Oregon Foster Parent Rights: ORS 418.648 and the Court Process Explained

Oregon has a statutory document called the Foster Parent Bill of Rights, codified in ORS 418.648. Most resource parents are handed a copy (Form CF 1019A) during the application process, sign it, and move on. Fewer actually use it.

Understanding what your rights are — and how they interact with Oregon's dependency court process — makes the difference between being an active participant in a child's case and being a bystander who receives decisions rather than contributing to them.

Your Statutory Rights Under ORS 418.648

Oregon law guarantees certified resource parents the following:

Dignity and respect: You have the right to be treated as a valued and integral member of the professional foster care team. This is not aspirational language — it is a legal standard that certifiers and caseworkers are held to.

Full disclosure before placement: ODHS must provide you with information about a child's behavioral history, medical needs, and prior placements before or at the time of placement, to the extent that information is known and can lawfully be disclosed. If you receive a placement and later discover the child had a serious behavioral history that was not disclosed, document it and raise it formally with your certifier and district supervisor.

24/7 access to department personnel: You have the right to reach ODHS staff in an emergency at any hour. Every district has an after-hours line for this purpose. Your caseworker's unavailability at 2 a.m. does not end your access to department support.

Advance notice of removal: Except in cases of emergency, ODHS must provide reasonable advance notice before removing a child from your home. You have the right to request a review if you believe a removal decision was made improperly.

Input into the permanency plan: You have the right to be heard on issues related to the child's permanency plan. This includes attending team decision meetings and having your observations about the child's needs, progress, and relationships considered in planning decisions.

Notice of court proceedings: You must be notified of hearings that affect the child's placement or permanency, and you have the right to appear and be heard at those hearings.

Oregon's Dependency Court Process

When a child enters foster care in Oregon through an emergency removal, the court process that follows operates on a defined timeline under ORS Chapter 419B.

Shelter Care Hearing (within 24 hours of removal): The first hearing occurs within one business day of an emergency removal. The court determines whether continued removal is justified and whether there is a relative or other preferred placement available. Foster parents are generally not the primary participants at this hearing, but it establishes the legal framework for the placement.

Jurisdiction/Adjudication Hearing (within 60 days): The court determines whether abuse or neglect occurred and whether the child should remain in state custody. This hearing is the formal beginning of the dependency case.

Dispositional Hearing (within 30 days of adjudication): The court approves the case plan, including the permanency goal (almost always reunification initially) and the services ODHS will provide to the birth family. Resource parents can and should attend this hearing. You are permitted to speak to the court about the child's adjustment, needs, and your observations during the placement.

Permanency Hearings (every 12 months, or more frequently if ordered): Oregon must hold a permanency hearing within 12 months of a child entering foster care and annually thereafter. At permanency hearings, the court reviews progress toward the case plan goals and can adjust the permanency goal. If reunification has not been achieved and ASFA's 15-of-22-months threshold is approaching, the court may order ODHS to file a Termination of Parental Rights (TPR) petition.

Termination of Parental Rights (TPR): If the court terminates parental rights, the child becomes legally free for adoption. As a resource parent, you have a statutory preference for adoption if the child has lived in your home for at least six months and you are willing to adopt.

Your Role at Hearings

Oregon dependency hearings are not adversarial toward resource parents. You are not a party to the case in the legal sense — the parties are the birth parents, the child (represented by a CASA or attorney), and ODHS. But you have the right to attend and to speak.

Prepare for hearings by writing a brief, factual summary of:

• The child's adjustment in your home
• Progress you have observed (school performance, behavioral changes, relationship development)
• Any concerns about the child's welfare or case plan that you want the court to hear
• Your position on the permanency plan, stated professionally

Judges in Oregon dependency courts are generally receptive to input from resource parents who present information in a focused, child-centered way. Political or personal conflict with birth parents, criticism of ODHS, or expressions of possessiveness about the child work against you and against the child.

Reunification and What It Means for You

Reunification is not a failure. Oregon's child welfare system treats family reunification as the successful outcome in most dependency cases — the child's family healed, and your home was the bridge during that healing.

Oregon follows ASFA timelines: if a child has been in foster care for 15 of the most recent 22 months, ODHS must file a TPR petition unless a specific exception applies (relative placement, documented reunification progress, or individual circumstances). This creates a rough outer boundary for most cases.

What reunification actually looks like for a resource parent: you have been supporting visitation, cooperating with birth family contact, advocating for the child's needs, and maintaining a professional relationship with the birth parents. When the court returns the child home, your active involvement ends — unless you stay in contact voluntarily, which many Oregon foster families do with the birth family's agreement.

Some resource parents find that framing their role as "bridge care" rather than replacement parenting makes reunification less emotionally devastating and more professionally sustainable.

The Oregon Foster Care Licensing Guide covers the full dependency court timeline, how to prepare a written statement for hearings, how to exercise your rights under ORS 418.648 when you encounter a caseworker who is unresponsive or a case plan you believe is harming the child, and how to navigate the emotional realities of reunification without burning out.

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