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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 16 most prevelant problems exhibited by parents in the community who have their children in Foster Care.
Most Prevelent Barriers in Jefferson 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 Jefferson County
Jefferson County Summary
Annually about 20 children from Jefferson County enter substitute care and stay in care for two weeks or more in the year after their removal. Thirty-six 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 Jefferson 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, services offered to the parents and children, reabuse rate and return home rate. The most common reasons children enter foster care in Oregon are physical abuse (18%), neglect (17%), treatment issues of the child (16%), parental absence (13%), and sexual abuse (12%). The most common reasons children enter care in Jefferson County are child's behavior (23%), parental absence (19%), physical abuse (19%), neglect (12%), and sexual abuse (12%). Child's behavior is a much more common reason for placement into care in Jefferson County (23%) than in other parts of Oregon (7%). Child's behavioral problems are children beyond parental control without the severe problems exhibited by children categorized with "treatment issues." And, although parental absence is a more common reason for removal in Jefferson County, neglect and treatment issues of the child tend to be less common. To ensure that Oregon's most needy children are served, Oregon's child welfare agency has developed a seven-level priority system known as the level of vulnerability. Level 1 includes the most severe types of abuse and neglect cases while level 7 includes the least severe. In Oregon, more children are identified as level 3 (43%), level 1 (19%), and level 7 (11%) than in Jefferson County, where 35% are identified as level 7, 27% as level 3, and 15% as level 4. The state's profile and Jefferson County's profile for level of vulnerability do differ. Over 70% of Oregon's children entering substitute care are identified as levels 1-3; in Jefferson County, less than forty percent are levels 1-3. Most of the level 7 children entering care in Jefferson County are adolescents who are beyond parental control. Most children entering foster care are afflicted with problems and many children from Jefferson County enter care because of behavior problems. The four most common problems exhibited by children entering care in Jefferson County are also the most common problems statewide -- angry or aggressive, criminally involved, beyond parental control, and victims of sexual abuse. In general, children entering care in Jefferson County exhibit more problems, however, particular problems are much more prevalent. Depression, drug/alcohol involvement, delinquency, and angry/aggressive behaviors are much more common in Jefferson County than in other parts of Oregon. Parents with children entering the foster care system are themselves often burdened by a number of problems known as family factors. There are certain family factors that increase the chances of a child being placed into foster care and others which place a child at risk of serious abuse. The risk factors associated with placement into foster care include unemployment, criminal involvement, drug/alcohol involvement and inadequate housing. Factors associated with risk of serious abuse include domestic violence, parent abused as a child, criminal involvement and mental illness. When compared with other Oregon counties, Jefferson County has a lower prevalence for most of the family factors mentioned above. Although there is a higher prevalence of parents with poor parenting skills (56%) and single parent households (49%), there are fewer parents with inadequate income, with a history of being abusive, and parents with drug/alcohol problems. Barriers are family problems or conditions that require some resolution before a child can be returned home. Some barriers are associated with higher return home rates than others. For instance, parent/child conflict, overwhelming child care, unresolved sexual abuse issues, and chronic unemployment are barriers that have a greater return home rate. Barriers with lower return home rates include parent does not want child, psychological examination indicates the parent is incapable of parenting, and parent cannot be located. The most prevalent family barriers found in Jefferson County include drug and alcohol involvement, parent/child conflict, poor parenting skills, and angry aggressive behavior; parent-child conflict and parent incarcerated are more common barriers in Jefferson county 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. Some services are provided to parents while others are provided to the children entering care. Services for children are much more common in Jefferson County; considering many more children enter care for behavioral problems, this result is not unexpected. The most common services offered to children include counseling, residential treatment and individualized education plan (IEP). Branches serving predominantly level 1 children tend to return home fewer children than branches serving predominantly level 7 children. Stated differently, severely abused or neglected children often stay in foster care for longer periods of time. Despite serving higher proportions of level 7 children than other branch offices, only 44% of the children return home in the year after their removal in Jefferson County. Branches serving a similar client population return 50% of the children. However, Jefferson County reabuse rate (4%) is lower than in other Oregon counties (11%). All SOSCF branch offices attempt 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. This balance is particularly difficult knowing SOSCF serves the most needy children and families in Oregon. |
