The 2019 Caregiver Survey is a voice for the licensed and kinship caregivers of Washington State’s abused, neglected and vulnerable children. During the 2019 Federal Fiscal Year, the Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) conducted 1,342 telephone interviews with two groups of randomly selected caregivers for abused, neglected and vulnerable children in the state of Washington: licensed caregivers and kinship caregivers. Kinship caregivers are relatives or individuals with a pre-existing relationship to a child’s family. The survey consisted of nine standardized questions and six open-ended questions, which were comprehensively coded and analyzed for the report.
The survey responses described in the report paint a portrait of the complexities, successes and struggles of Washington’s foster care system and the thousands of individuals who interact with it daily, from the perspective of the children’s caregivers. Read the full report
