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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 10 most prevelant problems exhibited by parents in the community who have their children in Foster Care.
Most Prevelent Barriers in Clatsop 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 Clatsop County
Clatsop County Summary
About 75 children per year from Clatsop County enter substitute care and stay in care for about two weeks in the year after the removal. Forty-three cases of children entering care between 1991 and mid-1993 were randomly selected and reviewed by researchers from the Child Welfare Partnership at Portland State University. A profile of children entering substitute care in Clatsop County is compared to the state profile for the following: the reason children enter care, severity of the abuse, problems of the children, parental problems, barriers to returning children home, and services offered to the parents and children. The most common reasons children enter foster care in Oregon are physical abuse, neglect, treatment issues of the child, parental absence, and sexual abuse. The most common reasons children enter care in Clatsop County are parental absence, physical abuse, and sexual abuse. Both parental absence and sexual abuse are more common in Clatsop County than elsewhere in Oregon. Parental absence includes situations where parents are incarcerated and where parents fail to pick up their children from a babysitter. Neglect tends to be less common as a reason for children entering care in Clatsop County. The level of vulnerability system is a child welfare priority system comprised of 7 levels; level 1 cases are the most severe situations while level 7 cases are the least severe situations. Although the largest group of children entering care in Clatsop County are level 3, there are fewer level 3 children entering care in Clatsop County than elsewhere in Oregon. Clatsop County tends to have more level 1 and level 5 cases but fewer level 7 cases. Fewer children enter care who are beyond parental control in Clatsop County than in other Oregon counties. Severe sexual abuse, threat of harm, and short term desertion of young children are the most common types of abuse in levels 1 and 3. Most children entering foster care exhibit a variety of troubling behaviors and many suffer from physical and mental problems. The most common child problems of children entering care in Clatsop County tend to be more prevalent than in other counties. Forty-five percent of the children entering care in Clatsop County are sexual abuse victims, 35% are angry/aggressive, 35% are out of parental control 29% are academically delayed, and 22% are drug/alcohol involved; all these behaviors are more common in Clatsop County than in other Oregon Counties. Parents who abuse or neglect their children are themselves often burdened by a host of problems known as family factors. There are certain family factors which place children at risk of serious abuse or at risk of removal. Some of the family factors that place children at greater risk include drug/alcohol issues, new baby, criminal involvement, poor parenting skills, inadequate income, history of being abusive to children, domestic violence, and unemployment. Families with children entering care in Clatsop County have a higher incidence of these family factors than elsewhere in Oregon. Single parenthood is less common in Clatsop County than in other counties. Barriers are family problems or conditions that require some resolution before a child can be returned home. Family barriers often include many of the family factors discussed in the previous paragraph. Family problems are identified as barriers when the severity of the problem prohibits adequate child-rearing or safety within a household. Although many family factors may exist when the child enters care, resolution of one or two barriers is typically sufficient to initiate the child's return home. The most common barriers in Clatsop County include parental drug/alcohol involvement, parental angry/aggressive behavior, chronic neglect, and poor parenting. Although drug/alcohol involvement, and poor parenting skills are common barriers in Clatsop County, these barriers are more common in other Oregon Counties. Disregarding these two exceptions, the profiles of barriers for Clatsop County and Oregon are similar. 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. Successful participation facilitates barrier resolution and increases the chances of children being returned to their biological families. Services most often provided to parents in Clatsop County include visitations, SOSCF counseling, and non-SOSCF family counseling. Residential treatment, a child's individualized education plan, and counseling are the most common services provided to children in Clatsop County. Visitation, SOSCF counseling, non-SOSCF counseling, child residential treatment, parent's drug/alcohol evaluations, and individualize educational plans are the most common services in Clatsop County and are also more prevalent in Clatsop County than in other Oregon counties. About 72% of the Clatsop County children return home within the year after being placed in care. Other SOSCF branches serving a similar client population return about 55%. Of the children returned home and the children remaining in their homes after a valid abuse/neglect referral, 16% are abused in the following year in Clatsop County. This is slightly higher than the 12% reabuse rate associated with other branch offices serving similar families. Considering the high proportion of Clatsop County children returned home in the year after their removal, a higher reabuse rate would be expected. The Clatsop 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. |
