WA child welfare deaths continue to drop after spiking last year

Deaths and critical injuries in Washington’s child welfare system continued to decline this spring, after a record high in 2025 that had lawmakers considering changing state law.

Six children died and five more nearly died from April through June, according to new data from the state Department of Children, Youth and Families, which runs the child welfare system. In this period last year, the total of the two types of incidents was 14.

Through the first six months of this year, 10 children died and eight more suffered critical injuries. This is half of what the state saw from January through June 2025.

Department of Children, Youth and Families Secretary Tana Senn said she is “relieved to see the number of cases continue to decline,” while noting “every critical incident is a tragedy.”

Washington state officials attribute the dramatic drop at least partially to the recent overall decrease in opioid-related overdoses. In the first quarter this year, fatal opioid overdoses were down over 9% from late 2025, according to preliminary state data. Meanwhile, emergency department visits for suspected opioid overdoses were up 10%.

“This underscores the impact of the broader ecosystem on the families we serve,” Senn said.

Of the 18 incidents so far this year, four were related to fentanyl. Last year, 27 of the 57 were tied to the synthetic opioid.

The numbers only cover children involved in the state child welfare system in the year before the maltreatment-related death or critical injury.

The cases this most recent quarter included ones related to drowning, opioids and safe sleep. The sleep incidents often involve parental substance use, according to the Department of Children, Youth and Families.

Several recent moves by the department may also be contributing to the downturn.

For example, starting in June 2025, child welfare staff were mandated to conduct “safe child consults” for cases involving opioid use and a child younger than 3 before they could be closed. By the end of the year, over 23,000 had been completed, with nearly 40% involving high-potency synthetic opioids, like fentanyl.

“Over the past year, we have made some internal shifts in our practice, strengthened partnerships, and are heartened by the public health data showing a decrease in overall drug overdoses,” Senn said.

State legislators earmarked money this year to help with the issue.

This included a few million dollars to hire more caseworkers; $876,000 for a public health nurse program in some high-need communities to serve families with a child under age 3 where drug use is a factor; $188,000 for a referral program to family resource centers for parents with children older than 3; and $252,000 to expand a program that helps coordinate care and navigate resources for expecting mothers and newborns with prenatal drug exposure.

State agencies, including the Department of Children, Youth and Families, will make requests in September to Gov. Bob Ferguson for funding in the next budget. But money is tight as the state faces another budget shortfall. Agency officials have said they see a need for additional staff training specific to parents with substance use disorder to keep infants safe while sleeping.

The current budget also funded a new workgroup focused on addressing last year’s rise in injuries and deaths through increased drug treatment options.

Also helping the situation potentially is a 2023 law directing judges deciding on whether to remove children from their parents to “give great weight” to the presence of synthetic opioids.

The policy was a fix to the earlier Keeping Families Together Act that lawmakers passed to raise the standard to remove children from their homes and keep them with other relatives instead of foster care. Conservatives have blamed this law for the spike in fatalities in recent years.

The Legislature considered several bills this year to address the rise in deaths and injuries, but all stalled.

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