Child Welfare System Improvements
Child fatality reviews provide pathways to improvements to the child welfare system
Child abuse and neglect fatalities
Any death of a child is tragic. A child's death is more troubling when that child has been served by the state social service system, and even more so when the death is due to child abuse or neglect at the hands of an adult entrusted to care for that child. We work hard to keep children safe and prevent even a single fatality.
We continue to learn from these tragedies by taking a critical look at our own work. From these evaluations, the Department of Social & Health Services has made and continues to make improvements, focusing on child safety while keeping families together whenever possible.
Child Protective Services becomes involved when the family is at the worst of times and in crisis. It is appalling that people do unspeakable things to children. Every day, social workers must use their best judgment based on results of risk assessment findings to evaluate parents' abilities to care for their child. Future behavior of parents harming their own children is not always predictable, and we are required to make reasonable efforts to keep the family together, unless the child is at risk of imminent harm.
Social & Health Services is focusing efforts on three areas across the Department, because the welfare of children crosses the spectrum of services the Department provides to families:
Social & Health Services will work in partnership with DSHS advisory groups, tribes, the Ombudsman, the Braam Oversight Panel, legislators, and many others to help protect the children of the state using best practices and evaluation tools.
Former Governor Christine Gregoire had already made child protection and services a top priority of her administration and implemented reforms to improve the system.
Social & Health Services relies on families and communities to partner with the Department to protect and care for the children of the state. If people suspect a child is being harmed, they should call 1-866-ENDHARM (1-866-363-4276) to report child abuse or neglect. For more information about reporting abuse or neglect of a child, visit the child abuse and neglect web site.
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