taken a step back and we need to recreate the pathway forward to build that trust back up.”

The Oregon Youth Authority oversees and operates nine youth correctional and transitional facilities across the state, including the MacLaren Youth Correctional Facility in Woodburn.

Earlier this month, 10 men sued the agency over alleged sexual abuse that took place while they were held as children at MacLaren. According to the lawsuit, Dr. Edward Gary Edwards, then-Chief Medical Officer, repeatedly molested the boys, who were between the ages of 12 and 16 at the time. Despite reporting the abuse multiple times, nothing happened, according to the lawsuit. The men are seeking $51 million.

State legislators announced this week that they would hold oversight hearings to look into operations at OYA, particularly its handling of abuse complaints.

News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2025/03/25/county-juvenile-departments-increased-transparency-oregon-youth-authority/