Lincoln 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 2190. 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 Lincoln 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 Lincoln County

Lincoln County Summary

Annually about 65 children from Lincoln County enter substitute care and stay in care for two weeks. Forty-four cases where children entered 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 Lincoln 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, and treatment issues of the child are the most common reasons children enter care in Lincoln County. When compared to statewide estimates, physical abuse is a more common reason children enter care and sexual abuse in a less common reason children enter care in Lincoln County. With the exception of physical and sexual abuse, the reasons children enter care in Lincoln County are similar to the reasons experienced 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 cases are the least severe. The level of vulnerability system considers numerous factors including severity of abuse and age of the child. Level 3 cases are the most prevalent in Lincoln County (36%) and in Oregon (43%); many level 3 cases involve chronic neglect or parental absence. Lincoln County tends to have more level 2 children entering care. Since many level 2 children are victims of moderate physical abuse, this would be expected considering the prevalence of physical abuse in Lincoln County. Although there are slight differences between estimates for Lincoln County and Oregon for each level of vulnerability, the percentage of children identified in the highest 5 levels are the same (87%).

Children entering the foster care system often times exhibit a variety of troubling behaviors and suffer from physical or mental problems. A higher proportion of children entering care exhibit problems in Lincoln County than in other counties. The most common child's problem in Lincoln County is out of control behavior (51%). About one-third of the children entering care in Lincoln County are victims of sexual abuse and one-third are criminally involved. Approximately one-quarter of the children are angry/aggressive, drug/alcohol involved, suicidal, academically delayed, and sexually active or aggressive -- all of these behaviors are more common with Lincoln County children. 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 being place in substitute care. Drug/alcohol involvement, criminal involvement, and unemployment are common with families who have children placed in substitute care. Both unemployment and drug/alcohol involvement tend to be less prevalent for families with children entering care in Lincoln County. However, domestic violence and new baby in the household are more prevalent -- both of these factors are more common with the most serious cases of child abuse and neglect.

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 earlier. 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 Lincoln County include angry/aggressive behavior, chronic neglect, parent-child conflict and poor parenting. Drug/alcohol involvement and poor parenting skills are less common in Lincoln County. Fewer parental barriers should translate into more children returning home in the year after the removal. About two-thirds of the Lincoln County foster children return home within one year; about 57% return home in other counties. Of the children returned home and those who remain with their parents after a founded abuse/neglect allegations, 4% are reabused within one year; about 10% are reabused elsewhere in Oregon. Thus, the Lincoln County SOSCF branch office returns more children home and fewer children are reabused.

There is a large array of services provided by communities and SOSCF to help families resolve problems and improve family functioning. Visitation and parent training, non-SOSCF family counseling, and drug/alcohol treatment evaluations are the most common services provided to parents in Lincoln County. The most common services provided to children include child counseling, residential treatment, shelter evaluations, and drug/alcohol treatment. The five most common parental services and the six most common child services are provided more in Lincoln County than in other counties.

The Lincoln 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.