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Home > Statistics & Research > Child Welfare Outcomes 2000 > North Dakota

 

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

Context Data | Outcomes Data | Federal Comment
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North Dakota [ Context Data ]

A. Key Context Statistics

General Population	1998	1999	2000
Total children under 18 years	162,611	160,092	160,849
Race/ethnicity (%)1
Alaska Native/American Indian	8.3	8.5	7.8
Asian/Pacific Islander	1.2	1.2	0.6
Black	0.7	0.8	0.8
Hispanic	1.7	1.8	2.0
White	88.1	87.7	86.6
Two or more races	N/A	N/A	2.1
Other	N/A	N/A	0.1
% Child population in poverty	20.1	19.2	15.3
% Child population living in metropolitan areas	38.0	37.8	42.6

 

Child Welfare	1998	1999	2000
Child maltreatment victims	-	1,284	-
Children in foster care on 9/30	1,170	1,143	1,129
Children adopted	111	139	105

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	7,098	6,926	6,985	43.7 per 1,000	43.3 per 1,000	43.4 per 1,000
Child maltreatment victims2	-	1,284	-	- per 1,000	8.0 per 1,000	- per 1,000
Child fatalities	-	-	-	- per 100,000	- per 100,000	- per 100,000

 

Age of Child Victims (%)	1998	1999	2000
Under 1 year	-	6.9	-
1-5 years	-	26.3	-
6-10 years	-	33.6	-
11-15 years	-	28.0	-
16+ years	-	5.3	-
Unknown	-	-	-
Total %	-	100.0	-
Number	-	1,284	-

 

Race/Ethnicity of Child Victims (%)	1998	1999	2000
Alaska Native/American Indian	-	26.2	-
Asian/Pacific Islander	-	0.2	-
Black	-	3.5	-
Hispanic	-	3.3	-
White	-	68.8	-
Two or more races	N/A	N/A	-
Other/Unknown	-	1.2	-
Total %3	-	103.3	-
Number	-	1,284	-

 

Maltreatment Type of Child Victims (%)	1998	1999	2000
Emotional abuse	-	48.3	-
Medical neglect	-	4.3	-
Neglect	-	64.0	-
Physical abuse	-	12.5	-
Sexual abuse	-	7.2	-
Other	-	136.3	-
Unknown	-	-	-
Total %4	-	272.6	-
Number	-	1,284	-

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)	785	1,056	671	1,170	1,841
FY1999 (10/1/98-9/30/99)	1,005	965	827	1,143	1,970
FY2000 (10/1/99-9/30/00)	974	1,006	851	1,129	1,980
Median Length of Stay (Months)
FY1998 (10/1/97-9/30/98)	12.8	N/A	7.0	10.8	N/A
FY1999 (10/1/98-9/30/99)	11.1	N/A	8.0	10.8	N/A
FY2000 (10/1/99-9/30/00)	10.9	N/A	6.4	10.8	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	5.2	5.9	5.4	12.1	13.5	12.0	3.4	2.5	4.7	8.5	8.9	6.8
1-5 years	21.3	13.4	14.4	11.9	16.4	14.0	18.3	16.1	14.9	15.2	16.3	16.3
6-10 years	22.5	20.6	19.9	14.4	15.3	15.6	17.9	15.6	15.2	18.2	19.2	17.4
11-15 years	33.1	33.5	34.7	37.7	35.1	36.7	25.0	26.7	29.1	33.4	32.6	34.9
16-18 years	17.5	25.8	24.8	23.8	19.7	21.7	34.9	38.1	35.4	23.9	22.2	23.6
19+ years	0.3	0.8	0.7	-	-	-	0.3	1.0	0.7	0.7	0.6	0.8
Unknown	0.1	-	-	0.1	-	-	0.1	-	-	-	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	785	1,005	974	1,056	965	1,006	671	827	851	1,170	1,143	1,129

 

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	36.7	34.2	33.1	25.9	27.5	28.2	27.7	30.6	29.7	32.1	31.1	31.3
Asian/Pacific Islander	-	0.2	0.8	0.5	0.8	0.5	0.4	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.7	1.0
Black	1.9	1.8	2.4	2.7	2.5	1.8	2.2	1.6	2.2	2.4	2.5	1.9
Hispanic	1.8	3.1	2.5	5.2	5.0	4.2	4.3	5.3	3.9	3.4	3.1	2.9
White	59.1	59.6	60.3	65.0	63.6	62.1	65.0	61.8	61.8	61.0	61.4	60.8
Two or more races	0.4	1.0	0.9	0.8	0.6	3.2	0.1	0.5	2.1	0.9	1.0	2.0
Unknown	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	-	-	0.1	-	-	0.1	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	785	1,005	974	1,056	965	1,006	671	827	851	1,170	1,143	1,129

 

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	370	387	343
Children whose parents' rights have been terminated (TPR)	323	332	262

 

Age of Waiting Children (%)	1998	1999	2000
Under 1 year	23.5	22.2	14.9
1-5 years	33.0	29.7	32.1
6-10 years	26.5	26.4	22.4
11-15 years	15.7	19.6	25.9
16+ years	0.8	1.0	4.4
Unknown	0.5	1.0	0.3
Total %	100.0	100.0	100.0
Number	370	387	343

 

Race/Ethnicity of Waiting Children (%)	1998	1999	2000
Alaska Native/American Indian	29.2	25.1	26.2
Asian/Pacific Islander	0.5	2.1	2.6
Black	4.9	4.7	2.9
Hispanic	3.0	3.4	3.8
White	61.1	63.6	62.4
Two or more races	1.4	1.3	2.0
Unknown	-	-	-
Total %	100.0	100.0	100.0
Number	370	387	343

6) Waiting children are children who have a goal of adoption and/or whose parents’ 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	45.9	48.2	41.9
1-5 years	36.9	31.7	34.3
6-10 years	9.0	14.4	18.1
11-15 years	7.2	4.3	4.8
16+ years	0.9	1.4	1.0
Unknown	-	-	-
Total %	100.0	100.0	100.0
Number	111	139	105

 

Race/Ethnicity of Adopted Children (%)	1998	1999	2000
Alaska Native/American Indian	4.5	14.4	9.5
Asian/Pacific Islander	-	-	-
Black	4.5	5.0	3.8
Hispanic	3.6	7.2	4.8
White	87.4	73.4	79.0
Two or more races	-	-	2.9
Unknown	-	-	-
Total %	100.0	100.0	100.0
Number	111	139	105

 

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North Dakota [ 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	-	-	-
Children with one or more recurrences	-	-	-
Total %	-	-	-
Number	-	-	-

 

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	-	-	-
Children not maltreated while in foster care	-	-	-
Total %	-	-	-
Number	-	-	-

 

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

3.1 Exits from Foster Care (%)	1998	1999	2000
Adoption	6.4	6.0	5.2
Guardianship	0.3	0.2	0.5
Reunification	70.3	68.4	70.9
Other	17.1	18.9	18.4
Missing data	5.8	6.4	5.1
Total %	100.0	100.0	100.0
Number	671	827	851

 

 

3.2 Exits of Disabled Children (%)	1998	1999	2000
Adoption	89.7	90.9	85.4
Guardianship	-	-	-
Reunification	6.9	-	9.8
Other	3.4	4.5	-
Missing data	-	4.5	4.9
Total %	100.0	100.0	100.0
Number	29	44	41

 

3.3 Exits of Children Over Age 12 at Entry (%)	1998	1999	2000
Adoption	-	0.4	-
Guardianship	0.3	0.4	0.9
Reunification	64.4	65.8	67.0
Other	26.5	25.2	25.1
Missing data	8.8	8.0	7.1
Total %	100.0	100.0	100.0
Number	351	448	463

 

3.4 Exits to Emancipation (%)	1998	1999	2000
Children age 12 or younger at entry	-	-	-
Children older than 12 at entry	100.0	100.0	100.0
Missing data	-	-	-
Total %	100.0	100.0	100.0
Number	37	42	43

 

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	1.6	5.1	4.0	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	6.8	-
Guardianship	0.5	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Reunification	75.3	64.0	63.2	100.0	100.0	100.0	86.7	76.9	63.2	86.2	75.0	81.8
Other	17.7	25.3	22.9	-	-	-	6.7	15.4	31.6	13.8	15.9	9.1
Missing data	4.8	5.5	9.9	-	-	-	6.7	7.7	5.3	-	2.3	9.1
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	186	253	253	3	2	2	15	13	19	29	44	33
	White			Unable to Determine			Two or More Races			Missing Data
	1998	1999	2000	1998	1999	2000	1998	1999	2000	1998	1999	2000
Adoption	9.2	6.7	6.1	-	-	-	-	-	11.1	-	-	-
Guardianship	0.2	0.4	0.8	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Reunification	66.5	69.5	73.4	100.0	-	-	100.0	100.0	88.9	-	-	-
Other	17.4	16.2	17.1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Missing data	6.7	7.2	2.7	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Total %	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	-	-	100.0	100.0	100.0	-	-	-
Number	436	511	526	1	-	-	1	4	18	-	-	-

 

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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.	74.8	72.8	81.4
At least 12 mos., but less than 24 mos.	19.3	21.0	13.9
At least 24 mos., but less than 36 mos.	4.9	3.9	2.7
At least 36 mos., but less than 48 mos.	0.4	2.1	1.3
48 or more mos.	-	-	0.7
Missing data	0.6	0.2	-
Total (%)	100.0	100.0	100.0
Number	472	566	603

 

 

4.2 Children Who Entered Foster Care (%)	1998	1999	2000
Children entering care for the first time	65.1	70.7	71.3
Children re-entering care within 12 mos. of a prior episode	15.8	16.4	19.4
Children re-entering care more than 12 mos. after a prior episode	7.1	9.1	7.0
Missing data	12.0	3.8	2.4
Total (%)	100.0	100.0	100.0
Number	1,056	965	1,006

 

 

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.	18.6	22.0	11.4
At least 12 mos., but less than 24 mos.	27.9	22.0	15.9
At least 24 mos., but less than 36 mos.	46.5	14.0	36.4
At least 36 mos., but less than 48 mos.	7.0	42.0	15.9
48 or more mos.	-	-	20.5
Missing data	-	-	-
Total (%)	100.0	100.0	100.0
Number	43	50	44

 

 

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	87.2 86.0 87.1	8.2 10.9 12.6	4.6 3.0 0.3	100.0 100.0 100.0	1,157 1,151 1,210
At least 12 mos., but <24 mos.	1998 1999 2000	75.1 68.8 63.5	22.7 30.3 36.2	2.3 0.9 0.3	100.0 100.0 100.0	309 426 359
At least 24 mos., but <36 mos.	1998 1999 2000	67.4 65.9 54.5	30.8 33.3 45.5	1.8 0.7 -	100.0 100.0 100.0	227 138 167
At least 36 mos., but <48 mos.	1998 1999 2000	69.8 61.3 61.0	27.1 36.0 39.0	3.1 2.7 -	100.0 100.0 100.0	129 150 77
48 or more mos.	1998 1999 2000	66.7 67.3 58.3	- 30.7 40.5	33.3 2.0 1.2	100.0 100.0 100.0	12 101 163
Missing data	1998 1999 2000	85.7 50.0 50.0	- - -	14.3 50.0 50.0	100.0 100.0 100.0	7 4 4

 

 

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	1.1	1.4	1.0
Institutions	4.9	4.7	8.8
Other settings	94.0	93.6	90.2
Missing data	-	0.2	-
Total (%)	100.0	100.0	100.0
Number	452	487	489

 

North Dakota [ Federal Comment ]

The following discussion focuses on North Dakota?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 performance, it is important to note that the North Dakota CFSR was conducted in 2001 and the national data used for the review to assess performance on national standards was from 1999. However, the discussion on State 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 in meeting children?s educational and physical and mental health needs.

Outcome 1. Reduce recurrence of child abuse and/or neglect
North Dakota?s attainment of outcome 1 cannot be assessed in the Federal Comment section because the State does not provide data to the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS) to calculate this outcome. Only data from NCANDS are presented for this outcome in the Report to Congress. However, for the CFSR, the State provided data for this outcome using an alternative source. These data are presented in North Dakota?s CFSR Final Report.

Outcome 2. Reduce incidence of maltreatment in foster care
North Dakota?s attainment of outcome 2 cannot be evaluated in the Federal Comment section because the State does not provide data to NCANDS for calculating this outcome. Only data from NCANDS are presented for this outcome in the Report to Congress. However, for the CFSR, the State provided data for this outcome using an alternative source. These data are provided in North Dakota?s CFSR Final Report.

Outcome 3. Increase permanency for children in foster care
In fiscal year (FY) 2000, 76.6 percent of children exiting foster care were discharged to permanent homes (which is lower than the national median of 84.7 percent) and only 67.9 percent of children exiting foster care who were older than age 12 at the time of entry into foster care were discharged to permanent homes (which is lower than the national median of 72.6 percent). However, in FY 2000, 95.2 percent of children with a diagnosed disability who exited foster care were discharged to permanent homes (although only 42 children were included in this assessment), and none of the children exiting foster care through emancipation were age 12 or younger at the time of entry. These data suggest that although the State is not consistently effective in achieving permanency for children in foster care, particularly children who enter foster care when they are older than age 12, they are somewhat successful in ensuring that children who enter foster care at relatively young ages do not “grow up” in the system. Information from the CFSR Final Report indicates that the key barriers to achieving permanency are court-related. These include: (1) the frequent granting of continuances of permanency hearings; (2) the lack of training for judges regarding permanency issues; (3) delays in obtaining decisions on appeals to termination of parental rights; and (4) the unwillingness of some judges in the State to grant termination of parental rights in cases in which parents have substance abuse problems, mental illness, developmental disabilities, are incarcerated, or in cases in which children are teenagers.

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 81.4, which is higher than both the national standard of 76.2 percent and the national median of 68.0 percent. Although the FY 2000 data indicate that the State meets the national standard, North Dakota did not meet this standard during the 2001 CFSR based on data from FY 1999. Information from the CFSR Final Report suggests that the State?s improved performance on this outcome measure from 1999 to 2000 may be attributed to the following: (1) the availability of a wide array of services to ensure reduction of risk of harm to children, (2) diligent efforts to support parent-child visitation, and (3) a newly implemented Guardian ad Litem program.

North Dakota?s effectiveness 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 19.4. This percentage exceeds both the national standard of 8.6 percent and the national median of 10.3 percent. The re-entry rate also did not meet the standards in FY 1999 for the 2001 CFSR. Information from the CFSR Final Report indicates that the State plans to examine this issue to better understand the reasons for re-entries into foster care.

Outcome 5. Reduce time in foster care to adoption
In FY 2000, the percentage of all finalized adoptions occurring within 24 months of the child?s entry into foster care was 27.3, which is lower than the national standard of 32.0 percent, but exceeds the national median of 19.7 percent. However, FY 1999 data indicate that 44 percent of finalized adoptions occurred within 24 months of the child?s entry into foster care. Consequently, the State met the national standard for this outcome measure for the 2001 CFSR. The discrepancy between the State?s performance on this measure in 1999 and 2000 suggests that there may be data quality issues relevant to this measure. In addition, in both 1999 and 2000, the number of children reported as exiting to adoption to the Adoption Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS) Foster Care Database is considerably less than the number of finalized adoptions reported to the AFCARS Adoption Database. Although this additional discrepancy also prevents a meaningful interpretation of the State?s performance on this outcome measure, information from the CFSR Final Report suggests that the State is effective in achieving adoptions in a timely manner and attributes this in part to the implementation of a concurrent planning approach to permanency planning.

Outcome 6. Increase placement stability
In FY 2000, the percentage of children in foster care for less than 12 m
ths who experienced no more than 2 placements was 87.1, which exceeds both the national median of 84.3 percent and the national standard of 86.7 percent. However, FY 1999 data indicate that 86.2 percent of children in foster care for less than 12 months experienced no more than 2 placements, which is lower than (although quite close to) the national standard of 86.7 percent. Consequently, the State did not meet the national standard for this measure for the 2001 CFSR. Case review findings reported in the CFSR Final Report suggest that the State is effective in ensuring placement stability. This was attributed in part to the extensive supports and services provided to foster parents, including support groups and specialized training.

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 9.8, which is higher than the national median of 9.0 percent. According to information provided in the CFSR Final Report, State policy requires that children be placed in the least restrictive environment possible.

Child well-being outcomes
With respect to child well-being, information from the CFSR Final Report indicates that the agency is effective in meeting children?s educational and physical health needs, but is not as consistent in meeting children?s mental health needs. The Final Report identified the following as potential barriers to meeting children?s mental health needs: (1) failure to conduct mental health assessments in some cases in which there was indication of a possible mental health problem; and (2) a scarcity of placement options for children with serious mental health service needs.

 

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