Foster Kids’ Return Rate Alarms Panel

Children in foster care and group homes are returning to Orangewood Children’s Home at an alarming rate, and they are entering county custody with more serious problems than in previous years, according to an Orange County Grand Jury report released Wednesday.

After studying admission and placement processes at Orangewood, the grand jury cited the shrinking pool of available foster parents and increasing numbers of children in need. Those two factors contribute to a high number of “placement failures,” the report stated.

The grand jury recommended more group homes, an information system that would track children’s placements, and increased case-worker staff at Orange County’s Social Services and Health Care agencies.

The need for protective care is growing, the study found. From 1985 to 1996, the report said, Orange County saw a 128% rise in the number of children reported abused, neglected of abandoned. Orangewood has a capacity to hold 236 children, the report stated. In 1996, it admitted 2,909.

Many of those children were admitted for multiple reasons, but the most common was “serious physical harm or illness due to failure of the parent to protect the children.” The report stated that 11% of the first-time admissions and 13% of re-admissions were because of sexual abuse.

“The increasing severity of physical and sexual abuse underscores the children’s need for protection,” the report said.

That task, according to the grand jury, becomes difficult when more than half of the children cared for at Orangewood are “recycled” through the system. “Those children who are returned to Orangewood after an initial placement generally continue to return from subsequent placements,” the report said. “The reasons for such a situation are possibly due to an inappropriate original placement, a stigma after a placement fails to turn out right, and individual children’s behavior problems that require special attention.”

Once a child returns to the facility from an unsuccessful placement, finding a home can be “almost impossible,” the report said, adding that many who come back are more disturbed and out of control once they return.

“The problems are increasing in magnitude and severity,” grand jury member Pat Drew said. “From this, you get kind of a picture, an illumination of a major social problem. Something has to change.”