Strategic Priority Driver

DCYF strives to return children and youth home as soon as safely possible, and when this is not possible – to place them in an alternate permanent home.  The agency monitors the median length of stay for children in out-of-home care as a driver indicator for the number of children and youth in out-of-home care.  In state fiscal year 2021, the most recent year that can be reported, the median length of stay was 534 days, an increase of 68 days from the previous year.

Median Length of Stay (in Days) in Out-of-Home Care, SFY 2010-2021

 

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Median Length of Stay (in Days) in Out-of-Home Care, SFY 2010-2021

Source: DCYF. (October 2023). Child welfare priority performance measures [July 2009-June 2021]. infoFamlink.
Notes: Median number of days children are placed in out-of-home care on the last day of the state fiscal year. Episodes of less than seven days are not included, but days spent in any Trial Return Home period are included up to a maximum of 30 days. The cases included in this metric calculation have been changed from those with 60+ days in out-of-home care to those with 7+ days in out-of-home care. The metric has been updated to reflect the new standard, and as a result, medians for all years are lower than previously reported. 
“Median” is the middle number in a list of numbers in value order (for example, lowest to highest). There is an equal probability of falling above or below the median.

Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) is the primary residential treatment for youth and young adults in Washington’s Juvenile Rehabilitation (JR) facilities. Two integral components of DBT are individual counseling sessions and skills groups. JR’s standard is for residents to attend 4 of each per month. Equitable access to appropriate treatment is a driver of equitable outcomes. Residents who are Black/African American or Asian/Pacific Islander received less DBT treatment than did other groups.

READ THE EVALUATION OF DIALECTICAL BEHAVIOR THERAPY IN WASHINGTON STATE’S JUVENILE REHABILITATION

READ THE UPDATE ON THE 2019 DIALECTICAL BEHAVIOR THERAPY RECOMMENDATIONS