Child deaths under state supervision trending toward WA record

Through the first nine months of 2025, at least 45 children under the supervision of the Washington State Department of Children, Youth & Families (DCYF) have died or suffered near-fatal incidents, trending toward a record high.

The statistics were revealed on Friday, more than a month after DCYF announced that it had the updated numbers, but was not ready to release them, according to The Center Square.

Of the 45 near-fatal or deadly incidents through the first three quarters of 2025, more than half of the incidents were fentanyl related, at 24.

In comparison, 27 incidents were fentanyl related in the totality of 2024, and 35 nearly fatal or deadly incidents occurred in 2023.

Massive disparity between reported child death findings

The Office of the Family and Children’s Ombuds (OFCO), an independent agency working to improve the child welfare system, recently reported that the numbers are inaccurate, and there are considerably more children involved in fatal or nearly fatal incidents in 2025.

In July, OFCO claimed that 92 children were involved in fatal or nearly fatal incidents through the first six months of the year. The agency generally wouldn’t release statistics during the middle of the year, but elected to do so because of the alarming trend.

“We didn’t want to give the impression that things are getting better, and are actually starting to decline, when in fact we had preliminary information for the first quarter of 2025 that might paint a very different picture,” OFCO Director Patrick Dowd said, according to The Center Square.

DCYF reported that 36 children under its supervision were involved in fatal or nearly fatal incidents in the first six months of this year, and provided clarity as to why the findings between the two agencies have a more than 50-child disparity.

“OFCO examines child fatality reported to the office, including those not directly caused by maltreatment, as long as there are concerns about child welfare or systemic issues,” according to a slide presentation from DCYF, obtained by The Center Square. “DCYF is limited by statute (RCW 74.13.640) to reviewing only those child fatalities and near fatalities that are maltreatment-related and where there was prior DCYF involvement within the 12 months preceding the incident.”

Lawmakers have recently pushed to amend House Bill 1227, which took effect in 2023, and is informally known as the Keeping Families Together Act. Several members of the public urged DCYF to change the act in a public hearing in July, where OFCO reported its findings of 92 child-related incidents.

“I am here today as someone who is deeply disgusted by the direction our child welfare system is headed,” foster parent and labor and delivery nurse Jamie Williams said, according to The Center Square. “Health care providers have never had to advocate this hard to keep children safe. We are sending our most vulnerable home to the most lethal environments. A 200% increase in critical incidents is not just a statistic; it’s a failure. A failure to protect the very children that our system was created to protect.”

Rep. Travis Couture told The Center Square in an interview that he aims to reintroduce House Bill 1092, which he believes would be a fix to the Keeping Families Together Act.

“At the end of the day, these kids deserve better than this. DCYF is fundamentally broken, and when you have bureaucrats whose No. 1 job is to protect children and families, and they seem to want to throw under the rug the deaths of innocent kids, oftentimes babies and toddlers in our state, it makes me sick,” Couture said.

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