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Oregon Hires New Leader To Oversee Foster Care Program

Lena Alhusseini
Arab American Family Support Center
Lena Alhusseini

Oregon's child welfare system will have a new leader in November. The Oregon Department of Human Services Wednesday announced the results of a nationwide job search.

Lena Alhusseini comes to Oregon from New York City, where she directs an Arab-American community organization. She's been hired to lead Oregon's foster care system, which has come under fire. News reports last year that showed that top officials ignored repeated warnings about possible abuse at state licensed foster homes.

The previous director of the Foster Care program was fired in March.

Alhusseini was honored by the White House in 2011 for her work with child protection programs. She starts her new job in November, but will visit Salem this month for an initial round of meetings with Oregon lawmakers.

Copyright 2016 Northwest News Network

Chris Lehman graduated from Temple University with a journalism degree in 1997. He landed his first job less than a month later, producing arts stories for Red River Public Radio in Shreveport, Louisiana. Three years later he headed north to DeKalb, Illinois, where he worked as a reporter and announcer for NPR–affiliate WNIJ–FM. In 2006 he headed west to become the Salem Correspondent for the Northwest News Network.