Progress and Challenges in Rhode Island’s Child Welfare System
“Child welfare in Rhode Island has been a touchy subject for many years but shows signs of progress in a forward direction. According to recent data, the rate of victimization of children to mistreatment has been trending downward in Rhode Island. The data also indicate that the number of child neglect reports has gone down but could be because of COVID-19 restrictions in 2022-23. The number of children who experience repeat mistreatment also remains low, under 10%. These numbers are showing vast improvement compared to how these numbers were 10 years ago.