SAN DIEGO — A crisis is unfolding throughout the country: More and more teenagers are removed from their homes due to reports of neglect or abuse while there are fewer foster homes available, or willing, to take them in.
San Diego County is no different.
According to data obtained by CBS 8 through a public records request, more teenagers were admitted to Polinsky Children's Center in 2022 than had been in the past five years.
At the same time, this year also saw a spike in cases where children were taken from their homes due to reports of "physical abuse" and general neglect.
The increase in teen admissions and in cases of abuse, says Norma Rincon, the Deputy Director at Polinsky Children's Center, is likely a result of the toll that the pandemic had on families throughout San Diego County, and the country as a whole, as well as a shortage of foster homes that are willing to take older children into their homes.
"COVID-19 impacted our community in so many ways and the number of kids coming to our facility," said Rincon in an interview with CBS 8. "Adding to it, there is a shortage of caregiver homes for these teens. And, and, you know, and I can't stress it enough but the stress and the mental health conditions that our youth are facing today is a challenge and will remain one for some time."
Kania Webster and her husband have fostered dozens of children over the span of two decades here in San Diego.
Webster tells CBS 8 that most of the kids, regardless of where they came from and what they experienced really only want one thing.
"All of them that we've worked with have always just really wanted somebody to be there for them," says Webster.
The problem now is there just aren't enough homes to provide that presence that the kids need.
"We absolutely have a need for more resource families."
The Data
The San Diego County data mirrors what is happening throughout the country with a rise in youth mental health cases and a shortage of foster homes.
And while the data includes duplicates, meaning the same child was removed more than once from their home in a year's time, it provides insight into the overall trends.
The data obtained by CBS 8 shows that the number of children who were under the age of 13 and were removed from their homes and placed at Polinsky Children's Center dropped slightly in 2022 compared to the previous year's number.
The same can not be said for teens older than 13 years of age.
Placement of those 15 years old jumped by 91 in 2022 compared the previous year, while it was more than two-and-a-half times greater than before the pandemic in 2018 and 2019.
Meanwhile, the number of those teens 16 and 17 years old also spiked significantly compared to recent years.
Polinsky Deputy Director Rincon says teens have struggled the most since the outset of COVID.
"Over the past three years, there's just been a lot of stresses for our community in general, not least of all the pandemic," said Rincon. "I think the shortage of foster homes has just really been highlighted. And there's been a lot of challenges that our kids, particularly our teens, have been facing."
Added Rincon, "They come to our center when there are no other options, if it would be great if we had more resource homes available to the teens in our community that have no other options but to come to Polinski Children's Center."
The pandemic is not the only reason for the rise of teen admissions at Polinksy.
A spike in drug use and overdoses has also impacted teens throughout San Diego County.
"We've had more youth with overdoses, we've had more youth with really significant mental health needs, more youth with runaway behavior, and that can make it harder for them to get placed with a family," says Kim kim Giardina, the director of the Child Welfare Services in San Diego County.
In addition to the increase of older teens at Polinsky, the numbers of all children, regardless of age, who were removed from their homes due to physical abuse or general neglect also jumped this year.
In regard to reports of physical abuse, there were 350 cases where children were removed from their homes from January 2022 through February 2023 due to suspected physical abuse at home. That number is nearly two-and-a-half times greater than before the pandemic in 2018 and 2019, and also higher than last year.
Reports of general neglect also hit a five-year-high.
During 2022 and the beginning of 2023, there were 861 minors were removed from their home because of "general neglect."
The number, as shown in the chart below, is higher than before the pandemic struck in 2018 and 2019, and more than a hundred calls higher than last year.
Giardina from San Diego County's Child Welfare System attributes the spike in abuse to the challenges that so many families have been faced with since the pandemic.
"It's many of the same factors that lots of families have struggled with," says Giardina. "We've seen an increase in mental health needs both for adults and for children. And all of that contributes to various factors that can lead to abuse and neglect."
Meanwhile, Norma Rincon from Polinksy says her staff if working with teens to make sure they have the necessary tools in place as well as with county foster system in hopes of increasing the number of foster homes.
"We are working with all teenagers that come to Polinski Children's Center to ensure that they receive the services in a healing home-like environment to make sure all of their needs are met while they're here. We are also working to recruit resource homes for teens that need homes."
Rincon says anyone interested in taking a teen into their home can call 1-877-792-KIDS (5437) or go to www.sdcaresforkids.com for more information.