AN ACT Relating to children and family services; adding a new chapter to Title 70 RCW; and making an appropriation.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. The legislature finds that it is critical to prevent unnecessary long-term out-of-home placement of children who have been abused, neglected, or abandoned, or who are runaways or estranged from their parents by parent-child conflict.

The purpose of this chapter is to promote self-sufficiency and minimize dependency on outside intervention by increasing parenting and living skills and coping abilities.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. The department of social and health services shall expand its existing homebuilders program to provide assistance to families. Beginning July 1, 1988, the homebuilders program services shall be expanded to the current program in Spokane county and shall be created in Kitsap and Whitman counties. Beginning January 1, 1989, the program shall be created in Thurston, Skagit, and Yakima counties.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 3. The program shall have the following objectives:

(1) To diffuse the potential for violence between parents and their children;

(2) To assess and prioritize the clients' problems and options for coping with those problems;

(3) To teach individualized problem solving skills that can be used by the family in order to respond to and manage family crises and abusive or neglectful situations;

(4) To refer family members to appropriate resources for longer-term support of behavior change; and

(5) To prevent out-of-home placement of the children assisted in each home.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 4. (1) The family of any child who has been assessed by the department of social and health services, contractor staff, and the family, as being in imminent danger of long-term placement outside his or her family home due to or for the prevention of child abuse, neglect, abandonment, or for running away, or for other parent-child conflict that presents an immediate threat to the health and stability of the child or family is eligible for assistance under the homebuilders program. In all cases there must be imminent danger of a long-term, out- of-home department of social and health services funded placement. Families shall not be referred to the homebuilders program unless the departmental staff referring the family can document that without the homebuilders intensive crisis counseling services out-of-home placement of one or more children will occur.

(2) Before acceptance into the homebuilders program, the department shall also consider:

(a) The number and type of previous out-of-home placements;

(b) The previous use of other counseling resources; and

NEW SECTION. Sec. 5. (1) The program shall provide services in the home, school, or other natural environment of the family. Services shall begin within twenty-four hours of a referral. Program staff shall be available twenty-four hours per day, seven days per week, including holidays. Program services shall reflect the racial and ethnic diversity of the area being served.

(2) A service plan shall be developed for each client that:

(a) Defines the problems that are to be addressed;

(b) Indicates how the problems are to be addressed and how improvement can be measured by the family; and

NEW SECTION. Sec. 6. A written record of services provided to each family shall be maintained that includes:

(1) The date and time of the request for services, the first contact, and the last contact (termination date);

(2) The severity of threat of out-of-home placement, listing the number and type of previous placements;

(3) The family's immediate needs and problems;

(4) A behavior oriented, goal-directed plan to address the family's problems, needs, and immediate objectives;

(5) The family's response to and role in developing the goal-directed plan; and

(6) Upon termination, identify and note the family's whereabouts and the therapist's perception of the stability of the family, including what objectives were obtained and any additional service needs and referrals made.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 7. Sections 1 through 5 of this act shall constitute a new chapter in Title 70 RCW.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 8. The sum of six hundred fifty thousand dollars, or as much thereof as may be necessary, is appropriated for the biennium ending June 30, 1989, from the general fund to the department of social and health services to expand the homebuilders program in the division of children and family services of the department of social and health services.