SALEM (AP) - Their names have faded from the headlines, but their stories are unforgettable, like 2-year-old Keyana Bravo-Hamilton, found dead of internal injuries in 2006, her foster mother arrested for abuse, and 5-year-old Jordan Knapp, rescued from a foster home in 2004, weighing just 28 pounds.

In the wake of such stories, lawmakers vowed reforms to the child welfare system, but the issue hasn't been in the spotlight this legislative session, as lawmakers have focused on expanding children's health insurance and setting up a rainy day fund.

On Thursday, though, a Senate committee heard a slew of bills aimed at changes in the foster care system. And a handful of other proposals are in the works, adding up to what Rep. Wayne Krieger, R-Gold Beach, said could be “one of our main accomplishments of the session - it's an incredible package.”

Krieger, along with Senate Majority Leader Kate Brown, D-Portland, Sen. Jeff Kruse, R-Roseburg, and Rep. Mike Schaufler, D-Happy Valley, has been working on the topic since the 2005 legislative session. The bipartisan group has pinpointed what they say are serious flaws in the current foster care system, which serves about 10,000 children. They say their bills would help heal splintered families, and decrease the time children spend in foster care, saving money for the state.

Their slate of proposals includes a $23 million investment aimed at reducing the caseloads and increasing the pay for lawyers who represent parents and children in Juvenile Court, during hearings held to place children temporarily under the court's jurisdiction, or terminate their parents' rights.

The state already reimburses lawyers hired to represent parents and children in such cases, but payment has been at only $40 an hour, far below market rates for most lawyers. That in turn has forced attorneys to take on more cases than they can handle, the lawmakers say, reducing the time they have available for individual parents and children.

Other bills focus on preserving some kind of family safety net, directing state caseworkers to try and keep siblings together and putting $6.6 million into reimbursing family members who take in their young relatives. Oregon's rules on reimbursing family members are more stringent than in most states, even though studies have shown that foster children placed with relatives are more likely to eventually reunite with their parents.

Gov. Ted Kulongoski's proposed budget also contains money to reduce the caseload of child welfare workers at the Department of Human Services. Currently, Oregon caseworkers are responsible for 25 families; the extra money would bring that down to 15, in line with national standards. Some existing jobs at the department would also be converted to caseworker positions.

Ramona Foley, assistant director of the children, adults and families division at DHS, said caseworkers are supposed to meet monthly with every member of a family they supervise, but in reality they only see about 60 percent of their clients. After Bravo-Hamilton's death, an investigation found that the toddler's Beaverton-based caseworker didn't regularly visit her each month, and missed important clues about the case, such as the fact that she was having stomach pains.

Kulongoski has also proposed more money for drug and alcohol treatment, and $3 million to free up child welfare workers from representing their own cases in court, and handling legal tasks.

The bills are SB 411, SB 282 and SB 414.