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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 Crook 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 Crook County
Crook County Summary
About 20 children per year from Crook County are placed in foster care and stay in care for two weeks in the year after the removal. Researchers from the Child Welfare Partnership at Portland State University reviewed 31 case records from Crook County where children had been removed from their homes between 1991 and mid-1993. This summary compares families served by the Crook County SOSCF with families served elsewhere in Oregon. Comparisons are made for the type of abuse/neglect that prompted the removals, the severity of the abuse/neglect, problems and behaviors exhibited by the parents and children, services provided to families, family situations requiring change before the child can return home, percentage of children returning home, and the percentage of children who were reabused. The most common reasons children are placed outside their homes in Crook County include treatment issues of the child, parental absence (due to incarceration), and sexual abuse. Treatment issues of the child, parental absence, and sexual abuse are more common in Crook County than in other Oregon counties. Conversely, neglect and physical abuse are less common reasons for children entering substitute care in Crook County than elsewhere in Oregon. The level of vulnerability system contains seven levels; level 1 cases are the most severe instances of abuse/neglect while level 7 are the least severe. The level of vulnerability system considers many factors including severity of abuse and age of the child. The proportion of cases associated with each level is similar for Crook County and the state -- this implies the severity of the abuse/neglect and the child's age of the children entering care in Crook County are similar to situations throughout Oregon. The level 1 cases in Crook County consist of severe sexual abuse and situations where the child is a severe danger to themselves. Nearly half (44%) of the cases in Crook County are identified as level 3. These level 3 cases include parental absence resulting from parental incarceration, mentally retarded or developmentally disabled children needing treatment, and children requiring residential treatment. Most children entering foster care exhibit behaviors after being abused or neglected. The children entering substitute care in Crook County tend to manifest about 50% more problems than children entering care in other counties. The most common problems include criminal involvement, drug/alcohol involvement, out-of-control behaviors, and being victims of sexual abuse. Victims of sexual abuse are often afflicted with a number of problems related to abuse. Criminal involvement, drug/alcohol involvement, academic delays, and suicidal ideation are more prevalent in Crook County than in other Oregon counties. Most children enter foster care after being abused or neglected by their parents. These same parents often exhibit problems known as family factors. Many of the family problems found in other Oregon counties are also common in Crook County -- drug/alcohol involvement, teen parenthood, parents abused when they were children, and criminal involvement. There is less single parenthood, less unemployment, fewer parents with poor parenting skills, and fewer parents with a history of abusing children. Crook County does however, have a higher percentage of untreated sexual offenders than elsewhere in Oregon. Family problems contribute to a child's placement in foster care and can also be a barriers to returning a child home. Barriers are family problems that should be addressed before a child is returned home. Unresolved sexual abuse/non-supportive parents is the most prevalent barrier in Crook County. About 20% of the families from Crook County have parents who are chronically dysfunctional, chronically neglectful, drugs/alcohol involved, have the perpetrator in the household, have poor parenting skills, or have a sexual offender in the home. Unresolved sexual abuse issues, perpetrator has continued access to the victim, and sexual offender in the home are all more prevalent in Crook County than elsewhere in Oregon. If the non-offending spouse is not supportive of the child's victimization and will not protect the child from the perpetrator, the child cannot be returned home. In Crook County, the high incidence of sexual abuse as a reason for entry into care and the high incidence of sexual offenders as barrier to returning children home implies many children will not return home until the offender moves from the home and the non-offender becomes supportive. Crook County has a lower incidence of drug/alcohol involvement and poor parenting skills as a barrier than elsewhere in Oregon. Resolving family barriers improves the chances of a child returning home. Services are designed to help families resolve barriers, minimize the potential for subsequent abuse, and lessen the impact of child maltreatment. The most common services offered to children from Crook County include residential treatment (52%), individual education programs (41%), drug/alcohol treatment or support (35%), and sexual abuse treatment (29%). The most common services provided to parents from Crook County include non-SOSCF family counseling and visitation. With the exception of visitation, all of these services are provided more often in Crook County than other Oregon counties. About 47% of the children are returned home in the year after removal; this rate is sightly higher than other branch offices serving a similar clientele (42%). Reabuse rate, which acknowledges both the percentage of children reabused after returning home, as well as, the percentage of children reabused after a valid abuse referral, is similar to the state estimate of 11%. The Crook 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. |
