DCYF tracks foster care metrics over a 12 month year ending August 31, and releases them in September.
With the new numbers for the year just finished, DCYF published an article giving a short overview of what they are doing to achieve their longterm goal of halving the number of kids in care – and in the immediate future, what they are trying to reduce the ongoing use of hotels for one-night stays for foster kids. For more details, see the recently finalized federal Performance Plan for DCYF and the draft Strategic Report for 2020-2025 is available.
Along with the DCYF analysis, Crosscut/Investigate Northwest published another piece in their multi-year reporting project on Washington’s foster care system, a more fleshed out description of how the system is running today featuring perspectives from the department, foster parents, legislators, and external professionals.
