Wallowa County, Oregon

 

 

 

Introduction

Oregon’s child welfare agency (the State Office for Services to Children and Families or SOSCF) serves abusive families, neglectful families, overwhelmed families, families in crisis, and families with children exhibiting extreme behaviors. There are 40 SOSCF branch offices located throughout Oregon. Caseworkers in those offices assess allegations of maltreatment, provide services, arrange services for the parents and children, identify and assess prospective foster parents, identify and assess prospective adoptive parents, interact with the court system and police, and assure children and parents are provided the necessities to improve the likelihood of family reunification. Caseworkers must continually balance the benefits of reunifying families with the likelihood of subsequent maltreatment.

The Child Welfare Partnership (CWP) at Portland State University provides educational, training, and research assistance to SOSCF. The research component of the CWP conducts research to recognize the changing client population, provide statistical models for deploying and redeploying staff, and optimizing the use of limited resources. These studies enable SOSCF administration to make informed decisions about serving this needy population of Oregonians.

This report profiles the client population served by SOSCF branch offices. The “Cohort Studies” profile a group of children entering substitute care during a period of time. This report profiles children entering long-term foster care from mid-1992 to 1995; the profiles include parental problems or conditions, child problems, child’s age, severity of maltreatment, barriers affecting family reunification, and services offered to families. The long-term population profiled in this report are children who are in care for at least 14 days during the year after their removal. About 80% of the children entering foster care in Oregon are considered long-term cases; the remaining 20% are quickly returned home and do not remain in foster care for an extended period.

Methods

The average branch office removes between 125 and 150 children per year. Some larger branch offices place over 300 children while some smaller offices place fewer than 30 children per year. A random sample of children entering foster care in a branch office are identified and their records are reviewed. The case file review includes the period from first allegation to one year post-removal. The case records include legal material, medical information, financial information, demographic data, correspondence, service involvement, and descriptions of reported maltreatment.

Reason for Removal

Children enter foster care for a multitude of reasons. These many reasons have been consolidated into 10 categories including physical abuse, mental abuse, sexual abuse, neglect, parental absence, threat of harm, child’s treatment needs, parent’s treatment needs, voluntary request for placement, and child’s behavior. All abusive and neglectful categories reflect caretaker maltreatment of a child. Each category is briefly defined below although more detail is available on the Partnership’s website (http://www.cwp.pdx.edu/). Most physical abuse involves bruises, broken bones, burns, facial slapping, over discipline, shaken baby, and drug exposed or drug affected infants harmed by maternal consumption of drugs during pregnancy. Mental or emotional abuse includes continual belittlement, yelling, or extended periods of isolation. Sexual abuse includes fondling, penetration, exposure to inappropriate sexual acts or using children to produce pornographic material. Neglect is primarily poor household sanitation, lack a supervision, and inadequate response to a child’s medical needs. Parental absence includes parental incarceration, and children left with babysitters when the parent does not return at the prescribed time. Threat of harm is a caretakers failure to protect a child from a known perpetrator. Child’s treatment issues include children requiring residential treatment for behavioral problems, child sexual offenders requiring treatment, and children requiring hospitalization for mental or medical problems. Parental treatment issues include the hospitalization of a parent for drug/alcohol problems, mental problems requiring extensive treatment, or medical problems requiring convalescence. Voluntary request for placement are situations where a parent requests foster care although no maltreatment has occurred; these situations are not common and are often referred to other community resources. Child’s behavior issues generally involve out-of-control teenagers sometimes involved with criminal activities.

Child's Age Groups

There are approximately 70 million children in the United States and about 825,000 live in Oregon. Children ages 0-17 years represent about 26% of the population in the United States and in Oregon.

In Oregon, children ages 0-4 years represent 29% of the child population, children ages 5-9 years represent 28% of the child population, children 10-14 years represent 28% of the child population, and children 15-17 years represent 16% of the child population. For the population of children entering foster care, nearly half are 0-5 years, 29% are ages 6-12 years, and 23% are ages 13-17 years. A disproportionate number of preschool children are in long-term foster care. Reuniting families with young children is a difficult decision -- the youngest children are the most vulnerable to serious maltreatment, however, parent-child bonding is most important when children are young.

The age of the child victim is one of the most important variables in child welfare. The age of children entering care is continually decreasing as limited resources prohibit serving all needy children and families. SOSCF is forced to prioritize families with the greatest need or most likely to severely maltreat their child. This trend is expected to continue as the demand for child welfare services continues to outstrip the agency’s ability to serve maltreating families.

Level of Vulnerability

SOSCF’s vulnerability system was created nearly 10 years ago to recognize the changing client population. Although numerous child and family characteristics are considered when categorizing a child’s vulnerability, child’s age and severity of maltreatment are the major considerations. There are seven levels in the vulnerability system. Younger and more severely maltreated children are identified as more vulnerable (levels 1-3) and older less severely maltreated children are identified as less vulnerable (levels 4-7).

Level 1 cases involve the most severe types of child maltreatment. Child maltreatment related fatalities, fractured skulls, brain damaged children resulting from shaken baby syndrome, severely drug affected infants, abandoned children, and severely sexually abused children are all considered level 1. Level 2 cases involve younger children exposed to chronic neglect, severe emotional abuse, moderate physical abuse, and children left with babysitters whose parents do not return. Level 3 cases often involve treatment for children or treatment for parents. Children with severe emotional disturbances, physical/medical handicaps, mental problems, and child sexual offenders requiring treatment are all considered level 3. In addition, parental incarceration, parental hospitalization, and parental detoxification treatment are all categorized as level 3. Level 4 cases are milder forms of child maltreatment to young children (ages 0-5 years) and more severe forms of child maltreatment to older children (ages 13-17 years). Level 5 and level 6 cases include mild and moderate maltreatment to older children. Level 7 cases have traditionally been recognized as out of control teenagers. In addition to the chronic acting out teenagers, level 7 cases involve mild physical abuse, mild neglect, juvenile delinquents, and voluntary requests for placement. Fewer and fewer level 7 children are being served by SOSCF; other community agencies are provided resources to serve this population of children and parents.

Child Problems

Many children entering foster care exhibit behaviors. Some child behaviors are related to maltreatment while other behaviors reflect poor parenting of the caretakers. Many of the problems or behaviors require extensive treatment and affect the child’s ability to maximize their potential and become productive citizens.

Most of the older children entering foster care exhibit problems. Although younger children tend to exhibit fewer problems, many younger children later develop behaviors or problems related to the maltreatment. Thus, although 85% of the children entering foster care do exhibit problems, some not identified with problems will later exhibit problems. These estimates are considered conservative and reflect the proportion of children entering foster care who exhibit problems in the year after the removal.

Problems exhibited by children entering foster care are important to profile. More problematic children require more extensive treatment and require more skilled providers. Foster parents will need more training and skills, residential treatment facilities will require more intensive services for more extended periods, and matching of children to prospective adoptive families will require more efforts to minimize disruption rates.

Family Factors

Parents who maltreat children are often afflicted with problems or conditions known as family factors. The Cohort Studies recognize about three dozen different family factors including parental drug involvement, domestic violence, criminal involvement, alcohol abuse, mental illness, unemployment, and homelessness. Monitoring family characteristics enables SOSCF and their community partners to develop programs and services that meet the changing needs of the client population.

Some family factors increase the likelihood a child will be placed in foster care; other family factors increase the likelihood a child will be seriously maltreated. Unemployment, drug/alcohol involvement, criminal involvement, and inadequate housing increase the likelihood of a foster care placement. These family factors are much more common with the population of children in foster care than the population being served in-home. There are other parental characteristics associated with the risk of serious maltreatment. Mothers with young infants who are mentally ill are more susceptible to seriously maltreating their child. Father figures who are criminally involved and prone to violent acts are more likely to seriously maltreat a child.

The factors below include the more important factors associated with risk of a child entering foster care and /or risk of serious maltreatment. When these factors are common in a community, the number of children entering care and the number of serious maltreatment cases are expected to be higher than other communities.

Parental Barriers

There were over 5,400 children placed in foster care in 1996 and over 80% were in foster care for at least 14 days during the year after the removal; about 40% return to the same caretaker(s). Those not returned to the same caretaker(s) are adopted, placed with relatives, placed with a different biological parent, emancipate, or return home more than a year after placement into foster care. Every family has identified “barriers” that influence whether a child is returned home to the same caretaker(s). An incarcerated parent might be released from jail, a sexual offender may leave the family, a parent’s mental condition might prohibit family reunification, and a homeless family might find suitable housing -- resolution of these “barriers” determines if a child returns home. Barriers are generally a limited number of family problems or situations directly associated with a child’s return home. Most problems or situations that prevent family reunification are parental; child problems generally do not prevent family reunification.

All barriers influencing a child’s return home have been identified for each family. When a single barrier is selected for children not returning home, the most important barriers preventing family reunification can be identified. Parental drug involvement (27%), a parent unwilling to be a parental resource (10%), a parent who cannot be located (7%), mental condition (7%), chronic neglect (6%), and alcohol abuse (6%) are the most important parental barriers that prevent a child from returning home. Communities where these barriers are common will have more difficulty returning children home.

Parental Services

Maltreating parents usually require a lifestyle or behavioral change to adequately parent their child. Services provided by SOSCF, organizations contracted with SOSCF, other state agencies, the federal government, and SOSCF’s community partners provide an array of services intended to resolve problems and improve parenting. In addition to the services provided to parents, abused and neglected children are provided services to help mitigate the effects of child maltreatment and modify detrimental behaviors.

There are 38 different services provided to maltreating parents that are recognized by the Cohort Study. The fifteen most common services constitute 80% of the services provided. The average family is provided with four services to the parent(s). About 50% of those services are completed by either parent, about 25% are partially competed, and about 25% are not attended.

Most of the common services listed below are associated with promoting family reunification or minimizing re-abuse. Visitation, parent training, drug/alcohol treatment, counseling, and alcoholics/narcotics anonymous are all associated with higher return home rates. Low return home rates are associated with parents who do not participate with services. Although many services are associated with increased numbers of children returning home, fewer services are associated with lower re-abuse rates. Parent training, drug/alcohol inpatient treatment, individual counseling, and alcoholic/narcotics anonymous are all associated with lower re-abuse rates. Most services require full parental participation to decrease re-abuse rate. A full report on service effectiveness can be obtained from the Child Welfare Partnership (503-315-4268).

Child Services

Eighty-five percent of the children entering foster care exhibit problems. SOSCF and other social services agencies provide treatment services to abused children, neglected children, and children considered dangerous to themselves or others. There are 26 different services provided to children that are recognized in the Cohort Studies. Although one-quarter of the children in foster care receive no services, child’s age influences the number and types of services offered to children.

Children ages 0-5 years average one services in the year after their removal, children ages 6-12 years average 1.9 services, and children ages 13-17 years average 2.2 services. The most common services provided in all age groups is individual counseling. Individual counseling to very young children might be substantially different from individual counseling provided to a teenager. About half the children ages 6-12 years are provided individual counseling, about one in five receives a psychological examination, and about 1 in 6 receive an individualized education plan (IEP). These three services represent about half the services provided to children ages 6-12 years. Children ages 13-17 years are the smallest population of children entering foster care yet each child tends to receive more services. Individual counseling is provided to half the children ages 13-17 years, one-quarter are provided psychological examinations and residential treatment, about 16% receive independent living, and about one in nine receive drug/alcohol treatment, an individualized education plan, sexual abuse treatment, and drug/alcohol evaluations.

Wallowa Summary

The Child Welfare Partnership at Portland State University read 2,421 cases of children entering long term foster care for the State Office for Services to Children and Families. Nineteen cases of children entering long term foster care in Wallowa County were included in this sample. Long term cases are considered children who enter foster care and remain in care for a least 14 days in the year after the removal. Cases with children entering foster care between July 1992 through December 1995 were included in the sample. This summary profiles children entering foster care in Wallowa County and compares that profile to the state profile. The information gleaned from case records includes the type of maltreatment prompting the foster care placement, the severity of the maltreatment, the child's problems, family factors, barriers to returning children home, and services offered to families.

The most common reasons children enter foster care in Oregon include neglect (25%), parental absence (17%), threat of harm (13%), physical abuse (11%), and treatment issues of the child (11%). These five reasons account for 77% of the removals statewide and 51% in Wallowa County. The reasons children enter foster care in Wallowa County differ considerably from the statewide profile. Child's behavior (22% verses 6%), mental abuse (17% verses 2%), physical abuse (17% verses 11%), and parental treatment (11% verses 8%) are the most common reasons children enter foster care in Wallowa County. There were no cases of neglect reviewed in Wallowa County. Parental absence and child's treatment have estimates similar to the statewide profile, and the estimate for threat of harm is less in Wallowa County when compared statewide. Parental absence includes cases of parental incarceration and leaving children with a baby-sitter beyond the prescribed time. Threat of harm includes situations where children are at risk yet maltreatment has not occurred (e.g. a known perpetrator is residing in the home).

The child’s age is an important consideration when assessing cases of child abuse and neglect. Young children are more vulnerable and need more interaction with parents to become attached. Older children are less vulnerable but better able to verbalize their preferences. In Oregon 48% of children entering long term foster care are ages 0-5 years, 29% are ages 6-12 years and 23% are ages 13-17 years. The Wallowa County branch office serves a much older client population, 28% are ages 0-5 years, 22% are ages 6-12 years, and 50% are ages 13-17 years.

Level of vulnerability is a seven level system that enables child welfare experts to recognize the changing client population. The primary considerations for categorizing a case as level 1-7 includes the severity of maltreatment and the age of the child. Younger and more severely maltreated children are identified as the most vulnerable (levels 1-3) while the older and less severely abused children are considered the least vulnerable (levels 4-7). Statewide nearly 82% of children are categorized as levels 1-3, whereas, 58% of the children entering foster care in Wallowa County are categorized as level 1-3. The proportion of level 1 cases in Wallowa County is considerably lower for level 1(6% verses 16%), lower for level 2 (19% verses 31%), and similar for level 3 (33% verses 35%) when compared to the statewide estimate. One of the most notable differences between Wallowa County and statewide is within level 7; 22% of the children entering foster care in Wallowa are identified as level 7, this is somewhat more than the 8% served statewide. Branches serving older children usually have higher estimates for level 7.

Each level of vulnerability contains numerous sub levels that describe why children entered foster care. Severe sexual abuse (6%) is the most common level 1 reason children enter foster care statewide. There were no cases of children entering foster care due to severe sexual abuse found in the Wallowa County sample. The most common level 1 reason children enter care in Wallowa County is child is a severe danger to harm self or others, which is 6% in Wallowa County and less than 1% statewide. For level 2 cases the most common reason for removal in Oregon is chronic neglect of young children (15%); no cases of chronic neglect were found in the Wallowa County sample. Moderate physical abuse is the most common level 2 reason children enter care in Wallowa County (8%), which is somewhat more than the 3% statewide. For level 3 cases the most common reasons for removal in Oregon include parental incarceration (9%), child requiring residential treatment (7%), and chronic neglect (5%). In Wallowa County, 17% of the children were removed due to parental incarceration, 6% include moderate physical abuse, severe emotional disturbance, and sexual offender requiring treatment.

The effects of abuse, neglect, and family separation are associated with children who enter foster care exhibiting problems. Although some children entering foster care were not identified with problems, most children exhibit one or more mental, physical or behavioral problems. Children in Wallowa County were identified with no problems in 6% of the cases compared to 15% statewide. Children served in Wallowa County tend to be older and have more problems when compared elsewhere in Oregon. Some of the more statistically significant child problems that are more common in Wallowa County include victim of sexual abuse (44% verses 27%), out of control/acting out (44% verses 26%), academically delayed (33% verses 15%), and depression (28% verses 12%). Other child's problems more pervasive in Wallowa County when compared to the statewide estimates include self mutilation (17% verses 3%), "other" mental disorder (17% verses 3%), and adjustment disorder (17% verses 7%).

Parents who maltreat their children often have problems or conditions that affect their parenting. Parental problems and conditions exhibited by the mother figure or father figure are known as family factors. The most common family factors statewide include poor parenting (72%), chronic neglect (57%), single parenthood (51%) and drug abuse (50%). When comparing these family factors to the statewide estimates each are less pervasive in Wallowa County. Criminal involvement (61% verses 43%), alcohol involvement (61% verses 43%), parent abused as a child (61% verses 32%), poverty/inadequate income (39% verses 32%), health impaired (17% verses 9%), and MR/DD (11% verses 3%) are family factors more common in Wallowa County than statewide.

"Barriers" are problems or situations that influence the likelihood a child will be returned home. Generally, barriers are associated with the family factors and the maltreatment prompting the removal. Although both child and parental barriers are recognized, typically the parental barriers are related to a child's return home. The most common parental barriers in Oregon include drug involvement (36%), chronic neglect (19%), and alcohol abuse (16%). Alcohol abuse is more common in Wallowa County at 22%, whereas, drug abuse and chronic neglect are barriers less common in Wallowa County when compared statewide. Barriers more common in Wallowa than statewide include continued criminal involvement, mental condition, parent/child conflict, and parent can’t/won’t parent the child. The estimate for angry/aggressive behavior mimics the state estimate in Wallowa County, whereas, sexual offender is a barrier not found in the Wallowa County sample, which is 10% statewide.

Although parental problems and parental barriers determine if most children return home, child barriers do exist in some cases. The most common child barrier statewide (12%) and in Wallowa County (17%) is out of control behavior. Eleven percent of the children entering foster care statewide have mental/emotional condition as a barrier, which is a problem affecting 6% of the children entering foster care in Wallowa County. And, 11% of the children entering foster care in Wallowa County have unresolved sexual abuse as a barrier, which is a problem affecting 7% of the statewide population. Fourteen percent of the children entering foster care in Wallowa County have no barriers that prevent their return home; this estimate is significantly lower when compared to the 46% of children with no barriers statewide.

Services are offered to resolve the issues prompting the removal, to minimize the potential for reabuse, to reduce the effects of maltreatment, and increase the likelihood of family reunification. Services provided through community agencies and SOSCF include parent training, counseling, psychological examinations, treatment, and parental support. Visitation is the most common service offered in Wallowa County (44%) and statewide (68%). Parent training the second most common service statewide (44%), this service is offered to fewer parents in Wallowa County (22%). Drug/alcohol evaluation is a service offered to one-third of the parents with children entering foster care in Wallowa County, however, this service is provided slightly more statewide (39%). Services offered more in Wallowa County when compared to other SOSCF branch offices include HIGH impact counseling (33% verses 18%), AA/NA support (33% verses 15%), family counseling (25% verses 16%), and mental health intervention (22% verses 9%). Other services more common in Wallowa County include vocation or employment training, domestic violence group and GED education plans.

Services offered to children are intended to minimize the effects of maltreatment and modify behavior. The most common service offered to children statewide is individual counseling (32%); this estimate is similar in Wallowa County (31%). Psychological examinations (28% verses 15%), residential treatment (17% verses 10%), and individual education plans (17% verses 10%) are child services offered to more children in Wallowa County than statewide. Of the children sampled in Wallowa County none where provided sexual abuse treatment; 8% of the children served statewide were offered sexual abuse treatment. However, there were no cases of sexual abuse found in the Wallowa County sample, which explains the low percentage of sexual abuse treatment. Twenty-two percent of the children entering foster care in Wallowa County are offered no services; this estimate is slightly higher statewide (28%).

The Wallowa County SOSCF branch and their community partners serve families at risk, protect vulnerable children, and prevent reabuse. By working to diminish abuse and neglect, the agency endeavors to preserve the emotional and physical well being of the children and promote healthier family functioning overall.


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