WASHINGTON STATE – Deaths and near-fatalities among children in Washington’s child welfare system have slowed, but are still expected to hit a record level in 2025.
Through the first nine months of the year, Washington saw 15 deaths and 30 near-deaths among these children, many of them infants and toddlers, according to state data shared Friday. There were 49 total such incidents all of last year, and 51 in 2023.
Over half of this year’s incidents have been tied to opioids, especially highly potent fentanyl, according to the Department of Children, Youth and Families, the sprawling state agency that handles child welfare in Washington. At least some of the deaths and injuries involve parents repeatedly flagged over child welfare concerns.
The latest figures show improvement from the first three months of the year, which saw 22 of these incidents, the department said. In the second quarter, 14 were reported. And preliminarily, there were nine in the third quarter.
“Although the numbers have moderated, thankfully, quite a bit since quarter one of 2025, we do anticipate that 2025 will be a record year,” Vickie Ybarra, an assistant secretary at the agency, told reporters Friday. “We do not expect it to be double or triple, which was a concern in the first quarter.”
Declines in opioid overdoses could be helping the problem as the year goes on, according to the Department of Children, Youth and Families.
State child welfare officials recently held listening sessions with staff to help identify roadblocks to working with families with substance use issues.
“The goal of our innovation is always to support families to be able to safely parent their children,” said Assistant Secretary of Child Welfare Natalie Green.
The slowing rate of deaths and injuries hasn’t tamped down calls for changes to a state law that some say has contributed to the crisis.
The children most likely to be hurt are between the ages of 0 and 3.
In one case, caseworkers received 85 reports over the course of a dozen years about the family of a six-month-old child who died in May, according to a child fatality review the Department of Children, Youth and Families conducted.
The allegations included drug use, neglect, physical abuse, unsafe living conditions and sex trafficking. The child had three older siblings.
Investigations found no proof of abuse or neglect, or evidence of imminent physical harm worthy of removing the baby from the home.
The case is an example of the increase in families who are chronically enmeshed in the child welfare system.
The data only covers cases believed to be related to maltreatment and that the agency had been involved in within the past year. A state ombuds office examines a wider range of cases, including those not directly related to maltreatment.
Over the summer, the ombuds reported at least 92 children had died or nearly died through June. The difference between that figure and the state agency’s has state Rep. Travis Couture, R-Allyn, skeptical.
“Even if you took DCYF’s revised numbers at face value, they’re still incredibly high,” Couture said Friday.
Republicans like Couture have blamed a 2021 state law for keeping children in unsafe homes.
The Keeping Families Together Act raised the standard for separating children from their parents, and aimed to keep them with other relatives instead of foster care. The goal was to stop poverty from being used as a reason to take kids away from their parents, and to avoid inflicting the trauma of being separated from family.
“What we’re doing right now, leaving them together and crossing our fingers and hoping for the best, is insane to me,” Couture said. “This hurts me on almost a personal level. I have to fix this.”
Some Democrats, including the chair of the state House committee that tackles these issues, have acknowledged the law may need to be further revised.
Rep. Steve Bergquist, who leads the House Early Learning and Human Services Committee, said he doesn’t “think we need to make wholesale changes this session, but look at opportunities to make it better.” These changes, for example, could focus on improving programs, like peer mentorship, to help parents.
The number of children entering out-of-home care fell after the law took effect, from nearly 4,200 in fiscal year 2021 to just over 2,800 in 2024.
That figure is climbing back up after lawmakers tweaked the Keeping Families Together Act to instruct courts to give “great weight” to the presence of opioids in determining when children should be placed in foster care away from their parents.
Bergquist has urged colleagues in the Legislature to allow time for this change to play out before attempting any drastic overhaul of the law.
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The Department of Children, Youth and Families isn’t planning to ask for changes to child welfare policy in the 2026 legislative session.
The agency is asking Gov. Bob Ferguson to include $4 million in his upcoming budget proposal to help get drug treatment for parents before their child welfare cases are closed.
The funding would also be used to help connect families to services after their cases close.
Overall, the agency is asking for 37 new full-time equivalent employees to improve staffing in the child welfare system.
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