FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE March 12, 2026
Justice for Kids® Expands Child Welfare Legal Services to Oregon, Championing Abused and Neglected Foster Children Statewide
Florida-Based National Child Advocacy Firm Opens Portland Office, Bringing Decades of Experience Fighting for Children Harmed by Government Foster Care Systems
PORTLAND, Ore. — Justice for Kids®, a division of the nationally recognized law firm Kelley Kronenberg, today announced the expansion of its child welfare legal services to the state of Oregon, opening a Portland office dedicated to representing children harmed by the Oregon Department of Human Services (ODHS) and the state’s deeply troubled foster care system. Led by nationally acclaimed child welfare advocate Howard M. Talenfeld and Oregon-licensed attorney Justin Grosz, Justice for Kids® brings unmatched experience as an Oregon child foster care abuse law firm fighting for the most vulnerable children in the Pacific Northwest.
Oregon’s child welfare system has been under federal scrutiny for years, with class-action lawsuits exposing widespread physical abuse, sexual exploitation, dangerous hoteling practices, and systemic neglect inside the state’s foster care network. Despite public promises of reform, thousands of Oregon children remain at risk every year. Justice for Kids® is stepping in to hold ODHS and its contracted providers accountable and to ensure that every child who has been harmed has access to skilled, compassionate legal representation.
Oregon’s Foster Care System: A Crisis That Demands Action
For over a decade, Oregon has faced escalating child welfare failures that have placed thousands of foster children in dangerous situations. Multiple landmark class-action lawsuits — including Wyatt B. v. Brown, A.B. v. Brown, and D.B. v. Brown — have exposed systemic breakdowns including the placement of children in hotels and state offices, shipment of youth to unregulated out-of-state residential facilities, rampant sexual abuse, and the complete absence of basic safety protocols.
As an established Portland child abuse law firm, Justice for Kids® is uniquely equipped to pursue justice for children who have suffered physical violence, sexual exploitation, medical neglect, and psychological trauma at the hands of a system that was obligated to protect them. The firm’s Oregon practice will aggressively investigate ODHS failures, substandard foster placements, and contracted facility negligence to secure the compensation and accountability that harmed children deserve.
The scope of Oregon’s child welfare crisis is staggering. The state typically has between 5,000 and 6,000 children in foster care at any given time, with tens of thousands more cycling through the system annually. Despite a 2022 settlement in Wyatt B. v. Brown that mandated sweeping reforms, independent audits and media investigations confirm that hoteling continues, placement instability persists, and caseworker shortages leave children without adequate supervision across Portland, Salem, Eugene, Bend, Medford, Beaverton, Hillsboro, Gresham, Springfield, and Corvallis.
Comprehensive Legal Services for Oregon’s Most Vulnerable Children
Justice for Kids® provides comprehensive legal representation across the full spectrum of child welfare harm. As a dedicated Portland Oregon child neglect law firm, the firm investigates cases where ODHS failed to respond to abuse reports, returned children to dangerous homes, licensed unsafe foster parents, or violated mandatory safety and placement standards.
The firm’s Oregon practice handles a wide range of matters, including:
- Foster Care Abuse and Neglect: Physical abuse, sexual exploitation, chronic neglect, inadequate supervision, and failure to protect children from known dangers within ODHS placements.
- Institutional and Residential Facility Harm: Abuse, improper restraints, isolation, overmedication, and peer-on-peer violence in group homes, residential treatment centers, psychiatric hospitals, and out-of-state facilities.
- Children with Disabilities: Denial of appropriate services, IEP violations, discriminatory exclusion, and dangerous placements for children with autism, intellectual disabilities, or complex mental health needs.
- Civil Rights Violations: Constitutional claims under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for unnecessary institutionalization, excessive restraint, LGBTQ+ discrimination, and failure to protect children from foreseeable harm.
- Adoption Disclosure and Negligence: Representing families harmed by an adoption disclosure negligence law firm-level breach of duty, where child welfare agencies failed to disclose diagnoses of reactive attachment disorder, histories of sexual aggression, or severe psychological conditions prior to finalization, leaving adoptive families without the resources and support they urgently need.
Adoption cases represent a critical and often overlooked area of child welfare law. Many families who opened their homes to children from ODHS or private foster care organizations were never informed of pre-existing trauma, complex behavioral disorders, or serious medical conditions. Justice for Kids® fights to obtain increased adoption subsidies, damage awards for misrepresentation and fraud, and the financial resources adoptive families need to preserve their families and properly treat these children.
Why Specialized Representation Matters for Oregon Foster Children
Children in Oregon’s foster care system face unique risks that require specialized legal knowledge. As a seasoned foster care child neglect law firm, Justice for Kids® understands that the harm caused by ODHS negligence is rarely confined to a single incident. Instead, children often endure repeated placement disruptions, chronic abuse, years of inadequate mental health treatment, and the compounding trauma of being failed by every institution designed to protect them.
Teenagers, children with disabilities, and LGBTQ+ youth face disproportionate risks within Oregon’s system. These populations are the most likely to be hoteled, sent to out-of-state facilities, or placed in restrictive institutions that expose them to further abuse. They are also the least likely to have an advocate speaking on their behalf — making the work of Justice for Kids® all the more critical.
When ODHS or a contracted foster care provider violates its duty of care, the consequences for children are severe and long-lasting: disrupted education, deteriorating mental health, lost family relationships, and in the most tragic cases, death or permanent disability. Justice for Kids® investigates every aspect of ODHS decision-making — from initial placement to safety plan violations — to build the strongest possible case for each child it represents.
Meet the Oregon Team: Experience, Compassion, and Accountability
Howard M. Talenfeld, founder of Justice for Kids® and a nationally recognized child welfare advocate, brings decades of experience in complex child welfare litigation, class-action lawsuits, and civil rights matters involving government systems. Talenfeld serves on the Board of the Youth Law Center (ylc.org), a national organization dedicated to improving child welfare and juvenile justice practices across the country. His leadership and vision drive the mission of Justice for Kids® in every state where the firm operates, including its new Oregon practice.
Justin Grosz, a licensed Oregon attorney and Co-Business Unit Leader/Partner at Justice for Kids®, brings more than 230 jury trial verdicts to the Oregon practice. Grosz has spent his career representing children who have been catastrophically harmed in child welfare, foster care, residential treatment, and school settings. His deep familiarity with Oregon’s child welfare landscape, ODHS processes, and institutional negligence makes him an invaluable resource for families and advocates across the state.
Together, Talenfeld, Grosz, and the full Justice for Kids® team provide trauma-informed, thorough, and aggressive representation that prioritizes both the child’s recovery and long-term systemic accountability.
“Oregon’s children have waited long enough. The systemic failures in the state’s foster care system are well-documented, and the children who have been harmed deserve skilled legal advocates who know these systems inside and out. Justice for Kids® is here to fight for them.” — Howard M. Talenfeld, Founder, Justice for Kids®
Who Should Contact Justice for Kids® in Oregon?
Justice for Kids® welcomes outreach from a broad community of advocates and concerned parties, including:
- Foster parents, relative caregivers, and kinship families concerned about the treatment of a child in their care
- Biological parents whose children were harmed while in ODHS custody
- Adoptive parents who were not informed of a child’s prior trauma, diagnoses, or behavioral history
- Attorneys, guardians ad litem, and CASA volunteers representing children in Oregon dependency proceedings
- Educators, therapists, and social workers who have observed abuse or neglect involving a child in foster care
- Former foster youth who suffered physical, sexual, or psychological harm while in Oregon state custody
Initial consultations are confidential, compassionate, and free of charge. The firm’s legal team listens carefully, reviews available records, and clearly explains what options may be available — without pressuring families into litigation.
About Justice for Kids®
Justice for Kids® is a division of Kelley Kronenberg, one of the largest law firms in Florida. It is one of the few law practices in the United States exclusively focused on representing children harmed by government child welfare systems, foster care agencies, residential treatment facilities, schools, and institutions responsible for children’s safety and well-being. The firm operates nationally and has a proven record of securing significant verdicts, settlements, and policy changes on behalf of abused, neglected, and injured children. Justice for Kids® handles cases on a contingency basis, meaning families pay nothing unless the firm recovers compensation on their behalf.
CONTACT INFORMATION
Justice for Kids® | Howard M. Talenfeld 6500 S Macadam Ave., Suite 380 Portland, OR 97239 Phone: 754-888-KIDS (5437) Toll-Free: 844-4KIDLAW (844-454-3529) Email: help@justiceforkids.com Website: https://justiceforkids.com/where-we-protect-kids/oregon/
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