Washington Child Welfare Deaths and Near-Deaths Fall Sharply After Record 2025

Deaths and critical injuries among children in Washington's child welfare system dropped steeply in the first three months of 2026, according to figures state officials released Wednesday.

Four children died and three others came close to dying between January and March, a total of seven incidents. In the same period of 2025, the count was 22, a spike that had alarmed officials and advocates. The Department of Children, Youth and Families, which oversees the state's child welfare system, said preliminary second-quarter data point to numbers similar to those of the first quarter.

Drug exposure has been linked to many of the child deaths. The decline in incidents has coincided with an overall drop in opioid overdoses and wider access to treatment.

Last year set a record, with 23 deaths and 35 near-deaths. The 58 total fell short of the worst fears voiced early in 2025 but still caused serious concern. It compared with 48 in 2024, and with 51 and 43 in the two years before that. About half of the 2025 incidents involved fentanyl. The figures include only children who had contact with the child welfare system in the year before a maltreatment-related death or critical injury.

The numbers fueled a political debate. Republicans have sought to overhaul the 2021 Keeping Families Together Act, which raised the standard for separating children from their parents and prioritized placement with relatives over foster care. Its aim was to keep poverty from being a reason for removal and to spare children the trauma of separation. In 2024, lawmakers told courts to give "great weight" to the presence of opioids when deciding on separations, and removals then rose. Natalie Green, the state's assistant secretary of child welfare, said "we've been very happy" with the results of that change. Legislators who sponsored the 2021 law have said they are open to further changes but dispute that it caused the spike.

As of the end of April, more than 4,400 children were in out-of-home care, and 59% of them were living with relatives or other kinship caregivers.

Several bills aimed at the problem stalled in Olympia this session despite hopes for a bipartisan deal. They included more court oversight of cases involving children under 5 who stay with their parents, a community-based referral path to services for cases involving children under 4 and high-potency synthetic opioids, and an expansion of the child endangerment crime to cover fentanyl with a lower threshold for charges. None became law.

Lawmakers did set aside money, including a few million dollars for more caseworkers, $876,000 for a public health nurse program serving families with children under 3 where drug use is a factor, $188,000 for referrals to family resource centers for parents of children older than 3, and $252,000 to expand care coordination for expectant mothers and newborns with prenatal drug exposure. State agencies will submit funding requests in the coming months for the two-year budget lawmakers will write in early 2027, and Washington is on track for another shortfall.

The department has also acted on its own. It now requires "safe child consults" in cases involving opioid use and a child under 3, to help decide whether a child goes home or officials ask a judge to place the child elsewhere. The agency completed more than 3,300 in 2025, about two in five involving high-potency synthetic opioids such as fentanyl. An expansion of the Parent-Child Assistance Program will let more mothers with substance use disorders get treatment while staying with their children; more than 1,500 people now take part. The department also sees a need for more staff training on keeping infants safe while sleeping when parents have substance use disorders, and the budget created a workgroup on the issue.

"Lots of discussions and conversations continue to happen in order (to understand) how do we address the needs of this population," Green said. "It's exciting to see some of the things that are happening."