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Home > Statistics & Research > Child Welfare Outcomes 2000 > Indiana

 

Child Welfare Outcomes 2000: Annual Report
Chapter IV - State Data

Context Data | Outcomes Data | Federal Comment
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Indiana [ Context Data ]

A. Key Context Statistics

General Population	1998	1999	2000
Total children under 18 years	1,517,366	1,528,991	1,574,396
Race/ethnicity (%)1
Alaska Native/American Indian	0.2	0.2	0.2
Asian/Pacific Islander	1.0	1.1	0.9
Black	10.1	10.2	10.3
Hispanic	3.4	3.6	4.8
White	85.2	84.9	81.6
Two or more races	N/A	N/A	1.9
Other	N/A	N/A	0.3
% Child population in poverty	13.3	8.5	10.4
% Child population living in metropolitan areas	54.6	60.1	72.2

 

Child Welfare	1998	1999	2000
Child maltreatment victims	18,962	21,608	21,890
Children in foster care on 9/30	5,070	8,933	7,482
Children adopted	795	759	1,147

1) The 2000 Census of the United States includes two new race catagories: (1) Persons of two or more races and (2) Other. Back

 

B. Child Maltreatment Data (NCANDS)

	Number			Rate
Maltreatment Information Overview	1998	1999	2000	1998	1998	2000
Children subject of an investigated report alleging child maltreatment	102,155	91,625	23,369	67.3 per 1,000	59.9 per 1,000	14.8 per 1,000
Child maltreatment victims2	18,962	21,608	21,890	12.5 per 1,000	14.1 per 1,000	13.9 per 1,000
Child fatalities	65	41	40	4.3 per 100,000	2.7 per 100,000	2.5 per 100,000

 

Age of Child Victims (%)	1998	1999	2000
Under 1 year	6.2	3.3	8.1
1-5 years	25.0	27.8	27.3
6-10 years	27.8	30.4	29.0
11-15 years	25.4	29.0	27.2
16+ years	15.6	9.5	4.6
Unknown	-	-	3.8
Total %	100.0	100.0	100.0
Number	18,962	21,608	21,890

 

Race/Ethnicity of Child Victims (%)	1998	1999	2000
Alaska Native/American Indian	0.2	1.4	0.2
Asian/Pacific Islander	0.2	0.2	0.3
Black	17.1	17.6	17.6
Hispanic	1.1	1.7	4.2
White	76.5	71.3	74.6
Two or more races	N/A	N/A	1.6
Other/Unknown	6.0	9.4	1.3
Total %3	101.1	101.7	100.0
Number	18,962	21,608	21,890

 

Maltreatment Type of Child Victims (%)	1998	1999	2000
Emotional abuse	-	-	-
Medical neglect	5.6	5.5	3.6
Neglect	124.3	124.9	66.2
Physical abuse	32.0	31.1	18.1
Sexual abuse	26.1	25.6	19.2
Other	-	-	-
Unknown	-	-	-
Total %4	188.0	187.1	107.1
Number	18,962	21,608	21,890

2) Children with more than one report of substantiated or indicated maltreatment may be counted more than once. Back
3) Percentages may total more than 100 percent because Hispanics may be counted both by Hispanic ethnicity and by race. Back
4) Percentages may total more than 100 percent because children could have been victims of more than one type of maltreatment. Back

C. Children in Foster Care
(AFCARS Annual Foster Care Database)

Number of Children	In Care on 10/1	Entered Care	Exited Care	In Care on 9/30	Total Served
FY1998 (10/1/97-9/30/98)	8,259	6,328	9,524	5,070	14,587
FY1999 (10/1/98-9/30/99)	8,419	4,808	4,313	8,933	13,227
FY2000 (10/1/99-9/30/00)	7,084	5,576	5,197	7,482	12,660
Median Length of Stay (Months)
FY1998 (10/1/97-9/30/98)	18.2	N/A	8.8	19.1	N/A
FY1999 (10/1/98-9/30/99)	19.6	N/A	13.2	17.7	N/A
FY2000 (10/1/99-9/30/00)	17.9	N/A	10.2	12.7	N/A

 

Age of Children in Foster Care (%)	In Care on 10/1/97	In Care on 10/1/98	In Care on 10/1/99	Entered Care During FY 1998	Entered Care During FY 1999	Entered Care During FY 2000	Exited Care During FY 1998	Exited Care During FY 1999	Exited Care During FY 2000	In Care on 9/30/98	In Care on 9/30/99	In Care on 9/30/00
Under 1 year	3.7	4.3	4.3	11.5	13.7	13.3	5.2	4.1	5.2	4.4	4.3	5.0
1-5 years	24.2	26.0	25.6	22.9	26.3	26.2	22.3	27.3	27.5	26.2	26.0	25.3
6-10 years	22.7	24.5	24.9	20.5	23.3	24.6	20.8	23.0	25.5	23.2	24.5	23.9
11-15 years	28.5	29.2	29.4	33.2	28.2	28.6	31.3	24.4	25.1	24.6	29.1	30.2
16-18 years	17.7	15.1	15.2	11.5	8.3	7.2	19.2	18.9	15.4	14.8	15.1	14.7
19+ years	1.9	0.8	0.5	0.1	0.0	-	1.0	2.1	1.3	3.8	0.9	0.7
Unknown	1.2	0.1	0.0	0.4	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.2	0.1	3.0	0.1	0.1
Total %	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0
Number	8,259	8,419	7,084	6,328	4,808	5,576	9,524	4,313	5,197	5,070	8,933	7,482

 

Race/Ethnicity of Children in Foster Care (%)5	In Care on 10/1/97	In Care on 10/1/98	In Care on 10/1/99	Entered Care During FY 1998	Entered Care During FY 1999	Entered Care During FY 2000	Exited Care During FY 1998	Exited Care During FY 1999	Exited Care During FY 2000	In Care on 9/30/98	In Care on 9/30/99	In Care on 9/30/00
Alaska Native/American Indian	0.2	-	0.3	0.3	0.0	0.2	0.2	-	0.2	0.3	0.0	0.3
Asian/Pacific Islander	0.1	-	0.1	0.2	-	0.2	0.2	-	0.2	0.1	-	0.1
Black	32.2	1.3	42.9	27.5	0.8	31.3	28.1	0.2	33.4	33.9	1.5	40.7
Hispanic	1.6	98.1	3.8	2.2	97.5	4.5	2.2	99.6	4.2	1.3	97.1	4.0
White	56.9	0.5	51.6	58.3	1.5	61.2	58.6	0.1	60.1	56.2	1.2	53.0
Two or more races	-	-	1.1	-	0.0	2.2	-	-	1.7	-	0.0	1.5
Unknown	8.9	0.1	0.3	11.5	0.2	0.4	10.7	0.0	0.1	8.1	0.2	0.4
Total %	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0
Number	8,259	8,419	7,084	6,328	4,808	5,576	9,524	4,313	5,197	5,070	8,933	7,482

 

5) In this and subsequent race/ethnicity tables, data for two or more races may be provided for 1998 and 1999 because of States' resubmissions. However, data for 1998 and 1999 may not capture all children of two or more races and therefore may not be comparable to the 2000 data pertaining to two or more races. Back

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D. Children Waiting to Be Adopted
(AFCARS Annual Foster Care Database)⁶

 

Overview	9/30/98	9/30/99	9/30/00
Children waiting to be adopted	443	2,632	1,966
Children whose parents' rights have been terminated (TPR)	124	1,408	1,008

 

Age of Waiting Children (%)	1998	1999	2000
Under 1 year	2.0	1.5	1.9
1-5 years	42.4	31.3	30.1
6-10 years	31.2	35.0	31.7
11-15 years	17.6	27.3	31.6
16+ years	3.6	4.4	4.2
Unknown	3.2	0.5	0.5
Total %	100.0	100.0	100.0
Number	443	2,632	1,966

 

Race/Ethnicity of Waiting Children (%)	1998	1999	2000
Alaska Native/American Indian	0.5	-	0.3
Asian/Pacific Islander	-	-	-
Black	38.6	0.2	47.8
Hispanic	1.8	99.6	3.1
White	54.6	0.2	47.3
Two or more races	-	-	1.4
Unknown	4.5	-	0.3
Total %	100.0	100.0	100.0
Number	443	2,632	1,966

6) Waiting children are children who have a goal of adoption and/or whose parentsÂ’ rights have been terminated. Children 16 years and older with TPR, but with a goal of emancipation, have been excluded from the waiting children and TPR populations. Back

E. Children Adopted
(AFCARS Annual Foster Care Database)

 

Age of Adopted Children (%)	1998	1999	2000
Under 1 year	0.9	0.9	0.6
1-5 years	39.1	43.2	38.7
6-10 years	41.1	35.7	37.9
11-15 years	16.7	17.5	18.9
16+ years	2.1	2.6	3.8
Unknown	-	-	-
Total %	100.0	100.0	100.0
Number	795	759	1,147

 

Race/Ethnicity of Adopted Children (%)	1998	1999	2000
Alaska Native/American Indian	-	-	-
Asian/Pacific Islander	0.1	-	0.2
Black	29.4	-	42.8
Hispanic	3.3	99.7	2.4
White	59.9	0.3	52.9
Two or more races	-	-	1.3
Unknown	7.3	-	0.3
Total %	100.0	100.0	100.0
Number	795	759	1,147

 

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Indiana [ Outcomes Data ]

 

1. Reduce Recurrence of Child Abuse and/or Neglect
(NCANDS)

1.1 Recurrence of Maltreatment Within 6 Months (%)	1998	1999	2000
Children without a recurrence	-	92.2	91.8
Children with one or more recurrences	-	7.8	8.2
Total %	-	100.0	100.0
Number	-	8,791	10,096

 

 

2. Reduce the Incidence of Child Abuse and/or Neglect in Foster Care
(NCANDS, AFCARS Annual Foster Care Database Jan —Sept)

2.1 Maltreatment in Foster Care (%)	1998	1999	2000
Children maltreated while in foster care	-	0.4	0.4
Children not maltreated while in foster care	-	99.6	99.6
Total %	-	100.0	100.0
Number	-	12,468	11,227

 

 

3. Increase Permanency for Children in Foster Care
(AFCARS Annual Foster Care Database)

3.1 Exits from Foster Care (%)	1998	1999	2000
Adoption	-	17.0	20.8
Guardianship	-	6.2	6.1
Reunification	0.1	65.5	62.0
Other	-	9.7	7.6
Missing data	99.9	1.6	3.5
Total %	100.0	100.0	100.0
Number	9,524	4,313	5,197

 

 

3.2 Exits of Disabled Children (%)	1998	1999	2000
Adoption	-	30.7	33.9
Guardianship	-	5.8	4.7
Reunification	0.5	48.7	45.0
Other	-	11.2	13.7
Missing data	99.5	3.6	2.6
Total %	100.0	100.0	100.0
Number	422	277	380

 

3.3 Exits of Children Over Age 12 at Entry (%)	1998	1999	2000
Adoption	-	1.0	2.0
Guardianship	-	2.4	3.6
Reunification	0.1	72.2	70.3
Other	-	21.9	19.6
Missing data	99.9	2.6	4.4
Total %	100.0	100.0	100.0
Number	3,040	1,135	1,243

 

3.4 Exits to Emancipation (%)	1998	1999	2000
Children age 12 or younger at entry	-	39.1	37.4
Children older than 12 at entry	-	60.9	61.9
Missing data	-	-	0.7
Total %	-	100.0	100.0
Number	-	340	294

 

3.5 Exits by Race/Ethnicity (%)	Alaska Native/A.I.			Asian/P.I.			Black			Hispanic
	1998	1999	2000	1998	1999	2000	1998	1999	2000	1998	1999	2000
Adoption	-	-	27.3	-	-	18.2	-	-	27.4	-	-	12.3
Guardianship	-	-	-	-	-	9.1	-	-	7.0	-	6.2	4.1
Reunification	-	-	72.7	-	-	54.5	0.1	80.0	55.1	-	65.4	77.2
Other	-	-	-	-	-	18.2	-	20.0	7.3	-	9.7	4.6
Missing data	100.0	-	-	100.0	-	-	99.9	-	3.3	100.0	1.6	1.8
Total %	100.0	-	100.0	100.0	-	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0
Number	17	-	11	17	-	11	2,678	10	1,736	211	4,295	219
	White			Unable to Determine			Two or More Races			Missing Data
	1998	1999	2000	1998	1999	2000	1998	1999	2000	1998	1999	2000
Adoption	-	-	17.8	-	-	-	-	-	20.0	-	-	-
Guardianship	-	-	5.8	-	-	-	-	-	3.3	-	-	-
Reunification	0.1	83.3	64.4	-	100.0	100.0	-	-	73.3	-	-	-
Other	-	16.7	8.2	-	-	-	-	-	1.1	-	-	-
Missing data	99.9	-	3.8	100.0	-	-	-	-	2.2	100.0	-	-
Total %	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	-	-	100.0	100.0	-	-
Number	5,578	6	3,123	428	2	7	-	-	90	595	-	-

 

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4. Reduce Time to Reunification Without Increasing Re-entry
(AFCARS Annual Foster Care Database)

4.1 Time to Reunification (%)	1998	1999	2000
Less than 12 mos.	40.0	64.0	76.9
At least 12 mos., but less than 24 mos.	-	21.7	15.0
At least 24 mos., but less than 36 mos.	-	6.1	3.3
At least 36 mos., but less than 48 mos.	-	2.9	1.8
48 or more mos.	40.0	4.6	2.4
Missing data	20.0	0.8	0.6
Total (%)	100.0	100.0	100.0
Number	5	2,825	3,224

 

 

4.2 Children Who Entered Foster Care (%)	1998	1999	2000
Children entering care for the first time	78.2	78.2	80.0
Children re-entering care within 12 mos. of a prior episode	12.7	13.8	12.4
Children re-entering care more than 12 mos. after a prior episode	6.3	5.9	6.7
Missing data	2.8	2.1	0.9
Total (%)	100.0	100.0	100.0
Number	6,328	4,808	5,576

 

 

5. Reduce Time in Foster Care to Adoption
(AFCARS Annual Foster Care Database)

5.1 Time to Adoption (%)	1998	1999	2000
Less than 12 mos.	-	3.7	3.3
At least 12 mos., but less than 24 mos.	-	19.1	20.2
At least 24 mos., but less than 36 mos.	-	27.2	25.2
At least 36 mos., but less than 48 mos.	-	16.3	15.6
48 or more mos.	-	33.4	35.7
Missing data	-	0.3	-
Total (%)	-	100.0	100.0
Number	-	734	1,080

 

 

6. Increase Placement Stability
(AFCARS Annual Foster Care Database)

6.1 Number of Placements by Time in Care (%)	Year	Children With 2 or Fewer Placements	Children With 3 or More Placements	Missing Data	Total %	Number
Less than 12 mos.	1998 1999 2000	79.5 77.7 86.3	20.4 22.0 13.5	0.1 0.2 0.2	100.0 100.0 100.0	7,102 5,411 6,438
At least 12 mos., but <24 mos.	1998 1999 2000	66.9 59.6 62.6	32.0 40.2 37.4	1.1 0.1 -	100.0 100.0 100.0	2,396 2,814 2,174
At least 24 mos., but <36 mos.	1998 1999 2000	62.4 50.2 48.0	36.9 49.6 52.0	0.7 0.2 -	100.0 100.0 100.0	1,568 1,465 1,335
At least 36 mos., but <48 mos.	1998 1999 2000	61.4 45.1 41.6	37.8 54.9 58.4	0.8 - -	100.0 100.0 100.0	1,027 943 728
48 or more mos.	1998 1999 2000	57.2 34.7 37.8	42.2 65.1 62.2	0.6 0.1 1.0	100.0 100.0 100.0	2,030 2,550 1,975
Missing data	1998 1999 2000	95.7 88.6 90.0	3.2 4.5 10.0	1.1 6.8 -	100.0 100.0 100.0	464 44 10

 

 

7. Reduce Placements of Young Children in Group Homes or Institutions
(AFCARS Annual Foster Care Database)

7.1 Most Recent Placement Settings of Children Who Entered Care During the Fiscal Year and Were Age 12 or Younger at the Time of This Placement (%)	1998	1999	2000
Group homes	1.5	2.2	3.4
Institutions	9.0	4.9	4.9
Other settings	66.3	92.0	91.5
Missing data	23.2	0.9	0.1
Total (%)	100.0	100.0	100.0
Number	3,925	3,432	3,804

 

Indiana [ Federal Comment ]

The following discussion focuses on Indiana?s performance with regard to each of the outcomes assessed in the Child Welfare Outcomes Annual Reports to Congress. Information from the State?s Child and Family Services Review (CFSR) Final Report is used to provide a context for interpreting the State?s performance. In using CFSR information to interpret the data, it is important to note that the Indiana CFSR was conducted in 2001 and the national data used for the review to assess performance regarding national standards was from 1999. However, the discussion of Indiana?s performance relevant to the national standards in the Federal Comment section focuses on data from the year 2000, as provided in the State Data Pages. In addition, because data reported in the State Data Pages do not address child well-being issues, the last section of this discussion provides information from the CFSR Final Report relevant to the State?s performance on meeting children?s educational and physical and mental health needs.

Outcome 1. Reduce recurrence of child abuse and/or neglect
In calendar year (CY) 2000, the rate of maltreatment recurrence in less than 6 months was 8.2 percent, which is higher than the national standard of 6.1 percent and the national median of 7.9 percent. Information from the CFSR Final Report suggests that the actual rate of maltreatment recurrence may be higher than the reported rate of recurrence because the agency does not routinely investigate maltreatment reports as new reports when they are received on families with open child welfare agency cases. Final Report information identified the following as potential barriers to preventing maltreatment recurrence: (1) inconsistent quality of risk assessments with regard to identifying underlying issues that contribute to or cause the child maltreatment, such as substance abuse and domestic violence, and (2) delays in initiating service provision.

Outcome 2. Reduce incidence of maltreatment in foster care
In CY 2000, the incidence of maltreatment in foster care was 0.4 percent, which is less than the national standard of 0.57 percent and the national median of 0.47 percent. Information from the CFSR Final Report suggests that performance on this measure may be attributed in part to the following practices: (1) a complete criminal background check must be conducted for all foster parents, and (2) foster parents must attend pre-service and in-service training as a condition of licensing.

Outcome 3. Increase permanency for children in foster care
In fiscal year (FY) 2000, 88.9 percent of children leaving foster care were discharged to permanent homes (which is higher than the national median of 84.7 percent), 83.6 percent of children with a diagnosed disability who exited foster care were discharged to permanent homes (which is higher than the national median of 79.5percent), and 75.9 percent of children exiting foster care who were older than age 12 at the time of entry into foster care exited to permanent homes (which is higher than the national median of 72.6). Information from the CFSR Final Report identifies the following as potential reasons for the State?s effectiveness in attaining permanency for children exiting foster care: (1) the practice of holding permanency hearings on a frequent basis, (2) the existence of a subsidized guardianship program, and (3) the use of family group conferencing in some areas of the State to engage children and parents in case planning. Despite these positive findings, 37.4 percent of the children who emancipated from foster care in FY 2000 were age 12 or younger at entry, which is higher than the national median of 24.2.

Outcome 4. Reduce time to reunification without increasing re-entry
In FY 2000, the percentage of all reunifications occurring within 12 months of children?s entry into foster care was 76.9, which exceeds both the national standard of 76.2 percent and the national median of 68.0 percent. However, performance on this measure in FY 1999 was 64.0 percent, which means that the State did not meet the national standard at the time of the CFSR. Information from the CFSR Final Report suggests that the State?s improved level of performance on this measure may be attributed to the following: (1) an emphasis on ensuring that parents receive the services they need to address risk factors; (2) greater support for regular visitation between children and their parents by arranging and providing transportation and flexible scheduling, and permitting visitation in the homes of foster families; (3) the use of family group therapy to promote or maintain bonds between parents and children; and (4) the fact that in many cases, permanency reviews are occurring more often than every 6 months.

Indiana?s high performance with regard to reunification within 12 months must be balanced by the finding that in FY 2000, the percentage of children re-entering foster care within 12 months of discharge from a prior foster care episode was 12.4, which exceeds both the national standard of 8.6 and the national median of 10.3. Information from the CFSR Final Report identifies the following as barriers to preventing re-entries into foster care: (1) a lack of post-reunification services in most areas of the State; and (2) insufficient efforts to link families to community supports after reunification.

Outcome 5. Reduce time in foster care to adoption
In FY 2000, the percentage of all adoptions finalized within 24 months of the child?s entry into foster care was 23.5, which does not meet the national standard of 32.0 percent but is higher than the national median of 19.7 percent. Information in the CFSR Final Report identifies the following as potential barriers to achieving adoptions in a timely manner: (1) court delays in resolving appeals to termination of parental rights; and (2) agency delays in identifying and locating fathers, recruiting adoptive families, completing home studies, and filing termination of parental rights petitions.

Outcome 6. Increase placement stability
In FY 2000, the percentage of children who were in foster care for less than 12 months and experienced no more than 2 placements was 86.3, which does not meet the national standard of 86.7 percent but is higher than the national median of 84.3 percent. Information from the CFSR identifies the following as potential barriers to achieving placement stability: (1) the shortage of placement resources for special needs children, and (2) the frequent use of shelter care as the initial placement for children entering foster care.

Outcome 7. Reduce placements of young children in group homes and institutions
In FY 2000, the percentage of children age 12 or younger placed in a group home or institution was 8.3, which is lower than the national median of 9.0 percent. Despite this finding, information in the CFSR Final Report notes that shelters frequently are used as a child?s initial placement in foster care, even for young children.

Child well-being outcomes
With respect to child well-being, information from the CFSR Final Report indicates that the State agency is not consistently effective in meeting children?s educational and physical and mental health needs. The Final Report identifies the following as possible barriers to meeting those needs: (1) a lack of follow up on education-related problems, (2) inadequate assessments that do not fully explore children?s needs, (3) delays in mental health assessments and service delivery for mental health needs, (4) insufficient contact between caseworkers and children in foster care to ensure that needs are being identified and addressed.

 

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