DHS licensing director demoted amid foster care scandal
The director of licensing and regulatory oversight at the Oregon Department of Human Services is being demoted amid a scandal over agency management of foster care providers.
Donna Keddy's last day as director of the Office of Licensing and Regulatory Oversight is April 29. The office is responsible for licensing and disciplining 14 types of care facilities including foster homes and nursing homes.
She asked to be reassigned and was voluntarily demoted, DHS Director Clyde Saiki said via email.
Keddy will be transferred to Bend as regional manager for vocational rehabilitation in central and eastern Oregon.
She declined to comment when reached by phone, but announced her transfer in an April 18 email to her staff.
In the email, which was leaked to the Statesman Journal, Keddy said she is “exceedingly proud” of her staff but it is time for her to "move on."
Keddy is a longtime manager at DHS.
Report: Ore. DHS fails all federal child care standards
She spent 14 years as a manager in the mental health and developmental disabilities divisions. For eight years she managed residential treatment and licensing for children, adults and families.
Problems with Keddy’s office became public last year when Willamette Week reported that Portland foster home Give Us This Day was mistreating children.
Emails showed DHS officials knew for years about the abuse yet did not act.
The Statesman Journal then found that DHS had been investigating at least seven other foster homes — some for years — yet hadn’t acted to pull their license even after abuse was proven.
Keddy raised her voice about Give Us This Day to DHS leaders more than once, Saiki said, but “was told to stand down.”
Since the revelations, the Legislature has passed laws making it easier to discipline foster care providers. There's also been a shakeup at DHS, where two managers of the child welfare division were fired.
An internal investigation of DHS is ongoing.
gfriedman2@statesmanjournal.com, 503-399-6653. Follow on Twitter@GordonRFriedman