Karri Wittrein looks at photographs of her children. She says if volunteer child care program existed, like the one Oregon lawmakers are considering, she could have retained custody of her kids.

SALEM, Ore. - Some Oregon lawmakers want to create the country’s first statewide, volunteer child care network.

While it’s not illegal for parents to leave their children with others, legislators are considering a law during this month’s special session that would allow prescreened volunteers to take over the care and control of children in an emergency, but the parents would still maintain custody.

Under such a law single mother Karri Wittrein, who is employed full time, would have had a safe place to leave two of her children for a few weeks while she dealt with her two other children, one of whom was getting into trouble and the other who began to have major medical problems.

For three years Wittrein worked full time but didn’t have family or friends she could lean on for child care. She said she got so stressed out that she turned back to meth and ultimately lost custody of her children.

“I feel like a bad parent sometimes, because I can’t have my kids,” she said. “But I know they’re being taken care of.”

She said she believes she never would have lost custody of her children had there been someone to provide her with temporary child care.

“Sometimes things go wrong in people’s lives and things are stressful and they need a minute. … They need that minute and that break to get their lives back together,” Wittrein said.

“Whatever reason a parent has, we as a society should come along and provide that support,” said Dr. David Anderson.

Anderson created the unique “Safe Families in Chicago” volunteer child care program in Chicago and he said it’s taken off. He said it’s also helped his state save money since those children don’t end up in foster care but eventually go back to their parents.

The idea is backed by Senate President Peter Courtney. He and several social service workers said Thursday that it’s not state-run child care but the state would get involved only to pave the way for nonprofit groups to operate the program. They said the program would not cost the state a penny.

Currently, it costs the state of Oregon $19,000 a year to pay for one child in foster care.

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