Washington County reports rise in child welfare reports, intake cases and emotional‑harm allegations

Washington County Human Services staff told the county committee that child protective services (CPS) hotline reports rose in 2024, while the share of cases moving to long‑term, court‑ordered services remained lower.

The county’s intake supervisor, Beth Wonke, and Coral Klein, division manager for Children and Families, presented four years of full‑calendar data and said the office saw an overall 4% increase in hotline reports across that period, a 14% increase in intake cases their team served and a 9% increase in cases moving to ongoing services over the same four years.

The presentation matters because it frames how the county allocates short‑term safety funding, works with relatives and kinship caregivers, and decides when to pursue court intervention. "We have some safety funds that we've been able to help families get housing, basic care items, day care…