Child Welfare

DCYF works to achieve permanency for children as quickly and safely as possible. The goal is to reunify children with their families when parents demonstrate that they are able to safely care for their children. When children cannot be safely reunified, DCYF makes efforts to achieve permanency through adoption and guardianship as quickly as possible. Of children who were removed from their parents in state fiscal year 2022, over 40 percent were able to achieve permanency within 12 months of their placement out of their parent’s home; the federal target is 37.9 percent or more. Over 96 percent of the children achieving permanency within 12 months were reunified with their families.

Children Placed in Safe and Permanent Homes Within 12 Months of Entering Care, SFY 2010-2022

 

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Children Placed in Safe and Permanent Homes Within 12 Months of Entering Care, SFY 2010-2022

Source: DCYF. (October 2023). Child welfare priority performance measures [July 2009-June 2023]. infoFamlink.
Notes: State fiscal year reflects the year the child entered care, allowing for 12 months to exit to permanency. Excludes children who were placed fewer than eight days.

It is important that children who are removed from their homes experience stability while they are in out-of-home care. To monitor the stability of children in out-of-home placement, DCYF monitors the number of placement moves per 1,000 days in out-of-home care for children and youth entering care during a 12-month cohort period (federal measure) and during the first 90 days (state measure). The federal target is 3.98 moves or fewer; in state fiscal year 2023, Washington had an overall rate of 5.20 on this measure, 1.22 percentage points higher than the federal target. Disaggregation by placement setting however, shows that the kinship care stability rate meets the federal target, while rate for non-kin foster care does not. The state measure of stability is typically greater than the federal measure because a high proportion of the moves that children and youth experience occur in the first 90 days.

Between 2015 and 2019, the gap between employment rates for young adults who have experienced foster care and those who have not, decreased in Washington State. During the same time period however, the gap in median earnings between the two groups widened, and that increase cannot be attributed to differences in number of hours worked. Longitudinal analysis shows that over time, the employment rate for young adults who have experienced foster care approaches the employment rate for young adults who have not, but that the gap in median earnings continues to increase.

READ THE ERDC REPORT ON EDUCATION AND WORKFORCE OUTCOMES FOR CHILDREN & YOUTH IN FOSTER CARE

Employment Among Young Adults, Age 18+, by Former Foster Status, 2015-2019

 

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Employment Among Young Adults, Age 18+, by Former Foster Status, 2015-2019

Source: Chen, V. W. and Hough, G. C. (2021) Education and Workforce Outcomes for Children and Youth in Foster Care. Olympia, WA: Education Research and Data Center, Office of Financial Management.

The term "kinship care" refers to the full-time care of a child by relatives or suitable others (unrelated kin). In State Fiscal Year (SFY) 2023, over 50% of children experiencing out-of-home care were placed with kin. DCYF strongly encourages kinship caregivers to be licensed and can provide additional support to licensed caregivers, including foster care reimbursement. Over the past few years, the percentage of licensed kinship caregivers has more than doubled.

LEARN MORE ABOUT FOSTER CARE LICENSING FOR KINSHIP CAREGIVERS

Number and Percent Kinship Care Providers Licensed, Last Day of State Fiscal Year, 2013-2023

 

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Number and Percent Kinship Care Providers Licensed, Last Day of State Fiscal Year, 2013-2023

Source: Source: DCYF. (October 2023). Relative versus non-relative [July 2012-June 2023]. infoFamlink.
Notes: Point-in-time data taken last day of State Fiscal Year. This chart has been corrected, as the previously posted chart erroneously reported number/percent of children placed in licensed vs. unlicensed Kinship Care, rather than number/percent of Kinship Care providers.

An intake is the process by which DCYF receives and processes reports of child abuse or neglect. In State Fiscal Year 2023, 54% of children referred for intake had cases that were screened-in for further investigation. Since 2010, Washington State’s population has grown by 18% (Office of Financial Management), and the number of annual intakes has accordingly increased. The percentage of children whose intake cases were screened-in however, has remained fairly consistent since 2015.

Intakes by Screening Decision and State Fiscal Year, 2010-2023

 

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Intakes by Screening Decision and State Fiscal Year, 2010-2023

Source: DCYF. (October 2023). CPS victims by CAN type [July 2009-June 2023]. infoFamlink.
Notes: Intakes are deduplicated by child within each state fiscal year. Where a child has both DLR and DCFS intakes, the DCFS intake is selected. If both founded and unfounded intakes exist for a child, the earliest founded intake is selected. If all intakes are unfounded, the earliest unfounded intake is selected. If only screened-out intakes exist, the earliest screened-out intake is selected.

Where disproportionality identifies the over or under representation of a group compared to that group in the underlying population, disparity identifies inequity after a child or youth has entered the system by comparing the proportion of a group at a decision point to the proportion of that group at a prior decision point. DCYF tracks disparity in Child Welfare using Disparity Ratios; a disparity ratio of 1.0 would represent no change between decision points, whereas ratios greater than 1.0 indicate that the group proportion has increased since the prior decision point. An increase means that other racial/ethnic groups have exited the system to a greater extent by this point and is a sign of disparity.

One of DCYF’s strategic priorities is that we create successful transitions to adulthood for youth and young adults in our care. Graduation from high school is an outcome indicator for this priority. Statewide, the 2022 four year graduating cohort included 85,240 students, 82% of whom graduated on time. In most years, an additional 2-3 percent of the class have graduated by the end of their fifth year. Among that 2022 cohort, 623 youth were indicated as having been in foster care. Youth who have not been in foster care graduated at the rate of the overall class, whereas 53% of youth who had been in foster care graduated on time. In recent years, an additional 2-10% of those youth did graduate from high school after their fifth year.

VIEW THE 2021-22 GRADUATION REPORT CARD

Housing instability is a balancing indicator for our outcomes related to creating successful transitions to adulthood. Youth and young adults who exit the foster care system without being placed into a permanent family through reunification, adoption, or guardianship are often referred to as "aging out" of foster care. These youth are at higher risk of becoming homeless or unstably housed than those who have a family to support them at this critical life transition. Across the past five years, within 12 months of leaving care, about 20% of former foster youth experienced an episode of housing instability or homelessness.

Analysis has also been done about the housing instability of youth and young adults (ages 12 to 25) who are released from a Juvenile Rehabilitation institution. From 2018-2021, the rates of homelessness for youth and young adults leaving Juvenile Rehabilitation institutions has mirrored those of former foster youth. Across the past five years, 20 percent experienced an episode of housing instability or homelessness within 12 months of discharge.

VIEW THE REPORT FROM THE RESEARCH AND DATA ANALYSIS DIVISION OF THE DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL AND HEALTH SERVICES