Baker County, Oregon

Reason Children are Removed

Children are often removed from their homes and placed in out-of-home care for multiple reasons. However, if the most serious reason were identified for each of the children removed, the following profile would characterize children entering care between 1991 and 1993.

Level of Vulnerability

State Office for Services to Families and Children has formalized a child welfare priority system known as the level of vulnerability. This system, which replaces an informal prioritization system in each branch office, assures workers provide services to the more vulnerable children and recognizes the level of service provided in each branch office.

SOSCF administration, program managers, and researchers created the level of vulnerability system in 1990. There are seven levels in the system. Level 1 includes the most severe abuse and neglect cases: life threatening neglect, abandoned or orphaned children, siblings of children who have died from abuse or neglect, severe familial sexual abuse, and severe physical abuse. The least vulnerable children are identified as Level 7: chronic acting-out teenagers, adolescents exposed to chronic neglect, teenage victims of mild physical abuse, court ordered services where no abuse has occurred, and voluntary requests for services where abuse, neglect, and threat of harm are not apparent. Younger and more vulnerable children are in the higher levels of vulnerability (levels 1-3); older children, better able to protect themselves from moderate and mild abuse, are assigned to the lower levels of the system (levels 4-7).

Child's Problems

Children and youth entering the foster care system exhibit a variety of troubling behaviors and suffer from myriad of physical and mental problems. The following table contains a list of the child's problems most often cited by case workers.

Family Factors

Parents who abuse or neglect their children are themselves often burdened by a host of problems known as family factors. The table below contains the 11 most prevelant problems exhibited by parents in the community who have their children in Foster Care.

Most Prevelent Barriers in Benton County

Barriers are problems or conditions that a caseworker identifies as requiring some resolution before a child can be returned home.

Services Provided to Children and Families in Benton County

Benton County Summary

Researchers from the Child Welfare Partnership at Portland State University reviewed 36 case records from Benton County where children had been removed from their homes for at least two weeks. The sampling period extends from 1991 through mid-1993. This report compares families served by SOSCF in Benton County with families served elsewhere in Oregon for the following: why children enter care, the severity of the abuse/neglect, problems exhibited by the children and parents, services provided, and barriers to returning children home.

The most prevalent reasons children are placed outside their homes in Benton County include child's behavioral problems (31%), physical abuse (22%), and neglect (14%). Child's behavior is a much more common reason for children entering care in Benton County and sexual abuse is a less common reason. This does not imply sexual abuse is less prevalent in Benton County. Sexual abuse victims are placed in care when the child cannot be protected from the perpetrator. If the child is protected by the non-offending spouse and the perpetrator leaves the household, the child will not enter care.

The level of vulnerability system is a child welfare priority system that considers primarily severity of abuse and age of the child. This level of vulnerability system in comprised of seven levels; level one cases include the most severe situations while level seven cases include the least severe situations. The most common levels for children entering care in Oregon are level 3 and level 1; the most common levels for Benton county include level 7 and level 3. A higher proportion of level 7 children enter care in Benton County (39%) than in most Oregon counties (11%). Level 7 cases from Benton County consist of non-adjudicated delinquents and teenagers beyond parental control.

Most children entering foster care are afflicted with problems. The most common problems of children entering care in Benton County include beyond parental control, academic delays, criminal involvement, angry/aggressive behavior, and drug/alcohol involvement. These behaviors are common with level 7 children. Although these problems are more pervasive with children entering care in Benton County, the percentage of sexual abuse victims (16%) is about half the state estimate (31%). Many sexual abuse victims exhibit problems during adolescence and require extensive therapy to resolve abuse-related problems.

Parents with children entering foster care are often burdened with a number of problems or conditions. These parental problems, known as family factors, are associated with risk of serious abuse or risk of a child being placed in care. Some of the most common factors for Oregon -- drug/alcohol involvement, poor parenting skills, single parenthood, and unemployment -- are about 40% less pervasive in Benton County. Fewer parental problems are common with parents of level 7 children.

Barriers are family problems or conditions that require some resolution before a child can be returned home. The barriers in Benton County do relate to the level of vulnerability and family factors exhibited by the parents. There is a higher prevalence of parent-child conflict as a barrier; this is associated with the high percentage of level 7 children being placed in Benton County. There is a lower prevalence of parental drug/alcohol involvement and chronic neglect; which are common barriers with the higher levels of vulnerability.

The State Office for Services to Children and Families provides services to minimize the number of children entering out-of-home care, and to encourage the return home of children in care. The majority of services offered in Benton County are provided to address the high prevalence of child's problems. The most common services provided to children in Benton County include residential treatment, shelter exams, counseling, drug/alcohol treatment, and individualized education plans (IEP). Parent training, and counseling by SOSCF and their community partners are offered less often to parents in Benton County than elsewhere in Oregon.

Whenever possible, returning children home and reuniting families is the agency goal . About 63% of the children return home in the year after the removal in Benton County. Other branches serving the same client population return 71%. Reabuse rate, which acknowledges both the percentage of children reabused after returning home, as well as, children left in their own homes, is lower in Benton County than in other counties (10%) serving a similar population.

The Benton County SOSCF branch office strives to balance child safety with efforts to preserve families. This delicate balance weighs the potential for reabuse with the emotional needs of the children to remain with their parents. Services to Children and Families attempt to moderate the effects of child abuse and neglect and ensure the most vulnerable children are protected from abuse/neglect.