County report: 2,169 Marion children designated CHINS in 2023; average out-of-home stay nears two years

Kate Rawlicki, program director at the Marion County Commission on Youth, told the Indianapolis City-County Council Community Affairs Committee on a presentation night that a countywide review found 2,169 children designated as children in need of services, or CHINS, in Marion County during 2023.

The report by the Early Intervention Planning Council, convened by McCoy, found that about 77 percent of CHINS cases in 2023 resulted in out-of-home placements and that the average length of stay for children placed outside the home was roughly 719 days, or about 23.6 months. Rawlicki said 767 new CHINS cases required out-of-home placement in 2023; 43 percent of those placements were with relatives and about 37 percent were with nonrelative foster caregivers.

“This council has identified child permanency as a critical component in positive youth development and priority goal for early intervention and prevention,” Rawlicki said, summarizing the report’s aims and urging systemwide coordination. She also emphasized limits in available local data: “we don't have all of the data that could give us a more complete picture of child permanency in Marion County,” she said.

Nut graf: The Early Intervention Planning Council report frames permanency—stable, lifelong caregiving—as a county-level problem that intersects child welfare, housing and juvenile systems. The presentation highlighted racial…