Umatilla 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 between1991 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 10 most prevalent problems exhibited by parents in the community who have their children in Foster Care.

Most Prevalent Barriers in Umatilla 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 Umatilla County

Umatilla County Summary

There are 18,000 children (ages 0-17 years) in Umatilla County. Two SOSCF branch offices serve children and families residing in the county. For every 200 children in the county, one child will be placed in foster care during the year. Of the 100 children placed each year, about 1/3 will be returned home within two weeks; the other 65-70 children will stay in foster care until the child's safety or well-being can be assured.

Researchers from the Child Welfare Partnership at Portland State University reviewed 52 case records from Umatilla County where children had been removed from their homes for at least two weeks. This report compares families served by SOSCF in Umatilla County with families served elsewhere in Oregon.

The percentage of children removed for neglect, sexual abuse, child's behaviors, mental abuse, and voluntary requests for placement are similar for Umatilla County and Oregon. A higher percentage of children are removed in Umatilla County for a parent's mental problem or parental absence; however, a lower percentage of children are removed for physical abuse or a threat to the child's safety. About half the parental absence category is composed of parents being incarcerated.

The seriousness of the child maltreatment in Umatilla County mirrors the statewide profile. There are similar percentages of Umatilla children identified as Level 1 (most severe), Level 3, and Level 7 (least vulnerable) as elsewhere in Oregon. Umatilla tends to have fewer Level 2 children but more Level 5 children.

For the most severe types of abuse, Umatilla County has a higher proportion of children entering foster care for sexual abuse but fewer for threat of harm. For level 2 and level 3 cases, a lower percentage enter for moderate physical abuse, moderate sexual abuse, and delinquency; a higher percentage enter for parental mental illness. More than half the Level 7 children from Umatilla County enter care because of chronic acting-out behaviors -- this exceeds the statewide estimate.

Most children entering foster care exhibit behaviors after being abused or neglected. About 1/3 are victims of sexual abuse, about 1/5 are criminally involved, and nearly 1/4 are angry or aggressive. In Umatilla County, a higher percentage have behavioral problems or medical conditions while a lower percentage are criminally involved or out-of-control.

The parents of children entering out-of-home care in Umatilla County are afflicted with many family stressors. Some stressors that are more prevalent in Umatilla County are associated with risk of serious abuse. Over half the children entering care in Umatilla County come from single parent households and from parents involved with drugs and alcohol. Nearly 40% of the families have unemployed parents. The high percentage of families with unemployment, criminal involvement and domestic violence is distressing considering their association with severe physical abuse.

Family factors, which provide a profile of family problems when a child is placed in foster care, can also barriers to returning children home. Barriers are the family problems which must be addressed before a child is returned home. Poor parenting, chronic neglect, and drug/alcohol involvement are barriers with over 40% of the families; poor parenting, chronic neglect and chronic family dysfunction are more prevalent in Umatilla County than in other Oregon Counties.

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 minimize the impact of child maltreatment. In Umatilla County, the most common services are parent training (39%) and drug/alcohol evaluations (32%). Both of these services are more common in Umatilla County than elsewhere in Oregon. The percentage of families receiving drug/alcohol treatment is slightly lower than the state average; day care and homemaker are much more common in Umatilla County than other SOSCF branch offices.

About 45% of the children are returned home in the year after their removal; this is similar to other branch offices serving a similar clientele. 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 slightly higher in Umatilla County than would be expected elsewhere -- 14% who are actually abused versus 11% abused in other counties.

All SOSCF branch offices attempt to balance the 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.