Forty-five children living in Washington have died or nearly died over the last three months, according to the Washington Office of the Family and Children’s Ombuds (OFCO), an organization that investigates and tracks children in need of protection.
During a Thursday meeting with the Washington State Department of Youth, Children & Families Oversight Board, OFCO revealed that many of these deaths and near-death instances involved fentanyl and accidental ingestion.
“For the second quarter of 2025, it showed 45 AIRS [Administrative Incident Reporting System] reports involving child fatalities or near-fatalities, compared to 47 in the first quarter,” Patrick Dowd, director of OFCO, said during the meeting, according to The Center Square. “There were six cases involving accidental ingestion of fentanyl by children ages 0 to 3.”
In total, there have been 92 deaths or near-death incidents involving children this year.
It’s not common for OFCO to reveal data for the current year, but Dowd shared that, due to the increase in incidents, it was necessary to share the information.
“We wanted to paint a picture of where things are headed in 2025. We thought it was important to share the information we have at this time,” he said. “What we found was that 36% [of the time] it was clear neglect was the cause of the fatality; about 18% it was clear physical abuse, and in about 45% were cases where OFCO identified, there were contributing factors of child maltreatment that may have played a role in the fatality.”
In several cases, the state had already been involved with the families.
Keeping Families Together Act to blame?
Due to the overrepresentation of Black and Indigenous children in the child welfare system, Washington installed the Keeping Families Together Act in 2023 in order to create a more equitable Shelter Care process that would require fewer removals of children from their homes.
The intent of the legislation was to prevent unnecessary removals of children from their homes, but critics argued that this bill has backfired.
“The so-called Keeping Families Together Act is tragically misnamed,” Jamie Williams, a foster parent and labor and delivery nurse, said, according to The Center Square. “Rather than preserving families, this law is accelerating the destruction of them. It’s keeping children in unsafe environments, silencing mandated reporters, and blocking lifesaving interventions. This law is not keeping families together; it is sending them to an early grave.”
“The kids are dying because of this law,” another meeting attendee added. “DCYF continues to blame the fentanyl crisis, and yes, there’s a fentanyl crisis, but if the children were not in the home, they wouldn’t be dying.”
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