In 2025, the rate of children in Oregon’s child welfare system being seriously harmed — physically, emotionally or sexually — reached an all-time high.

That’s noteworthy since it came on the heels of a long-running class-action lawsuit, which was settled in May 2024 on the eve of a trial. The primary goal of the lawsuit: to reduce the rate of children being abused in care. The state spent millions of taxpayer dollars defending itself.

In response to questions from OPB about the data, agency officials said they are working to better understand what is causing the increase.

“This data represents real children who are experiencing real trauma and we’re taking concrete, measurable steps to ensure their safety,” Lacey Andresen, the deputy director of child welfare, wrote in an email to OPB. “We welcome questions and accountability, and we are committed to understanding what is driving these outcomes.”

For years, Oregon has exceeded national averages for how often kids in the state’s custody are mistreated. State officials have explained the disparity by noting Oregon’s data set is more inclusive than other states, making the comparison unfair. But simply looking at data collected in Oregon and comparing it to state data from previous years reveals a similar disturbing trend.

There are about 4,600 kids total placed in foster care in the state. The rate of mistreatment is the number of reported incidents per 100,000 care days, according to state records. Oregon’s rate has increased by 21.3% since 2022.

“It shows things are not going in the right direction, in terms of preventing abuse,” said Tom Stenson, the deputy legal director with Disability Rights Oregon, a nonprofit advocacy group that is federally mandated to advocate for individuals with disabilities. “That number should be going down, not up.”

Andresen, the deputy child welfare director, said an initial review shows many of the incidents of mistreatment are happening during trial home visits when kids placed in foster care go back to their parents for a trial reunification and during unsupervised visits with members of their family. She said the agency is working to ensure caseworkers check in more frequently with children and parents and offer more training for staff to assess risk and safety concerns.

“Our continuous quality improvement team, with the assistance of program experts, is currently doing a comprehensive review of the 2025 maltreatment in care cases to determine with certainty the specific factors contributing to this rise,” Andresen wrote in an email to OPB.

The state’s child welfare system has been in a near-constant state of crisis for a decade. They have been sued for placing kids in hotels and out-of-state facilities. They tried unlicensed short-term rentals and are now suing that provider. The agency recently got a new leader who pledged more accountability and transparency in the system.

As part of the civil lawsuit settlement, the agency must submit regular reports to evaluate its performance.

Their first report was released earlier this month and highlighted progress on several fronts, including moving more quickly to assess a child’s mental health needs and keeping more children who are placed in foster care with a member of their family.

For example, as of Dec. 31, 2025, 36.1% of all children in foster care were placed with relatives, increasing from 18.8% in 2022. Keeping kids who are removed from their parents with family or in the same community has been shown to benefit the child placed in care.

The report notes that the work of child welfare is both complex and involves some of the most vulnerable Oregonians.

“The choices and decisions we make can have profound and lasting impacts on the safety, health, and well-being of children, families and communities,” the report reads. “Keeping children safe is fundamental to this goal.”

News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2026/05/13/oregon-foster-care-abuse-highest-rate-harm/