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Washington state officials say foster care system in ‘crisis’

foster_careWith no place else to take foster children, social workers in Washington state’s Puget Sound area have increasingly resorted to housing children in hotels at night, then babysitting them in child welfare offices during the day.

As InvestigateWest reported, in partnership with “Crosscut” and KCTS Television, the state has grown so desperate that it pays some foster parents up to $325 a night – more than 10 times the normal daily rate. And because there are no regular foster families to take them, some children spend nights at group facilities for runaways and youths with severe mental health problems. State officials concede the system is in “crisis.”

[In photo, Angelique Kelley (center) was fortunate to have been adopted as a teen out of foster care by Lauren Hubbard and Reiley Wicken. But the scars of her 17 moves in foster care remain. Photo by Paul Joseph Brown/InvestigateWest]

[Reporting sponsored by The Park Foundation.]