Yamhill 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 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 prevelant problems exhibited by parents in the community who have their children in Foster Care.

Most Prevelent Barriers in Yamhill 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 Yamhill County

Yamhill County Summary

Each year about 65-70 children from Yamhill County enter substitute care and stay in care for two weeks. Thirty-seven 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 Yamhill 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 reason children enter care in Oregon are physical abuse (18%), neglect (17%), treatment issues of the child (16%), parental absence (13%), and sexual abuse (12%). In Yamhill County, sexual abuse (24%) and treatment issues of the child (24%) are the most common reasons children enter care; sexual abuse, treatment issues of the child, and child's behavior are more prevalent in Yamhill County than elsewhere in Oregon. Although the proportion of children entering care in Yamhill County is similar to the state estimates for neglect and physical abuse, parental absence is less common.

The level of vulnerability system is comprised of 7 levels; level 1 cases include the most severe situations while level 7 cases include the least severe situations. The most common levels of vulnerability in both Yamhill County and Oregon are level 3, level 1 and level 7. Despite these similarities, Yamhill County tends to serve a more diverse population. There are higher proportions of level 1 and level 7 children entering care in Yamhill County than in other Oregon Counties. About half the level 1 cases involve severe sexual abuse and about half the level 7 cases involve defiant teenagers. Generally, SOSCF offices that serve higher proportions of level 1 cases tend to serve fewer level 7 case -- Yamhill County is unique because they serve higher proportions of level 1 and level 7 cases.

Many children entering substitute care exhibit problems relating to abuse, neglect, and dysfunction of their family. Although more children entering care in Yamhill County are victims of sexual abuse, the Yamhill County profile and the state profile for child problems are similar. Young victims of sexual abuse will often manifest the effects of abuse during adolescence and require extensive therapy to resolve sexual abuse issues.

Parental factors are problems or situations that describe characteristics of the families served by SOSCF. Knowing the factors of the families being served helps communities cater services to meet the unique needs of this population. The most common factors identified in Yamhill include drug/alcohol involvement, poor parenting skills, having a child as a teenager, history of being abusive to children, and single parenthood. Although these factors are the most prevalent in Yamhill County, these factors are more common in other parts of Oregon.

Barriers are parent or child problems which must be considered before a child is returned to his/her parents. Family factors can sometimes be considered a barrier. A parent's incarceration which prompts the placement of a child in substitute care would be recognized as criminally involved (family factor) and incarcerated (barrier). The most common barrier for families with children in substitute care are parent/child conflict, unresolved sexual abuse issues, drug/alcohol issues, and sexual offender in the home. Barriers associated with sexual abuse often reflect actions of the non-offending spouses; they opt to remain with the offender or they do not believe the child was sexually abused. Either situation prohibits the child from remaining safe from further sexual abuse. Parent/child conflict, unresolved sexual abuse, and sexual offender in the home are twice as prevalent in Yamhill County than in Oregon. Drug/alcohol involvement and poor parenting skills are less prevalent barriers in Yamhill County when compared to other SOSCF branch offices.

Services are provided to parents to resolve problems, develop parenting skills, and develop a healthy relationship with their child. Services are provided to children to minimize the effects of abuse/neglect, modify behavior, and resolve problems. Visitation between the parent and the child in substitute care, psychological examinations of the child, and residential treatment for the child are the most common services provided to the families in Yamhill County -- these services are much more common in Yamhill County than elsewhere in Oregon. Drug/alcohol treatment for the parent and parent training are services less common in Yamhill County. In general, the services offered to these families reflect the reasons children enter care -- sexual abuse and treatment issues of the child. About 64% of the children removed for two weeks or more in Yamhill County are returned home in the year after removal in Yamhill County. This is slightly higher than other branches serving a similar population (56%). Generally when return home rates are high the proportion of children reabused in the following year tends to be high. This is not true in Yamhill County. There is about 17% less reabuse in Yamhill County then branches serving a similar clientele. Thus, the Yamhill SOSCF branch office returns more children and has fewer who are reabused than other SOSCF offices serving a similar population.

The Yamhill 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 child 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.