Child Abuse and Foster Care

Child Abuse and Neglect

The trauma of child abuse and neglect has a dramatic impact on early childhood development. Infants and children who are subjected or exposed to violence often have lifelong difficulties in cognitive, social and emotional functioning. Physical and emotional neglect can also cause abnormal physical, cognitive, social and emotional development. Prevention of and early intervention in child abuse and neglect is much more effective in promoting school readiness and healthy child development than later intervention.

Child Protective Services (CPS) investigates reports of child abuse and neglect. Most referrals are reported from within a family. Some referrals are not accepted because they are not considered credible or serious enough to consider for investigation. “Accepted referrals” are those that are investigated further by Child Protective Services workers. While this data does not represent a total number of violent acts, it does give us an indication of how many cases are being investigated.

• Child Abuse and Neglect – 10,522 children (all ages) in King County were reported as victims to Washington State Child Protective Service and accepted for further action in 2006.

Download Data | Source: Washington State Department of Social and Health Services, 2006

Foster Care

Children are placed in foster care homes or other foster care facilities when the state deems their home and family situations to be unhealthy, unsafe or when parents are no longer able to care for a child for whatever reason. While foster care can be supportive and nurturing, the living situations often lack the permanency to provide many children the full range of supportive relationships needed for healthy development. Children in the state foster care program have sometimes been abused or neglected, and/or may have special emotional needs.

Whenever possible, children are placed with relatives or close family friends. This keeps them connected with their extended families and to their family culture.

Children are removed from their parental homes only as a last resort, and ideally they are returned to their homes after a very short period of time in foster care. 82% of children are reunited with their families within 12 months.

Among those children who are returned to their homes following out-of-home placement, about 11% recycle back into the foster care system, because the return to home didn’t work.^[1] If it is unlikely that children will be able to return to their biological families, efforts are made to provide permanent homes through adoption, and there has been a steady increase in the number of such adoptions over recent years.

Aging Out

The foster care system serves children and youth until they reach majority. At age 18, foster care youth "age out" of foster care.

35% of these 18 year olds have graduated from high school, 37% are still enrolled in school or some form of vocational training, and 28% have dropped out (chart 3.14).

Young people who leave foster care without a high school diploma are very likely to become homeless, unemployed, and at high risk for a difficult adult life.

In the past few years, several enhancements to services for youth aging out of foster care have been added in Washington State. Youth who have not completed high school are allowed to stay in their placement until they graduate or turn 21. Medical benefits for foster youth have been extended to age 21, and some housing assistance and support for higher education has been added for youth who age out of foster care. The results of these supports are yet to be seen, but the hope is that more foster youth will graduate from high school, complete some form of higher education and enjoy successful independence as young adults.

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