A bill backed by Gov. Tina Kotek, which aimed to lessen restrictions around restraining or secluding children in treatment centers and other forms of residential care, is dead, its sponsors say.
House Bill 3835, which drummed up a storm in Salem, would have narrowed the criteria for when restraining a child qualifies as potential child abuse and allowed the Oregon Department of Human Services to send foster youth out of state for treatment in some circumstances.
Advocates argued the bill was critically important to help relieve care shortages for children most in need of acute behavioral health help because it would roll back what providers say are onerous rules that have made it hard to serve those children and retain workers. They insisted that abusive treatment of children in care settings would still be recognized and investigated under the streamlined standards the bill proposed…