Court delays foster cost case

The state of Oregon’s legal case seeking reimbursement from a Canadian woman for costs associated with the state keeping her son in Lane County foster care for almost two years was delayed on Tuesday until December during a court hearing in Calgary, Alberta, according to her attorney.

Oregon is suing Lisa Kirkman of Calgary for $7,400 in medical expenses and an unspecified amount in retroactive child support costs, the attorney, Daniel Mol, said.

Kirkman’s son Noah, now 12, was taken by the staff of the state Department of Human Services in the summer of 2008 while he was staying in Oakridge with his stepfather. Oakridge police had called DHS after they repeatedly found Noah Kirkman unsupervised in Oakridge. Lisa Kirkman wanted the state to return her son to her in Canada, but the state refused, saying Kirkman was not a fit mother.

Noah was placed in foster care until former Lane County Juvenile Court Judge Kip Leonard in May ordered that he be sent back to Canada to live with his maternal grandparents in Calgary.

The case drew international attention after Lisa Kirkman, a medical marijuana advocate, went public with her demands for Oregon to return her son to Canada. Lisa Kirkman has said she was no longer allowed to cross the U.S. border to visit her son in Lane County foster care because of her criminal record. She was found guilty in 2003 of growing marijuana illegally in British Columbia.

Gene Evans, spokesman for the DHS, says it is routine for the agency to seek foster care re­imbursement from a biological parent.

Mol said Alberta family court Judge Gordon Burrell found “some deficiencies in Oregon’s application” Tuesday. An Alberta government official, representing Oregon, then asked for an adjournment of the case until a later date, Mol said. The next hearing is scheduled for Dec. 14, he said.

“There’s some question about which jurisdiction’s laws will apply in this case,” Mol said.

Tony Green, a spokesman for the Oregon Department of Justice, declined to comment on the case.