Source: Seattle Times
According to a new report, the number of foster children in the State of Washington who are without foster parents has increased over the last four years, leading to a shortage of housing options for them.
Since 2015, the number of foster children that have had to stay in a hotel at least one night has increased tremendously from 116 to 1,075 by 2018. Many of the children assigned to stay in hotels were between the ages of 5 to 17, according to Seattle Times, and some were even there for several weeks or months.
Experts say that this increasing dependence on hotel stays for foster children is posing one of the “single greatest” challenges to Washington’s child-welfare system. The practice is costly, is not helpful for children who are already living with trauma, and can end up posing major challenges for children who are sent out of state because there is simply no space to keep them within the state.
Read Full Story: Seattle Times