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Washington

What Washington reported to the federal government about the children in its custody and the children it investigated. Where a year says not reported, that is the record.

The funnel, FFY 2024

Washington vs. national

What happened to reports of child maltreatment in Washington in federal fiscal year 2024, at each decision point. Rates are what make states comparable; raw counts mostly measure population.

StageWashingtonRateNational
Referrals to CPSCounts: referrals117,79271.2per 1,000 children59.3
Screened in (became reports)Counts: referrals41,42835.2% of referrals—47.1%
Screened outCounts: referrals76,36464.8% of referrals—52.9%
Children investigated or given an alternative responseCounts: children44,20126.7per 1,000 children40.6
Child victims (substantiated or indicated)Counts: children3,4272.1per 1,000 children7.2
Child fatalitiesCounts: children241.45per 100,000 children2.41

Referrals, reports, children, and victims are four different denominators and are not interchangeable. A referral may concern more than one child; a child may appear in more than one referral; a victim is a child with a substantiated or indicated disposition. National figures are the Children's Bureau's own estimates, not sums of the state rows.

Source: Child Maltreatment 2024 (NCANDS), Tables 2-3, 3-1, 3-3, 4-1

What Washington does not report

A figure Washington did not report is shown as a labeled gap everywhere it would appear on this site — never as a zero, never as a blank cell. A state that does not report a number has not achieved zero of it.

  • Entered foster care · counts children (ages 0 to 23)Not reportedFFY 2023, FFY 2024
  • Exited foster care · counts children (ages 0 to 23)Not reportedFFY 2023, FFY 2024
  • In foster care on September 30 · counts children (ages 0 to 23)Not reportedFFY 2023, FFY 2024
  • Washington did not submit foster care data under the AFCARS 2020 rule until FFY 2025, so its FFY 2023 and FFY 2024 rows in the new series are not reported. Its FY 2013 to FY 2022 counts under the old rule are complete. The Children's Bureau notes that national increases in the FFY 2025 counts partly reflect Washington's addition.

Maltreatment and fatalities over time (NCANDS)

Child fatalities reported to NCANDS, Washington, FFY2020 to FFY2024

102030402020: 142021: 192022: 312023: 312024: 2420202021202220232024

Source: Child Maltreatment 2024 (NCANDS)

KARA VerifiedChild Maltreatment 2024 (NCANDS)FFY 2024Counts: child fatalities

Child maltreatment victims, Washington, FFY2020 to FFY2024

1,0002,0003,0004,0002020: 3,9672021: 3,4872022: 3,3892023: 3,1942024: 3,42720202021202220232024

Source: Child Maltreatment 2024 (NCANDS)

KARA VerifiedChild Maltreatment 2024 (NCANDS)FFY 2024Counts: child victims (substantiated or indicated)

Foster care (AFCARS)

Measure2013201420152016201720182019202020212022
Adopted with public agency involvement1,3281,3621,4841,3871,3451,3311,5091,4251,077864
Entered foster care5,7566,0705,7045,7365,9225,5685,3364,3083,8493,518
Exited foster care5,0145,5245,5055,2935,4235,4225,6735,4934,4604,300
In foster care on September 3010,20810,63010,66510,95911,35511,39910,9099,6168,8948,049
Children served in foster care15,22216,15416,17016,25216,77816,82116,58215,10813,35412,349
Termination of parental rights1,4891,6251,5671,5751,7301,9661,7741,1891,091997
Waiting for adoption3,1013,2133,0753,2783,5693,7333,4782,8032,5822,450

Source: AFCARS state tables, FY2013 to FY2022

AFCARS 2020 rule, FFY2023 to FFY2025 (preliminary)

Collected under the AFCARS 2020 final rule, first effective FFY 2023. Counts include ages 0 to 23. Figures are preliminary estimates from submissions received by February 27, 2026, and states may still revise them. This series is not comparable with the FY 2013 to FY 2022 series, which was collected under the 1993 rule and counted a narrower population; this site does not join the two. Wyoming first submitted under the new rule for FFY 2024 and Washington for FFY 2025; earlier years for those states are shown as not reported.

Measure202320242025
Entered foster carenot reportednot reported2,820
In foster care on September 30not reportednot reported5,480
Exited foster carenot reportednot reported3,111

Counts: children (ages 0 to 23)

Source: AFCARS Dashboard, preliminary FFY2025 estimates (No. 33)

Washington in the archive

What the numbers above cost, in KARA's own reporting.

All 59 Washington articles →

Data vintage

Federal data on this page: Child Maltreatment 2024 (NCANDS), Table 3-3 (Child Victims) and Table 4-1 (Total Fatalities), U.S. HHS/ACF Children's Bureau, published January 2025, loaded 2026-07-24. AFCARS foster care runs as two series that are not comparable across the rule change: state tables FY 2013 to FY 2022 under the 1993 rule, and AFCARS Dashboard preliminary estimates FFY 2023 to FFY 2025 under the 2020 rule (release No. 33, as of February 27, 2026), loaded 2026-07-25.

Unreported-maltreatment estimates: NIS-4 (National Incidence Study of Child Abuse and Neglect), data collected 2005–2006, report issued January 2010 — the last time the United States measured maltreatment that never reaches CPS. No NIS-5 has been funded.