Washington

Washington Highlights

2018 Report by the Office of Family and Children's Ombuds

In addition to complaint investigations, OFCO monitors practices and procedures within the child welfare system and makes recommendations to better serve children and families. Systemic issues discussed in this report include: the ongoing use of hotels as emergency placements for children in state care and the need for a continuum of placement resources; foster care and involvement in the criminal justice system; meeting the educational needs of youth in out of home care; and enhancing parent-child and sibling visits.

Learn More

Facts & Data

10,161 Children 0-17 in foster care

5% Youth who are not with a family (in group/institution)

22 Average length of stay for children in FC (months)

704 Number of children at risk for aging out

33% Youth with 1 placement

26% Youth with 2 placements

15% Youth with 3 placements

26% Youth with 4 or more placements

Contact

Contact

• Web www.dshs.wa.gov/children

Find

Filters

Keyword

State

Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming

Policy Topics

Access to health care Adoption Birth & foster parent partnership Caseworker support Child health Child well-being COVID-19 Decision making Education Family First Act Family permanence Financial support foster care caseload Foster Parent Bill of Rights Foster parent feedback Foster parent licensing Foster parent support foster parenting Kinship care National Foster Parent Day National Foster Parent Month Opiods Oversight Permanence Prevention Quality Parenting Initiative Recruitment Respite care Retention Stability Training Visitation Youth transition to adulthood Youth voice

Types

News Articles Reports Videos Blog Posts Photos Social Media Images Fact Sheets Web Resources Practice Guides Presentations

Year

2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017

Author

Brad Hansen CHAMPS Crystal Charles Marci

Submit Reset Filters

Results

Most Recent Alphabetical Grouped by Type Relevance to State

CHAMPS analysis shows most child welfare agencies struggle with family-based foster care

published: Jan 4, 2022

author: CHAMPS

type: Blog Post

state: National

This new brief crosswalks the six CHAMPS policy goals with the relevant measures from the latest round (round 3) of the Child and Family Services Reviews (CFSRs). The CFSRS are administered by the federal Children's Bureau to monitor the performance…

Read More

CHAMPS Celebrates Amazing Foster Families

published: Jul 9, 2021

author: CHAMPS

topics: Foster parent support, foster parenting

type: Blog Post

state: National

Science supports what we know to be true, which is that children do best in families. This holds true for children and youth in foster care, who do best when they live with someone they know and trust, like family…

Read More

CHAMPS Federal Policy Recommendations

published: Jun 10, 2021

author: CHAMPS

type: Blog Post

state: National

The CHAMPS campaign offers federal policymakers the following recommendations to drive better outcomes for children and youth. See here for a PDF of the campaign's federal policy recommendations. These recommendations align with the six policy goals featured in the CHAMPS…

Read More

Peer Support: A Game Changer for Parents and Children

published: May 5, 2021

author: CHAMPS

topics: Foster parent support, foster parenting

type: Fact Sheet

state: National

In this brief, CHAMPS highlights the game-changing benefits of peers support to families, children and agencies. It describes different approaches to peer support and showcases several examples from the field. See here for brief.

Read More

NEW: Research & Policy Brief on Winning Approaches to Strengthening Family-Based Foster Care

published: Apr 8, 2021

author: CHAMPS

topics: foster parenting, Kinship care

type: Blog Post

state: National

This new brief from CHAMPS summarizes the latest research on the benefits of family-based foster care over group care. It highlights effective policies to creating alternatives to group care by strengthening kin and non-kin recruitment, retention and support.  Share this…

Read More

Sign the Pledge

Sign the pledge to show your support for today’s amazing foster parents and the importance of quality foster parenting.

Go Now

See the Latest

CHAMPS is an exciting new policy campaign with dozens of partner organizations working together to highlight the vital importance of foster parents to the health and well-being of children in foster care. Check out what’s going on nationally and in the states.

View More