The State of Our Children - 2018

August 8, 2018

Each summer, we take a look back at our fiscal year and share our successes and challenges with you in an annual State of Our Children report.

Among our greatest success stories is the adoption of 186 children - a measure that continues a three-year trend of exceeding the annual adoption goal. In fact, this year's goal of 135 adoptions was exceeded by nearly 40 percent.

Likewise, we did a better job this year of finding relatives and other loved ones for children who were removed from home. That number increased by 20 percent, from 351 in July 2017 to 421 this year.

But it wasn't all good news.

This year's outcomes show the results of an increasing number of children entering care due to substance abuse, specifically due to the opioid crisis. Caseloads are on an uptick for the first time in three years, moving from 1 case manager per 13 children to one per 14.

Likewise, the number of children removed from home increased 11 percent, while the number of children living in residential group care decreased only 1 percent despite efforts to limit the use of those facilities.

The total number of foster homes also decreased this year from 152 to 146.