Washington
WASHINGTON
Cynthia Ellingson
Data Coordinator
Childrens Administration
Washington Department of Social and Health Services
P.O. Box 45710
14th and Jefferson Street, OB-2
Olympia, WA 98504-5710
(360) 902-7929
(360) 902-7903 Fax
elcy300@dshs.wa.gov
Item 1.1: Families receiving preventive services include 3,280 families per year served by Community Networks; 6,000 families (1,484 children per month) receiving CPS services; 9,754 families receiving Family Reconciliation Services; 744 families receiving Family Preservation Services; and 692 families receiving Intensive Family Preservation Services.
Item 2.1.A: CPS referrals are screened out because the child cannot be located, the alleged subject is not a caretaker, or the allegation of child abuse and neglect does not meet the legal definition. Screened-out referrals have a decision code of "Information Only" or "Third Party-Referred to Law Enforcement."
Item 2.1.B: The 35,838 referrals listed here were assessed as needing a "high standard" of investigation (face-to-face contact with the victim). In addition, there were 7,867 referrals that required only a "low standard" of investigation (referred to an Alternative Response Provider in the community or received a written notice of CPS concerns).
Item 2.2: The 7,867 referrals that required only a "low standard" of investigation were reported by the following sources: Social Services Personnel, 1,074; Medical Personnel, 533; Education Personnel, 1,694; Child Day Care Providers, 140; Substitute Care Providers, 32; Alleged Victims, 63; Parents, 930; Other Relatives, 515; Friends and Neighbors, 710; Alleged Perpetrators, 8; Anonymous or Unknown Reporters, 914; Other, 444.
Items 3.3 and 3.4: A case is opened for services at the time a CPS referral is accepted for investigation. The records do not distinguish between services provided for the purpose of the investigation and services provided during the investigation, which are for the purpose of supporting the family or reducing the risk present in the family. By policy, investigations are to be completed within 90 days of the referral. To most accurately distinguish between those children who received services in addition to CPS investigation or assessment services and those who did not, CPS cases open longer than 90 days were reported in Item 3.3 and cases open less than or equal to 90 days were reported in Item 3.4.
Item 3.5: These children were identified in "high standard" investigations and were placed in out-of-home care after the referral date. These children could have been placed for reasons other than CPS reasons. For example, they could have been in family reconciliation programs. Also, a child may not have been placed as a direct result of the investigation. For example, a child might have run away from home several months after the investigation and received placement because of this.
Item 4.6: Washingtons State information system does not have a record of services from 1992-1997 that can be linked to child victims in 1997.
Item 4.9: Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASAs) were appointed for 4,830 children in 28 of 39 counties. Guardians ad litem were appointed for children in the 11 non-CASA counties, but numbers of these were unavailable.
Item 4.10: The average number of contacts per case was unavailable, but according to CASA, the average number of hours per case was 41.5.
Item 5.1: This number was from the Childrens Administration, which reports child fatalities for children whose case was open at time of death or open within 12 months prior to death. In addition, there were six deaths from child abuse and neglect which were not reviewed as part of the child fatality review process. Of these deaths, two were known to the Childrens Administration 2 years before death, but not in the 12 months before death. The Department of Health and Vital Statistics collects information on all child deaths in the State.
Items 7.1 and 7.2: Of these workers, 310.2 conducted investigation and assessment, while 142.1 conducted intake and screening.
Item 7.3: There are two priority standards: Emergent, which requires face-to-face contact within 24 hours (8,099 reports), and Non-Emergent, which requires face-to-face contact within 10 days (27,739). For all reports, 81 percent of responses took place within 10 days. No finer breakdown was available.
