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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 11 most prevelant problems exhibited by parents in the community who have their children in Foster Care.
Most Prevelent Barriers in Coos 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 Coos County
Coos County Summary
Annually about 130 children from Coos County enter substitute care and stay in care for two weeks. Forty-one 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 Coos 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 include physical abuse, neglect, treatment issues of the child, parental absence, and sexual abuse. Physical abuse, neglect, parental absence, and threat of harm, are the most common reasons children enter care in Coos County. Sexual abuse, short term care for a parental condition, and treatment issues of the child are less prevalent in Coos County than elsewhere in the state. The level of vulnerability system contains seven levels; level 1 cases are the most severe instances of abuse/neglect and level 7 cases are the least severe. The level of vulnerability system considers numerous factors including severity of abuse and age of the child. The greatest percentage of Coos County children are identified as level 3 (46%). Chronic neglect and parental absence resulting from parental incarceration (ages 0-12 years) are the categories that dominate the level 3 population. One-third of the children entering care are identified as level 1 or level 2. Most level 1 cases involved threat of harm (child is in severe danger due to parental actions) while most level 2 cases involve chronic neglect (ages 0-12). Although Coos County SOSCF tends to have more vulnerable children entering care, Oregon and Coos County profiles are similar. Parents who abuse or neglect their children are themselves often burdened by a number of problems. These problems are known as family factors. Poor parenting skills (60%), teen parents (56%), drug/alcohol involvement (50%), and chronic neglect (44%) are the most prevalent family factors in Coos County. In addition, there is a high prevalence of parents who were abused as children, have inadequate housing, and have a history of being abusive to children. Many of the more prevalent factors in Coos County are common with parents who severely maltreat their children. Poor parenting skills, teen parenthood, chronic neglect and inadequate housing are more common factors with the SOSCF population in Coos County than elsewhere in Oregon. Children entering foster care often exhibit disturbing behaviors associated with physical or mental disorders. The most common child problems with the children entering care in Coos County include victim of sexual abuse, angry or aggressive behaviors, out of parental control, and criminal involvement. Although developmental delays are slightly more common in Coos County, problems manifested by children entering care in Coos County are similar to problems manifested by children entering care elsewhere in Oregon. Barriers are family problems that should be addressed before a child is returned home. Like family factors, certain barriers tend to be more prevalent in Coos County than other Oregon counties. The most common barriers in Coos County include parents with poor parenting skills, drug/alcohol involvement, failure to complete treatment, chronic neglect, criminal involvement and inadequate housing. With the exception of failure to complete treatment and drug/alcohol treatment these barriers are more prevalent in Coos County than in other Oregon counties. There are many services provided by the community and SOSCF to help families resolve problems and improve family functioning. Many parents with children entering foster care have drug or alcohol issues, poor parenting skills, are domestically violent and are chronically neglectful. Services provided to SOSCF families in Coos County attempt to address some difficult family problems. Drug and alcohol treatment, drug and alcohol support, non-SOSCF family counseling, parent training, and homemaker are the most common services provided to parents in Coos County. The most common services provided to children in Coos County include counseling and residential treatment. About 58% of the children return home within the year after removal in Coos County. Other branches serving the same client population would return 49%. Of the children returned home and the children remaining in their homes after a valid abuse/neglect referral, 19% are abused in the following year in Coos County. This is somewhat higher than the 12% which would be expected if the same families were served elsewhere in Oregon. Considering the high proportion of children returned home in the year after their removal, one would expect a higher proportion of children to be reabused. The Coos 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 attempts to moderate the effects of child abuse and neglect and ensure the most vulnerable children are protected from abuse/neglect. |
