Washington

Context Data | Outcomes Data | State Comment | Federal Comment

Washington [Context Data]

A. Context Statistics1

General Child Population (Census Bureau)
	2002	2003	2004	2005
Total children under 18 years	1,513,360	1,496,581	1,486,020	1,484,365
Race/ethnicity (%)2
Alaska Native/American Indian	1.8	1.8	1.8	1.8
Asian	5.4	5.5	5.5	5.6
Black (non-Hispanic)	3.9	3.8	3.8	3.8
Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander	0.5	0.5	0.5	0.5
Hispanic (of any race)	12.5	12.9	13.4	13.9
White (non-Hispanic)	70.9	70.3	69.7	69.2
Two or More Races	5.1	5.2	5.3	5.4
Child population in poverty (%)	14.1	19.1	15.8	14.9

Child Welfare Summary
	2002	2003	2004	2005
Child maltreatment victims3	4,673	6,020	6,730	7,932
Children in foster care on 9/30	9,669	9,213	9,368	10,068
Children adopted	1,077	1,315	1,245	1,306

B. Child Maltreatment Data [National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS)]

Overview Maltreatment Information4
	2002		2003		2004		2005
	Number	Rate	Number	Rate	Number	Rate	Number	Rate
Children subject of an investigated report alleging child maltreatment	28,718	19.0 per 1,000	47,713	31.9 per 1,000	50,865	34.2 per 1,000	53,124	35.8 per 1,000
Total child maltreatment victims5	4,673	3.1 per 1,000	6,020	4.0 per 1,000	6,730	4.5 per 1,000	7,932	5.3 per 1,000
Child fatalities	15	1.0 per 100,000	9	0.6 per 100,000	7	0.5 per 100,000	9	0.6 per 100,000

1 A calendar year is the basis for data from the Census Bureau (in Section A. Context Statistics) and the 2002 data only from NCANDS (in Section B. Child Maltreatment Data). All other data on this page are based on the Federal fiscal year, October 1 through September 30. Back
2 Race/ethnicity data represent population estimates from the Census Bureau. Child poverty data are from the Census Bureau's Current Population Survey (CPS). Back
3 A child victim is defined as a child who is the subject of a substantiated or indicated maltreatment report. Back
4 The rate for maltreatment investigations and victims is per 1,000 children under age 18; for fatalities, the rate is per 100,000 children under age 18. Back
5 Children with more than one report of substantiated or indicated maltreatment may be counted more than once. Back

B. Child Maltreatment Data (Continued)

Age of Child Victims (%)
	2002	2003	2004	2005
Under 1 year	14.1	13.6	13.8	15.4
1-5 years	34.4	34.5	36.1	34.5
6-10 years	27.5	25.7	25.2	26.3
11-15 years	19.8	21.1	19.7	19.0
16+ years	2.8	3.4	3.5	3.6
Unknown	1.5	1.6	1.6	1.1
Number	4,673	6,020	6,730	7,932

Race/Ethnicity of Child Victims (%)
	2002	2003	2004	2005
Alaska Native/American Indian	7.4	7.0	7.3	7.5
Asian	1.8	1.3	1.6	1.2
Black (non-Hispanic)	9.5	9.3	8.9	6.0
Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander	N/A	0.5	0.6	0.4
Hispanic (of any race)	11.7	14.3	15.7	15.4
White (non-Hispanic)	66.1	63.8	62.5	65.9
Two or More Races	--	--	--	--
Unknown	3.6	3.8	3.3	3.5
Number	4,673	6,020	6,730	7,932

Maltreatment Types of Child Victims (%)6
	2002	2003	2004	2005
Emotional abuse	5.3	1.1	--	--
Medical neglect	3.5	0.7	--	--
Neglect	73.1	78.2	80.1	83.1
Physical abuse	21.3	19.8	18.9	16.5
Sexual abuse	6.9	7.6	6.9	6.0
Unknown	--	--	--	--
Other	0.3	0.1	--	--
Number	4,673	6,020	6,730	7,932

Time to Investigation (in hours)
	2002	2003	2004	2005
Mean	--	10.8	12.0	12.8
Median	--	<24	<24	<24

6 Percentages may total more than 100 because children can be victims of more than one type of maltreatment. Back

C. Characteristics of Children in Foster Care (Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS) Foster Care File)

	In Foster Care on 10/1 FY				Entered Foster Care in FY				Exited Foster Care in FY				In Foster Care on 9/30 FY
	2002	2003	2004	2005	2002	2003	2004	2005	2002	2003	2004	2005	2002	2003	2004	2005
Total number	9,339	9,320	8,896	9,188	6,704	6,196	6,554	7,004	6,374	6,303	6,082	6,124	9,669	9,213	9,368	10,068
Median length of stay (months)	15.6	15.8	16.1	14.7	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	7.8	11.2	9.4	9.4	16.3	16.3	14.9	14.8

Age of Children in Foster Care (%)
	In Foster Care on 10/1 FY				Entered Foster Care in FY				Exited Foster Care in FY				In Foster Care on 9/30 FY
	2002	2003	2004	2005	2002	2003	2004	2005	2002	2003	2004	2005	2002	2003	2004	2005
Under 1 year	6.9	7.3	7.8	7.5	17.2	18.2	17.3	20.7	4.9	4.8	4.9	5.9	7.1	7.6	7.5	9.2
1 year	8.0	8.7	8.7	9.3	6.3	6.0	7.4	7.1	5.8	6.9	7.3	7.4	8.5	8.6	9.2	9.1
2 years	7.0	7.6	7.9	7.7	5.3	5.8	5.7	6.2	6.5	7.2	7.5	7.0	7.4	7.8	7.6	8.3
3 years	6.8	6.6	6.4	7.3	5.5	5.4	5.9	5.6	6.0	6.7	6.4	6.4	6.6	6.5	7.3	7.0
4 years	5.8	6.3	6.4	6.2	4.9	4.4	5.0	5.1	6.0	5.0	6.0	5.8	6.4	6.4	6.1	6.4
5 years	5.9	5.0	5.6	5.6	4.5	3.8	4.6	4.0	5.1	4.7	5.3	5.2	5.0	5.6	5.5	5.6
6 years	5.1	5.6	4.7	5.3	3.9	4.0	4.1	4.1	4.7	4.8	4.6	5.2	5.6	4.6	5.2	4.9
7 years	4.6	4.3	4.8	4.4	3.6	3.6	3.5	4.0	4.1	4.4	3.9	4.0	4.3	4.8	4.4	4.8
8 years	4.6	4.6	4.2	4.6	3.8	3.2	3.6	3.6	4.0	3.5	3.8	3.9	4.5	4.1	4.6	4.2
9 years	4.8	4.5	4.2	4.1	4.0	3.5	3.1	3.3	4.0	3.9	3.4	3.6	4.4	4.2	4.0	4.4
10 years	5.3	4.7	4.3	4.0	3.5	3.6	3.1	3.2	4.2	4.1	3.6	3.5	4.7	4.3	3.9	3.8
11 years	4.8	4.8	4.5	4.0	3.8	4.7	3.5	3.5	3.6	4.5	3.9	3.4	4.9	4.4	4.0	3.9
12 years	4.9	4.7	4.7	4.4	4.2	4.3	4.4	3.3	4.9	4.7	4.3	3.5	4.7	4.7	4.4	3.8
13 years	5.1	4.8	4.8	4.8	5.8	5.6	5.4	4.4	5.6	5.4	5.0	4.6	4.7	4.8	4.8	4.4
14 years	4.6	5.2	5.1	5.0	6.6	6.7	6.5	5.5	6.7	6.1	6.2	6.2	5.1	5.1	5.1	4.6
15 years	5.4	4.8	5.4	5.5	7.0	7.1	7.3	6.5	7.2	6.5	7.1	6.9	4.7	5.5	5.3	4.9
16 years	5.6	5.3	5.0	5.6	6.4	6.2	5.9	6.3	7.0	6.2	6.1	7.2	5.3	5.0	5.6	5.1
17 years	4.4	5.0	5.1	4.5	3.6	3.8	3.6	3.5	5.8	7.9	5.6	4.6	5.0	5.1	4.6	4.9
18 years	0.3	0.2	0.3	0.3	0.1	<.1	0.2	0.2	3.8	2.7	5.2	5.9	0.9	0.8	0.9	0.7
19 years	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	<.1	<.1	0.0	<.1	<.1	<.1
20+ years	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Missing data	<.1	<.1	<.1	0.0	<.1	0.0	<.1	<.1	0.0	0.0	<.1	0.0	<.1	<.1	<.1	<.1

C. Characteristics of Children in Foster Care (Continued)

Race/Ethnicity of Children in Foster Care (%)
	In Foster Care on 10/1 FY				Entered Foster Care in FY				Exited Foster Care in FY				In Foster Care on 9/30 FY
	2002	2003	2004	2005	2002	2003	2004	2005	2002	2003	2004	2005	2002	2003	2004	2005
Alaska Native/American Indian	8.8	8.5	8.8	8.7	6.4	7.2	7.0	6.7	6.2	6.7	6.9	6.8	8.8	8.9	8.8	8.4
Asian	1.0	0.8	0.7	0.7	1.2	1.2	1.1	1.0	1.6	1.3	1.2	0.9	0.8	0.7	0.7	0.8
Black (non-Hispanic)	11.7	11.2	11.5	11.6	8.7	9.6	8.6	6.7	9.4	9.4	8.2	8.1	11.1	11.3	11.6	10.3
Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander	0.2	0.3	0.3	0.5	0.5	0.3	0.7	0.6	0.5	0.4	0.5	0.6	0.3	0.3	0.4	0.5
Hispanic (of any race)	12.1	11.9	12.7	13.8	13.0	13.4	14.9	14.4	13.6	12.3	13.5	14.5	11.8	12.7	13.7	13.8
White (non-Hispanic)	58.6	59.8	58.2	55.6	61.8	59.3	57.0	59.0	60.4	61.5	60.9	59.2	59.7	58.3	55.6	55.8
Two or More Races	6.8	6.7	6.7	7.7	5.9	6.3	7.6	8.1	6.1	6.1	6.5	7.0	6.7	6.8	7.5	8.5
Unknown	0.6	0.7	0.7	0.9	1.6	1.5	1.8	1.7	1.3	1.4	1.3	1.7	0.7	0.7	1.0	0.9
Missing data	<.1	0.1	0.4	0.5	1.0	1.2	1.4	1.9	1.0	0.8	1.1	1.2	0.1	0.4	0.6	1.0

D. Characteristics of Children "Waiting for Adoption"7 (AFCARS Foster Care File)

Children Waiting for Adoption
	2002	2003	2004	2005
Total waiting children	2,639	2,366	2,317	2,167
Number of waiting children whose parents' rights have been terminated	2,007	1,829	1,871	1,810

Age of Children Waiting for Adoption (%)
	2002	2003	2004	2005
Under 1 year	2.9	2.8	2.9	2.4
1 year	9.1	9.9	9.0	7.8
2 years	10.5	9.1	9.5	9.7
3 years	7.9	8.2	8.5	8.9
4 years	8.2	7.9	6.9	7.5
5 years	6.4	7.4	7.1	6.6
6 years	6.8	5.5	6.5	5.7
7 years	4.9	5.7	4.7	6.0
8 years	5.8	4.7	5.6	4.2
9 years	5.4	5.1	4.9	5.0
10 years	5.2	4.9	4.7	4.6
11 years	5.6	4.7	4.6	4.1
12 years	4.5	4.8	4.5	4.8
13 years	4.5	4.4	4.3	4.6
14 years	4.3	4.6	4.1	4.7
15 years	3.1	4.2	4.7	4.5
16 years	2.6	3.3	4.1	4.7
17 years	2.5	2.6	3.2	4.2
18 years	--	--	--	--
19 years	--	--	--	--
20+ years	--	--	--	--

7 There is no Federal definition for a child waiting to be adopted. The definition used in the table above includes children who have a goal of adoption and/or whose parental rights have been terminated. It excludes children 16 years old and older whose parental rights have been terminated and who have a goal of emancipation. A State's own definition may differ from that used here. Furthermore, some numbers in this table may be lower than the numbers reported in the Child Welfare Outcomes reports. Only children with terminations prior to the end of the fiscal year of interest are included in the current table. Back

D. Characteristics of Children "Waiting for Adoption" (Continued)

Race/Ethnicity of Children Waiting for Adoption (%)
	2002	2003	2004	2005
Alaska Native/American Indian	6.7	6.3	5.6	5.6
Asian	0.6	0.6	0.4	1.0
Black (non-Hispanic)	15.2	13.5	13.2	13.3
Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander	0.5	0.1	0.2	0.3
Hispanic (of any race)	12.1	12.9	13.7	14.4
White (non-Hispanic)	55.6	58.5	57.7	55.9
Two or More Races	8.6	7.5	8.1	7.9
Unknown	0.6	0.5	0.7	0.9
Missing data	<.1	0.1	0.4	0.6

E. Characteristics of Children Adopted (AFCARS Adoption File)

Children Adopted
	2002	2003	2004	2005
Total children adopted	1,077	1,315	1,245	1,306

Age of Children Adopted (%)
	2002	2003	2004	2005
Under 1 year	1.9	1.9	2.2	2.1
1 year	12.3	13.3	14.9	14.3
2 years	16.7	15.8	16.0	15.5
3 years	11.4	13.5	11.2	11.9
4 years	11.0	9.2	11.5	11.0
5 years	9.1	8.1	9.2	8.0
6 years	7.7	7.4	6.9	8.1
7 years	6.0	5.8	5.5	5.4
8 years	4.3	4.7	4.7	5.7
9 years	5.1	4.7	3.3	4.4
10 years	4.0	3.9	3.4	3.7
11 years	2.8	4.0	3.6	3.1
12 years	2.8	2.7	2.2	2.5
13 years	2.1	1.8	2.3	1.6
14 years	0.9	0.9	1.1	1.5
15 years	0.6	1.0	1.0	0.8
16 years	0.4	0.5	0.3	0.3
17 years	0.5	0.7	0.5	<.1
18 years	0.3	<.1	0.0	0.0
19 years	<.1	0.0	0.0	0.0
20+ years	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0

Race/Ethnicity of Children Adopted (%)
	2002	2003	2004	2005
Alaska Native/American Indian	5.5	5.1	4.1	5.2
Asian	1.1	0.9	0.6	0.5
Black (non-Hispanic)	11.3	9.3	7.4	8.4
Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander	0.4	0.5	<.1	0.2
Hispanic (of any race)	14.2	11.1	12.5	14.4
White (non-Hispanic)	61.1	65.2	69.0	63.5
Two or More Races	5.8	6.5	4.9	6.2
Unknown	0.6	1.4	1.4	1.6
Missing data	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0

Washington [Outcomes Data]

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

1.1 Recurrence of Maltreatment Within 6 Months (%)
	2002	2003	2004	2005
Children without a recurrence	89.2	89.2	90.4	89.9
Children with one or more recurrences	10.8	10.8	9.6	10.1
Number	2,422	2,407	2,779	3,050

2. Reduce the Incidence of Child Abuse and/or Neglect in Foster Care (NCANDS and AFCARS Foster Care File8)

2.1 Maltreatment in Foster Care (%)
	2002	2003	2004	2005
Children maltreated while in foster care	N/A	0.23	0.36	0.27
Children not maltreated while in foster care	N/A	99.77	99.64	99.73
Number	N/A	15,516	15,450	16,192

8 For the years 2003, 2004, and 2005, the denominator for this measure includes all children served in foster care during the 12-month fiscal year. In 2002, only children served in the first 9 months of the calendar year were included in the denominator because of differences in the NCANDS and AFCARS reporting periods. Therefore, the data for 2002 are not provided for this measure. Back

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

3.1 Exits of Children From Foster Care (%)
	2002	2003	2004	2005
Adoption	15.4	19.4	18.6	19.3
Guardianship	7.8	8.4	6.5	5.6
Reunification	66.5	61.4	61.8	61.6
Other	7.6	7.7	7.9	7.5
Missing data	2.7	3.1	5.3	6.1
Number	6,374	6,303	6,082	6,124

3.2 Exits of Children With a Diagnosed Disability (%)
	2002	2003	2004	2005
Adoption	16.7	11.5	15.7	19.3
Guardianship	14.8	19.2	8.6	21.1
Reunification	51.9	48.7	57.1	39.4
Other	16.7	14.1	15.7	15.6
Missing data	0.0	6.4	2.9	4.6
Number	54	78	70	109

3.3 Exits of Children Older Than Age 12 at Entry Into Foster Care (%)
	2002	2003	2004	2005
Adoption	0.2	0.4	0.5	0.3
Guardianship	4.1	4.2	3.6	3.0
Reunification	80.7	78.2	77.4	77.7
Other	13.9	15.3	16.4	16.4
Missing data	1.1	1.8	2.2	2.6
Number	1,930	1,806	1,764	1,787

3.4 Exits to Emancipation (%)
	2002	2003	2004	2005
Children age 12 or younger at entry	26.3	25.7	28.6	25.6
Children older than 12 at entry	73.7	74.3	71.4	74.4
Missing data	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Number	327	338	357	344

3. Increase Permanency for Children in Foster Care (Continued)

3.5 Exits by Race/ethnicity (%)
	Alaska Native/Am. In.				Asian				Black (non-Hispanic)
	2002	2003	2004	2005	2002	2003	2004	2005	2002	2003	2004	2005
Adoption	13.2	14.7	10.5	14.4	8.7	14.6	9.6	10.9	19.9	18.5	17.3	19.8
Guardianship	9.6	13.0	13.8	15.6	1.9	6.1	9.6	1.8	11.2	9.8	6.0	7.5
Reunification	51.9	51.1	53.8	47.1	76.7	63.4	67.1	72.7	59.9	57.7	59.0	59.4
Other	21.3	19.1	19.3	16.0	10.7	8.5	12.3	3.6	6.8	10.6	11.5	9.3
Missing data	4.1	2.1	2.6	6.9	1.9	7.3	1.4	10.9	2.2	3.4	6.2	4.0
Number	395	423	420	418	103	82	73	55	599	593	497	495

3.5 Exits by Race/ethnicity (%)
	Native Hawaiian/Other Pac. Is.				Hispanic (of any race)				White (non-Hispanic)
	2002	2003	2004	2005	2002	2003	2004	2005	2002	2003	2004	2005
Adoption	13.8	24.0	6.9	8.6	16.5	18.1	17.6	19.3	15.3	20.5	21.0	20.8
Guardianship	10.3	8.0	6.9	2.9	8.1	9.8	5.4	3.3	7.2	7.6	6.0	4.9
Reunification	75.9	64.0	58.6	80.0	65.0	62.9	64.0	63.9	68.6	62.0	61.1	61.8
Other	0.0	4.0	10.3	0.0	6.9	6.8	6.6	5.7	6.5	6.6	6.6	6.8
Missing data	0.0	0.0	17.2	8.6	3.5	2.3	6.5	7.9	2.3	3.4	5.4	5.7
Number	29	25	29	35	866	774	819	891	3,849	3,879	3,703	3,627

3.5 Exits by Race/ethnicity (%)
	Unable to Determine				Two or More Races				Missing Data
	2002	2003	2004	2005	2002	2003	2004	2005	2002	2003	2004	2005
Adoption	3.5	13.2	11.1	10.6	15.2	21.2	13.9	16.9	1.6	6.0	10.8	9.6
Guardianship	5.9	8.8	0.0	2.9	9.0	8.3	7.6	6.1	0.0	0.0	0.0	1.4
Reunification	81.2	73.6	87.7	76.9	62.8	62.4	66.3	61.0	96.7	88.0	80.0	80.8
Other	5.9	3.3	1.2	6.7	8.8	5.2	8.4	7.7	0.0	4.0	3.1	6.8
Missing data	3.5	1.1	0.0	2.9	4.1	2.8	3.8	8.2	1.6	2.0	6.2	1.4
Number	85	91	81	104	387	386	395	426	61	50	65	73

4. Reduce Time to Reunification Without Increasing Reentry (AFCARS Foster Care File)

4.1 Time to Reunification (%)
	2002	2003	2004	2005
Less than 12 mos.	76.3	75.1	76.4	75.7
At least 12 mos., but less than 24 mos.	14.6	14.7	13.0	14.3
At least 24 mos., but less than 36 mos.	5.8	6.7	6.8	5.8
At least 36 mos., but less than 48 mos.	1.8	2.2	2.4	2.3
48 or more mos.	1.4	1.4	1.4	2.0
Missing data	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Number	4,241	3,870	3,756	3,770

4.2 Children Reentering Foster Care (%)
	2002	2003	2004	2005
Children entering care for the first time	76.3	76.2	77.1	78.3
Children reentering care within 12 mos. of a prior episode	12.9	11.2	11.2	10.9
Children reentering care more than 12 mos. after a prior episode	10.4	12.2	11.3	10.5
Missing data	0.4	0.4	0.4	0.4
Number	6,704	6,196	6,554	7,004

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

5.1 Time to Adoption (%)
	2002	2003	2004	2005
Less than 12 mos.	2.2	2.2	2.9	2.7
At least 12 mos., but less than 24 mos.	22.3	22.5	26.8	28.8
At least 24 mos., but less than 36 mos.	34.9	35.5	36.2	33.6
At least 36 mos., but less than 48 mos.	20.1	22.8	18.5	19.5
48 or more mos.	20.4	17.0	15.6	15.4
Missing data	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Number	980	1,221	1,130	1,183

6. Increase Placement Stability (AFCARS Foster Care File)

6.1 Number of Placements by Time in Care (%)
	In Care Less Than 12 Months				In Care at Least 12 months but Less Than 24 months				In Care for 24 Months or Longer				Missing Time in Care
	2002	2003	2004	2005	2002	2003	2004	2005	2002	2003	2004	2005	2002	2003	2004	2005
Children with 2 or fewer placements	84.2	85.3	84.7	85.5	58.2	59.1	60.8	59.1	32.6	31.6	32.1	33.1	100.0	100.0	100.0	92.9
Children with 3 or more placements	15.8	14.7	15.3	14.5	41.8	40.9	39.2	40.9	67.4	68.4	67.9	66.9	0.0	0.0	0.0	7.1
Number	7,344	6,783	7,122	7,557	3,650	3,748	3,452	3,851	5,035	4,968	4,857	4,756	14	17	19	28

7. Reduce Placement of Young Children in Group Homes or Institutions (AFCARS Foster Care File)

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 (%)
	2002	2003	2004	2005
Group homes	1.6	3.2	2.3	1.7
Institutions	1.4	0.8	0.9	0.6
Other settings	97.0	96.1	96.8	97.7
Missing data	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Number	4,651	4,284	4,582	5,054

Composite and Individual Measures Established for the Federal Child and Family Services Reviews9

Composite One: Timeliness and Permanency of Reunification
	2004	2005
Composite Score	--	105.3
C1.1: Percent of reunifications that occur in less than 12 months (with adjustments)	65.4	65.6
C1.2: Median length of stay in months of children exiting to reunification (with adjustments)	5.7	5.8
C1.3: Percent of children in entry cohort who are reunified in less than 12 months (with adjustments)	30.7	27.1
C1.4: Percent of children reentering foster care in less than 12 months	16.4	17.3

Composite Two: Timeliness of Adoptions
	2004	2005
Composite Score	--	116.0
C2.1: Percent of adoptions occurring in less than 24 months	29.7	31.5
C2.2: Median length of stay in months of children who are adopted	30.1	29.8
C2.3: Percent of children in foster care for 17+ months on first day of fiscal year who are adopted by the end of the year	23.1	23.6
C2.4: Percent of children in foster care for 17+ months on first day of fiscal year who are not legally free for adoption who become legally free within 6 months	16.0	15.3
C2.5: Percent of children legally free for adoption who are adopted in less than 12 months of becoming legally free	51.8	54.9

Composite Three: Achieving Permanency for Children in Foster Care for Long Periods of Time
	2004	2005
Composite Score	--	124.2
C3.1: Percent of children in foster care for 24+ months on the first day of fiscal year who exit to permanency by age 18 or by the end of the fiscal year	32.7	33.6
C3.2: Percent of children who are legally free for adoption who exit to a permanent home	95.9	95.8
C3.3: Percent of children emancipated or reaching age 18 who were in foster care for at least 3 years	54.0	48.4

Composite Four: Placement Stability While in Foster Care
	2004	2005
Composite Score	--	91.3
C4.1: Percent of children in care for less than 12 months with 2 or fewer placement settings	79.9	81.3
C4.2: Percent of children in care for 12 to 24 months with 2 or fewer placement settings	60.8	59.1
C4.3: Percent of children in care for at least 24 months with 2 or fewer placement settings	32.1	33.1

9 State composite scores for 2004 are not provided because that year's data served as the source data for the establishment of the national standards. Composite scores are not used for performance assessment purposes until 2005; therefore, only 2005 composite scores are provided. Individual measure performance is shown under each composite unless the State did not provide the data necessary to calculate those measures. Back

Washington [State Comment]

Cheryl Stephani, Assistant Secretary
Children's Administration
Washington Department of Social and Health Services

The following are Washington's comments on the State's data presented in Child Welfare Outcomes 2002-2005: Report to Congress.

Washington State's focus is on achieving safety for all children we serve and on securing stable permanent homes for children in out-of-home care in the shortest time possible. To ensure the safety of children returning home, a reunification assessment is used to evaluate their safety before returning home and transition and safety plans are used when children are reunified with their parents. These tools continue to reduce our re-entry rate. While our foster care re-entry rate continues to decline for all children exiting care, Washington is exceeding the national median for re-entry in 2004-2005 for children discharged as reunified. However, the preliminary data for the composite measure, timeliness and permanency of reunification, indicates we are above the national median in 2004 and continue to increase in 2005.

Our performance in completing adoptions within target timeframes continued to increase, from 24.5 percent in 2002 to 31.5 percent in 2005. Additionally, the 2005 percent exceeds the national median of 29.1 percent. The number of legally-free children waiting for a permanent home shows an ongoing decrease. Washington also shows improvement in composite three: achieving permanency for children in foster care for long periods. In an effort to improve practice and statewide consistency, new initiatives are underway to better engage families in order to prevent placement of children in out-of-home care, to safely reunite children with their parents, and to increase relative involvement.

Washington State continues to use a safety assessment and safety plan during investigations of abuse and neglect. We have reduced response times during investigations and focused our attention on children who remained in their own homes following the investigation and successfully reduced our maltreatment recurrence rate.

The Governor and legislature of Washington State are committed to management accountability and performance measurement. The Children's Administration tracks performance on safety, permanency, and well-being outcomes and uses outcome data in making decisions. While we support the federal effort to evaluate states' performance in comparison to federal standards, some unique characteristics of Washington's child welfare system make this comparison difficult. Because the scope of this report does not permit clarification of laws and policies that may influence the data, some of the results presented may be misleading.

We support the federal government's efforts to explore State differences which may impact comparability of the data. This work will assist the federal government and individual states toward efforts to improve child welfare services for all children and their families.

Washington [Federal Comment]

PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT

Washington's performance in achieving outcomes related to the safety and permanency of children served by the child welfare system is discussed below. The discussion focuses on performance in 2005 and change in performance over time, which is determined by calculating the percent change from a prior year to 2005. The prior year selected varies depending on the availability and reliability of data. A percent change that is less than 5.0 (either positive or negative) is considered to represent "no change."

The discussion incorporates information about performance on the seven outcomes that have been part of the Report to Congress since its inception. In general, data are provided for these outcomes from 2002 to 2005 and their measures are identified using the labels provided in the data pages (e.g., measure 1.1, 2.1, etc.). The discussion also incorporates information about performance on measures included in four composite data indicators recently developed for the Federal Child and Family Services Reviews. (See appendix B for a discussion of these measures.) The composites and measures are presented on the last page of the data pages and are identified below using the labels provided on the data page (e.g., measure C1.2, C1.3, etc.). Data are available for these outcome measures for 2004 and 2005 only.

Outcomes Pertaining to Safety

In 2005, 10.1 percent of the children who were victims of child maltreatment in the first 6 months of the fiscal year experienced another maltreatment incident within a 6-month period (measure 1.1). This percentage exceeds the national median of 6.6 percent, but represents an improvement in performance from 2002 (6.5 percent change), although there was a decline in performance from 2004 (5.2 percent change).
In 2005, 0.27 percent of children in foster care in Washington were found to be victims of maltreatment by foster parents or facility staff members (measure 2.1). This percentage is less than the national median of 0.42 percent.

Outcomes Pertaining to Permanency

Performance with regard to exits from foster care to a permanent home (i.e., children discharged from foster care to adoption, guardianship, or reunification).

In 2005, 86.5 percent of all children exiting foster care (measure 3.1) were discharged to a permanent home. This is less than the national median of 87.8 percent. However, 79.8 percent of children exiting foster care who had a diagnosed disability (measure 3.2) and 81.0 percent of children exiting foster care who were older than age 12 when they entered foster care (measure 3.3) were discharged to a permanent home. These two percentages exceed the national medians for these measures (national medians for measures 3.2 and 3.3 are 79 percent and 73.1 percent, respectively).
In 2005, 33.6 percent of the children in foster care for 24 months or longer on the first day of the fiscal year were discharged from foster care to a permanent home by the last day of the fiscal year (measure C3.1). This percentage exceeds the national median of 26.4 percent.
In 2005, 95.8 percent of the children exiting foster care who were legally free for adoption (i.e., a parental rights termination date was reported for both parents) were discharged to a permanent home (measure C3.2). This percentage is about equal to the national median of 95.7 percent.

Performance with regard to children remaining in foster care until emancipated.

In 2005, 5.6 percent of the children exiting foster care had a discharge reason of "emancipation" and 25.6 percent of these children were age 12 or younger when they entered foster care (measure 3.4). This percentage is less than the national median of 27.6 percent.
In 2005, 48.4 percent of the children exiting foster care with a discharge reason of emancipation had been in foster care for 3 years or longer (measure C3.3). This percentage is about equal to the national median of 48.1 percent and represents an improvement in performance from 2004 (10.4 percent change).

Performance with regard to the timeliness and permanency of reunifications.

In 2005, 65.6 percent of the reunifications of children who were in foster care for 8 days or longer occurred in less than 12 months from the time of the child's entry into foster care (measure C1.1). This percentage is less than the national median of 70.4 percent.
Measure C1.3 indicates that 27.1 percent of the children entering foster care in the last 6 months of 2005 were reunified in less than 12 months from the time of entry into foster care. This percentage is less than the national median of 38.7 percent and represents a decline in performance from 2004 (11.7 percent change).
Measure C1.4 indicates that 17.3 percent of children exiting foster care to reunification in 2005 reentered foster care in less than 12 months. This percentage exceeds the national median of 14.8 percent and represents a decline in performance from 2004 (5.5 percent change). Because measure C1.4 is a longitudinal measure of foster care reentry, it is intended to replace measure 4.2 as the assessment of foster care reentry.

Performance with regard to the timeliness of adoptions.

In 2005, 31.5 percent of finalized adoptions occurred within 24 months of the child's entry into foster care (measures 5.1 and C2.1). This percentage exceeds the national median of 29.1 percent and represents an improvement in performance on this measure from 2002 (28.6 percent change).
In 2005, 23.6 percent of children in foster care for 17 months or longer at the start of the fiscal year who did not exit to reunification or guardianship were discharged from foster care to a finalized adoption by the end of the year (measure C2.3). This percentage exceeds the national median of 20.9 percent.
Measure C2.5 indicates that 54.9 percent of children who became legally free for adoption in 2005 (i.e., there was a termination of parental rights date reported for mother and father) were adopted in less than 12 months of becoming legally free. This percentage exceeds the national median of 45.1 percent and represents an improvement in performance from 2004 (6.0 percent change).

Outcomes Pertaining to the Stability and Appropriateness of Placements

In 2005, 81.3 percent of the children in foster care for less than 12 months but at least 8 days experienced two or fewer placement settings (measure C4.1). This percentage is less than the national median of 82.4 percent.
In 2005, 33.1 percent of children in foster care for 24 months or longer experienced two or fewer placement settings (measure 6.1). This percentage exceeds the national median of 32.3 percent.
In 2005, 2.3 percent of the children entering foster care at age 12 or younger were placed in a group home or institution (measure 7.1). This percentage is among the lowest in the nation and represents an improvement in performance from 2002 (23.3 percent change).