Abstract:
In Alaska, as in every other state, people who suspect children are being abused or
neglected can contact the designated child protection agency. In Alaska, that agency is
the Office of Children Services (OCS). It is responsible for investigating all reported
incidents and determining the level of risk to the health, safety, and welfare of children.
In a number of instances, children will be removed from their families and homes due to
unsafe conditions, and they are often placed in foster care.
1 Being taken away from their
families is of course traumatizing for children.
The number of American children in foster care at any time, and the length of time they
spend in foster care, has been closely watched over the last several decades. Several
changes in policy and practice were introduced in the last 20 years, at national and state
levels, to reduce both the number of children in foster care and the length of time they
stay in foster care. These changes caused some dramatic trends at the national level: the
number of children in foster care in the U.S. declined by almost a quarter (23.7%)
between 2002 and 2012, with the decline being most pronounced among AfricanAmerican
children (47.1%). As of 2012, African-American children made up 26% of all
children in foster care nationwide, down from 37% a decade earlier. But during the same
period, the proportion of children in foster care classified as belonging to two or more
races almost doubled. And American Indian/Alaska Native children are the highest
represented ethnic group among foster children—13 of every 1,000 American
Indian/Alaska Native children in the U.S. were in foster care in 2012.
In contrast, no such dramatic changes happened in Alaska in recent years. This paper
reports on foster children in Alaska by age, gender, race, and region over the period
2006-2013. This information is important for state policymakers working to better protect
abused and neglected children. At the end of the paper we discuss questions the data raise
and describe additional data needed to better help children in foster care in Alaska.
We compiled data for this analysis from monthly reports of key indicators on foster
children in the state. OCS publishes monthly data on select indicators (Alaska State
Statutes 2011, Monthly reports concerning children, AK. Stat. § 47.05.100), in PDF
format on its website (http://dhss.alaska.gov/ocs/Pages/statistics/default.aspx). Data
presented here are snapshots in time and do not follow unique children over time.