Malheur 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 Children and Families 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 10 most prevalent problems exhibited by parents in the community who have their children in Foster Care.

Most Prevalent Barriers in Malheur 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 Malheur County

Malheur County Summary

In Malheur County between 1991 and mid-1993 approximately 45 children entered foster care and stayed in care for at least 14 days in the year after the removal. Researchers from the Child Welfare Partnership at Portland State University reviewed cases of children entering foster care in Oregon between 1991 and mid-1993. The following information was gleaned from case records and summarized in this report: why children enter care, the problems of the children and parents, the severity of the abuse, the services provided, conditions or behaviors that prevent a child from returning home, the percentage of children returning home, and the percentage who are reabused.

The most common reasons children enter 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 foster care in Malheur County are treatment issues of the child, child's behavior, and neglect. Both treatment issues of the child and child's behavior are more prevalent in Malheur County than elsewhere in Oregon; however, parental absence and neglect are less prevalent reasons for children entering foster care in Malheur County. Most children enter foster care in Oregon after being maltreated by their parents. In Malheur County, most children enter foster care for their own treatment needs or their own behavior.

The "level of vulnerability" system is a child welfare priority system which primarily considers the severity of the maltreatment and the age of the victim. The vulnerability system contains seven levels with level 1 representing the most severe cases of abuse/neglect and level 7 the least severe cases served by SOSCF. Level 3 contains 43% of the children entering care in Oregon followed by level 1, level 7, and level 5. In Malheur County, nearly half the children entering care are identified as level 3 and one-quarter are identified as level 7. Children entering care for treatment issues and behavioral problems are identified as level 3 and level 7; the severity of the behaviors and treatment issues differentiate children identified as level 3 from children identified as level 7. The profile of children entering care in Malheur County differs from the state profile both for level of vulnerability and reason or removal.

Children entering foster care often exhibit problems. The five most common problems exhibited by children entering foster care in Malheur County are criminal involvement (44%), behavioral problems (37%), drug or alcohol problems (37%), beyond parental control (37%), and sexual offender (24%); these problems are more prevalent in Malheur County than elsewhere in Oregon. Child sexual offenders usually require extensive treatment, require continual supervision, and require experienced and trained foster parents. One in every five children in Malheur County receive sexual offender treatment.

Parents who abuse or neglect children are often burdened by problems or conditions known as family factors. Poor parenting skills (64%), single parenthood (55%), unemployment (47%), and inadequate income (45%) are more prevalent in Malheur County than in other SOSCF branch offices. Teen parenthood and parental drug/alcohol involvement are less prevalent in Malheur County than elsewhere in Oregon. Most of the factors associated with the risk of serious abuse -- criminal involvement, mental illness, new baby, and domestic violence -- are not common with the families who have had their children removed in Malheur County.

There are family problems or conditions which require some resolution before a child is returned home from foster care. These "barriers" to returning children home in Malheur County include parent-child conflict (29%), poor parenting skills (29%), parental drug/alcohol involvement (25%), and parent cannot or will not accept their parental role (25%). Parents who cannot or will not accept their parental role include situations when parents refuse to have their children live in their households and situations where psychological examinations reveal the parent does not have the ability or understanding to parent. Very few of these children return home. The profile of barriers in Malheur County differs from the state profile -- more parent-child conflicts, more parents unwilling to accept their parenting role, less chronic neglect, and less inadequate housing in Malheur County. Services are offered to parents to improve parenting skills, reduce family dysfunction, and to minimize the potential for abuse/neglect. Children are offered services to modify behaviors and minimize the effect of maltreatment. Many of the services provided in Malheur County are for children; this differs from other parts of Oregon who offer more services to the parents. In Malheur County counseling, shelter evaluations, independent living services, and child sexual offender services are the most commonly offered services. Malheur County offers a higher proportion of these services to children and families than in other parts of Oregon. Although the profile of services offered in Malheur County differ from those offered in other SOSCF branch offices, the services reflect the problems exhibited by the families being served by SOSCF in Malheur County.

Not all children who enter foster care are returned to their parents in the year after removal. About 56% of the children removed from their homes are returned home in other branches serving a similar group of families; in Malheur County, 75% of the children return home. Although more children are returned home more children are reabused. Reabuse rate reflects both children returned home and children who remain in their homes after a valid abuse. The reabuse rate in Malheur County is 16% compared with 9% elsewhere in Oregon. The high return rates are often accompanied by higher reabuse rates.

The Malheur 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.