Columbia 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 Columbia 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 Columbia County

Columbia County Summary

Researchers from the Child Welfare Partnership at Portland State University reviewed 60 case records from Columbia County where children had been removed from their homes for at least two weeks. The 60 cases were randomly selected from children entering care between 1991 and mid-1993. This report compares families served by SOSCF in Columbia 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 common reasons children enter foster care in Oregon include physical abuse (18%), neglect (17%), treatment issues of the child (16%), parental absence (13%), and sexual abuse (12%). The most common reasons children enter foster care in Columbia County include child's behavioral problems (22%), physical abuse (19%), treatment issues of the child (16%), neglect (13%), and parental absence (13%). Although child's behavior is a more common reason for children entering care in Columbia County (22%) than in other parts of Oregon (7%), sexual abuse (6%) is a less common reason for children to be placed in Columbia County. This does not imply sexual abuse is less common in Columbia County. Sexual abuse victims are only placed in care when the child cannot be protected from subsequent reabuse. If the child is protected by the non-offending spouse and the perpetrator leaves the household, the child will generally not enter care.

The "level of vulnerability" is a child priority system which considers the severity of the abuse/neglect and age of the child. The younger more severely maltreated children are considered more vulnerable and identified as levels 1-3. The less severely abused and older children are identified as levels 4-7. Branch offices removing only the most severely abused or neglected children will have higher proportions of level 1-3 cases then branches removing less vulnerable children. Columbia County SOSCF serves slightly fewer level 1, level 2, and level 3 cases -- the branch serves considerably more level 7 cases (28%) than elsewhere in Oregon (4%). Level 7 children are primarily older adolescents considered to be beyond parental control. Between 1991 and mid-1993, Columbia County SOSCF removed a higher proportion of level 7 children than other branch offices; services to level 7 children have subsequently been provided by the Commission for Services to Children and Families. Most children entering foster care are afflicted with problems. The most common problems of children entering care in Columbia County include beyond parental control, victim of sexual abuse, angry/aggressive behavior, emotionally disturbed, and academic delays. These behaviors are common with level 7 children. Although many problems are more pervasive with children entering care in Columbia County than elsewhere in Oregon, the percentage of sexual abuse victims is similar to the state estimate (30%). Many sexual abuse victims exhibit problems during adolescence and require extensive therapy to resolve abuse-related problems.

Parents with children entering care are often burdened with their own problems. Drug/alcohol involvement, poor parenting skills, and single parenthood are the most common problems and conditions affecting the SOSCF population in Oregon; these factors are also the most common in Columbia County. Certain combinations of factors are known to increase the risk of a child being abused or the risk of a child being placed in foster care. The eight most prevalent family factors in Columbia County are less pervasive in other SOSCF branch offices.

The most severe family problems or situations which prohibit a child from returning home are known as barriers. Like family factors, barriers tend to be more prevalent in Columbia County. The most prevalent barriers in Columbia County include drug/alcohol involvement (55%), poor parenting skills (50%), and parent does not want child (25%). In addition, Columbia County SOSCF serves more families with angry/aggressive parents, parents of chronically dysfunctional families, and parents who have a physical or mental problem than elsewhere in Oregon.

There is a large array of services provided by communities and SOSCF to help families resolve problems and improve family functioning. The most common services provided to parents with children entering care in Columbia County are drug/alcohol treatment, family counseling provided by community partners, visitation with their children, and drug/alcohol evaluations. For the children entering care, shelter evaluations, psychological examinations, and residential treatment are the most common services. Drug/alcohol treatment, drug/alcohol evaluations, and counseling by community partners is more common in Columbia County; parent training is less common.

Reuniting families and returning children home is an agency goal. The return home rate is defined as the percentage of children who return home to the same parent(s) in the year after the removal. The percentage of children returned home in Columbia County (59%) is higher than counties serving a similar clientele (45%). Although more children are returned home, more children tend to be subsequently reabused in Columbia County (15%); the reabuse rate for all Oregon counties approximates 10%.

The Columbia 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 child to remain with his/her parents. The State Office for Services to Children and Families attempts to moderate the effects of maltreatment and ensure the most vulnerable children are protected from abuse.