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Department of Human Services
Dept. of Human Services

Reporter Tools - Writing about DHS


 

The Oregon Department of Human Services (DHS) is a large, complex agency with numerous programs, job titles and services. Following these tips should add clarity to stories for your listeners, viewers and readers.

One agency

The most important thing to remember is that DHS is a single agency, just as Nike is one company. Therefore, any employee, benefit or program is that of the Oregon Department of Human Services.

The 2001 legislatively authorized reorganization of DHS eliminated the agency's six semi-autonomous divisions, which news stories frequently referred to as free-standing agencies. (Among the abolished divisions were Adult and Family Services Division, Health Division and the State Office for Children and Families.)

Reader, viewer and listener understanding will be boosted by tying story references to DHS, rather than to organizational components within the agency. Examples: Food stamps are administered by the Oregon Department of Human Services. DHS manages the state child-protective services program.

Job titles

In referring to program managers and employees, we believe media users are best served by identifiers that describe the job and link the individual to DHS as the accountable agency. Examples:

  • Jane Doe is Oregon Department of Human Services assistant director for seniors and people with disabilities.
  • John Doe is DHS deputy assistant director for health services. If you need a shorthand way of saying it: Jane Doe is DHS deputy for health services.
  • Jane Doe is a DHS child-protective services worker in Portland.

Tips

  • DHS Director Dr. Bruce Goldberg prefers to be identified in this way.
  • The administrator of the DHS Office of Medical Assistance Programs can be referenced more briefly as the state Medicaid director.
  • The DHS assistant director for Finance and Policy Analysis, when speaking about the DHS budget, can be referenced more briefly as the DHS finance director.
  • DHS is divided into 16 regions, or "service delivery areas." For clarity: "John Doe is DHS manager for Sherman and Gilliam counties." Meanwhile, DHS contracts with county governments to deliver public-health, mental-health, chemical-dependency services. Depending on the county, services for seniors are delivered by DHS or by a local agency that contracts with DHS.
  • Referring to DHS as the Oregon (or state) Department of Human Services reduces reader, viewer and listener confusion with similarly named county agencies.
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Page updated: September 21, 2007

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