AN ACT Relating to children's services; amending RCW 13.34.030 and 74.13.300; adding a new section to chapter 13.40 RCW; adding new sections to chapter 74.13 RCW; adding new sections to chapter 13.34 RCW; adding a new chapter to Title 71 RCW; creating new sections; and declaring an emergency.

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

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. The department of social and health services shall conduct an assessment of the children in its care to determine the appropriate level of residential and treatment services required by these children. Prior to performing the assessment, the department shall, in conjunction with the private sector, develop a comprehensive, multidisciplinary diagnostic/assessment tool to be used in conducting the assessment. Any such assessment shall be based on a statistically valid sample of all children in the department's care. The department shall report the results of the assessment to the appropriate standing committees of the legislature by September 15, 1992. The department shall submit recommendations to the appropriate standing committees of the legislature on reallocating funds for children's services by December 1, 1992.

*Sec. 1 was vetoed, see message at end of chapter.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. A new section is added to chapter 74.13 RCW to read as follows:

The department of social and health services may implement a therapeutic family home program for up to fifteen youth in the custody of the department under chapter 13.34 RCW. The program shall strive to develop and maintain a mutually reinforcing relationship between the youth and the therapeutic staff associated with the program.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 3. The legislature finds that a destructive lifestyle of drug and street gang activity is rapidly becoming prevalent among some of the state's youths. Gang and drug activity may be a culturally influenced phenomenon which the legislature intends public and private agencies to consider and address in prevention and treatment programs. Gang and drug-involved youths are more likely to become addicted to drugs or alcohol, live in poverty, experience high unemployment, be incarcerated, and die of violence than other youths.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 4. A new section is added to chapter 13.40 RCW to read as follows:

(1) The department of social and health services may contract with a community-based nonprofit organization to establish a three-step transitional treatment program for gang and drug-involved juvenile offenders committed to the custody of the department under chapter 13.40 RCW. Any such program shall provide six to twenty-four months of treatment. The program shall emphasize the principles of self-determination, unity, collective work and responsibility, cooperative economics, and creativity. The program shall be culturally relevant and appropriate and shall include:

(a) A culturally relevant and appropriate institution-based program that provides comprehensive drug and alcohol services, individual and family counseling, and a wilderness experience of constructive group living, rigorous physical exercise, and academic studies;

(b) A culturally relevant and appropriate community-based structured group living program that focuses on individual goals, positive community involvement, coordinated drug and alcohol treatment, coordinated individual and family counseling, academic and vocational training, and employment in apprenticeship, internship, and entrepreneurial programs; and

(c) A culturally relevant and appropriate transitional group living program that provides support services, academic services, and coordinated individual and family counseling.

(2) Participation in any such program shall be on a voluntary basis.

(3) The department shall adopt rules as necessary to implement any such program.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 5. (1) The department of social and health services may contract with an independent research organization to conduct an evaluation of any program that is established under section 4 of this act. The evaluation shall include an analysis of the race and ethnicity of juvenile offenders served, the offenses for which the youths were committed, the services provided, the effects of the program on educational and vocational achievement, and the rate of recidivism for these youth.

(2) Any organization selected shall provide a preliminary report on the program to appropriate standing committees of the senate and house of representatives by September 15, 1992. Any final report shall be submitted to appropriate standing committees of the senate and house of representatives by January 15, 1993.

Sec. 6. RCW 13.34.030 and 1988 c 176 s 901 are each amended to read as follows:

For purposes of this chapter:

(1) "Child" and "juvenile" means any individual under the age of eighteen years;

(2) "Dependent child" means any child:

(a) Who has been abandoned; that is, where the child's parent, guardian, or other custodian has evidenced either by statement or conduct, a settled intent to forego, for an extended period, all parental rights or all parental responsibilities despite an ability to do so;

(b) Who is abused or neglected as defined in chapter 26.44 RCW by a person legally responsible for the care of the child;

(c) Who has no parent, guardian, or custodian capable of adequately caring for the child, such that the child is in circumstances which constitute a danger of substantial damage to the child's psychological or physical development; or

(d) Who has a developmental disability, as defined in RCW 71A.10.020 and whose parent, guardian, or legal custodian together with the department determines that services appropriate to the child's needs can not be provided in the home. However, (a), (b), and (c) of this subsection may still be applied if other reasons for removal of the child from the home exist.

(3) "Permanency planning" means the process by which a child is diagnostically assessed and provided treatment services based on his or her unique individual and developmental needs to facilitate the attainment of successful maturity as an adult. Permanency planning should occur in the least restrictive setting appropriate and available and with minimum placement disruption.

(4) "Transitional living programs" means programs that provide shelter and services designed to promote transition to self-sufficient living, development of independent living skills, and to minimize the incidence of long-term dependency on social services.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 7. Out-of-home placement services become necessary whenever voluntary or court-ordered out-of-home placement of a child is imminent or has already occurred. In striving to meet the objective of permanency for every child, a continuum of services must encompass the full range of possible alternatives. A variety of services are available to prevent out-of-home placement or address the needs of the child and family when out-of-home placement becomes necessary, however, the continuum of care is severely lacking in providing transitional living services for older youth.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 8. A new section is added to chapter 13.34 RCW to read as follows:

The department of social and health services shall contract, using the request for proposal process, with independent qualified agencies to provide transitional living services to minors.

Persons sixteen to eighteen years old or sixteen years old until emancipation are eligible for transitional living services. The population eligible for transitional living services are those for whom returning to their parents' or guardians' home is not possible and for whom foster care or adoption is not likely or appropriate. An assessment shall be done of each minor, including the minor's family situation, before receiving transitional living services. The assessment shall include input from the agency that would be providing the transitional living services to the minor, the agency currently providing services to the minor, and the caseworker for the minor. The assessment shall seek to determine whether the most appropriate plan for the minor is preparation for emancipation. The assessment shall also determine whether the minor is motivated to participate in a transitional living program that requires significant commitment from the minor. A primary goal of transitional living services shall be the acquisition by the youth of basic educational and/or vocational skills that are compatible with the individual's treatment plan. If a youth demonstrates a consistent unwillingness to participate in the acquisition of such skills, a reassessment shall be done of the youth's appropriateness for the program.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 9. A new section is added to chapter 13.34 RCW to read as follows:

Transitional living services should be tailored to meet the needs of the particular minor. A transitional living program should include, but is not limited to, the following:

(1) Educational services, including basic literacy and computational skills training, either in local alternative or public high schools or in a high school equivalency program that leads to obtaining a high school equivalency degree;

(2) Assistance and counseling related to obtaining vocational training or higher education, job readiness, job search assistance, and placement programs;

(3) Health services including pre and post-natal care;

(4) Counseling and instruction in life skills such as money management, home management, consumer skills, parenting, health care, access to community resources, and transportation and housing options;

(5) Individual and group counseling with emphasis on issues of avoiding abuse, sexual abuse, prostitution, drug and alcohol abuse, depression, motivation, self-esteem, and interpersonal and social skills training and development;

(6) Recognizing and facilitating long-term relationships with significant adults; and

(7) Establishing networks with federal agencies and state and local organizations such as the department of labor, employment and training administration programs including the job training partnership act which administers private industry councils and the job corps; vocational rehabilitation; and volunteer programs.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 10. If specific funding for the purposes of sections 6 through 9 of this act, referencing this act by bill and section number, is not provided by June 30, 1991, in the omnibus appropriations act, sections 6 through 9 of this act shall be null and void.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 11. The legislature intends to encourage the development of community-based interagency collaborative efforts to plan for and provide mental health services to children in a manner that coordinates existing categorical children's mental health programs and funding, is sensitive to the unique cultural circumstances of children of color, eliminates duplicative case management, and to the greatest extent possible, blends categorical funding to offer more service options to each child.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 12. Unless the context clearly requires otherwise, the definitions in this section apply throughout this chapter.

(1) "Agency" means a state or local governmental entity or a private not-for-profit organization.

(2) "Child" means a person under eighteen years of age, except as expressly provided otherwise in federal law.

(3) "County authority" means the board of county commissioners or county executive.

(4) "Department" means the department of social and health services.

(5) "Early periodic screening, diagnosis, and treatment" means the component of the federal medicaid program established pursuant to 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1396d(r), as amended.

(6) "Regional support network" means a county authority or group of county authorities that have entered into contracts with the secretary pursuant to chapter 71.24 RCW.

(7) "Secretary" means the secretary of social and health services.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 13. (1) The office of financial management shall provide the following information to the appropriate committees of the legislature on or before December 1, 1991, and update such information biennially thereafter:

(a) An inventory of state and federally funded programs providing mental health services to children in Washington state. For purposes of the inventory, "children's mental health services" shall be broadly construed to include services related to children's mental health provided through education, children and family services, juvenile justice, mental health, health care, alcohol and substance abuse, and developmental disabilities programs, such as: The primary intervention program; treatment foster care; the fair start program; therapeutic child care and day treatment for children in the child protective services system, as provided in RCW 74.14B.040; family reconciliation services counseling, as provided in chapter 13.32A RCW; the community mental health services act, as provided in chapter 71.24 RCW; mental health services for minors, as provided in chapter 71.34 RCW; mental health services provided by the medical assistance program, limited casualty program for the medically needy and children's health program, as provided in chapter 74.09 RCW; counseling for delinquent children, as provided in RCW 72.05.170; mental health service provided by child welfare services, as provided in chapter 74.13 RCW; and services to emotionally disturbed and mentally ill children, as provided in chapter 74.14A RCW.

(b) For each program or service inventoried pursuant to (a) of this subsection:

(i) Statutory authority;

(ii) Level and source of funding state-wide and for each county and school district in the state during the biennium ending June 30, 1991, to the extent such information is available;

(iii) Agency administering the service state-wide and description of how administration and service delivery are organized and provided at the regional and local level;

(iv) Programmatic or financial eligibility criteria;

(v) Characteristics of, and number of children served state-wide and in each county and school district during the biennium ending June 30, 1991, to the extent such information is available;

(vi) Number of children of color served, by race and nationality, and number and type of minority mental health providers, by race and nationality, in each regional support network area, to the extent such information is available; and

(vii) Statutory changes necessary to remove categorical restrictions in the program or service, including federal statutory or regulatory changes.

(2) The office of financial management, in consultation with the department, shall develop a plan and criteria for the use of early periodic screening, diagnosis, and treatment services related to mental health that includes at least the following components:

(a) Criteria for screening and assessment of mental illness and emotional disturbance;

(b) Criteria for determining the appropriate level of medically necessary services a child receives, including but not limited to development of a multidisciplinary plan of care when appropriate, and prior authorization for receipt of mental health services;

(d) Other cost control mechanisms, such as managed care arrangements and prospective or capitated payments for mental health services; and

(e) Mechanisms to ensure that federal medicaid matching funds are obtained for services inventoried pursuant to subsection (1) of this section, to the greatest extent practicable.

In developing the plan, the office of financial management shall provide an opportunity for comment by the major child-serving systems and regional support networks. The plan shall be submitted to appropriate committees of the legislature on or before December 1, 1991.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 14. (1) On or before January 1, 1992, each regional support network, or county authority in counties that have not established a regional support network, shall initiate a local planning effort to develop a children's mental health services delivery system.

(2) Representatives of the following agencies or organizations and the following individuals shall participate in the local planning effort:

(a) Representatives of the department of social and health services in the following program areas: Children and family services, medical care, mental health, juvenile rehabilitation, alcohol and substance abuse, and developmental disabilities;

(b) The juvenile courts;

(d) The school districts;

(e) The educational service district serving schools in the county;

(f) Head start or early childhood education and assistance programs;

(g) Community action agencies; and

(h) Children's services providers, including minority mental health providers.

(3) Parents of children in need of mental health services and parents of children of color shall be invited to participate in the local planning effort.

(4) The following information shall be developed through the local planning effort and submitted to the secretary:

(a) A supplement to the county's January 1, 1991, children's mental health services report prepared pursuant to RCW 71.24.049 to include the following data:

(i) The number of children in need of mental health services in the county or counties covered by the local planning effort, including children in school and children receiving services through the department of social and health services division of children and family services, division of developmental disabilities, division of alcohol and substance abuse, and division of juvenile rehabilitation, grouped by severity of their mental illness;

(ii) The number of such children that are underserved or unserved and the types of services needed by such children; and

(iii) The supply of children's mental health specialists in the county or counties covered by the local planning effort.

(b) A children's mental health services delivery plan that includes a description of the following:

(i) Children that will be served, giving consideration to children who are at significant risk of experiencing mental illness, as well as those already experiencing mental illness;

(ii) How appropriate services needed by children served through the plan will be identified and provided, including prevention and identification services;

(iii) How a lead case manager for each child will be identified;

(iv) How funding for existing services will be coordinated to create more flexibility in meeting children's needs. Such funding shall include the services and programs inventoried pursuant to section 13(1) of this act;

(v) How the children's mental health delivery system will incorporate the elements of the early periodic screening, diagnosis, and treatment services plan developed pursuant to section 13(2) of this act; and

(vi) How the children's mental health delivery system will coordinate with the regional support network information system developed pursuant to RCW 71.24.035(5)(g).

(5) In developing the children's mental health services delivery plan, every effort shall be made to reduce duplication in service delivery and promote complementary services among all entities that provide children's services related to mental health.

(6) The children's mental health services delivery plan shall address the needs of children of color through at least the following mechanisms:

(a) Outreach initiatives, services, and modes of service delivery that meet the unique needs of children of color; and

(b) Services to children of color that are culturally relevant and acceptable, as well as linguistically accessible.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 15. A new section is added to chapter 74.13 RCW to read as follows:

Any client of the department, individual complainant, or foster parent who exhausts the department's complaint resolution process and who is subjected to any reprisal or retaliatory action undertaken after the complainant makes his or her complaint known to the department may seek judicial review of the reprisal or retaliatory action in superior court. In such action, the reviewing court may award reasonable attorneys' fees or make written findings that the action was frivolous and advanced without reasonable cause and award expenses as specified in RCW 4.84.185.

*Sec. 15 was vetoed, see message at end of chapter.

Sec. 16. RCW 74.13.300 and 1990 c 284 s 12 are each amended to read as follows:

(1) Whenever a child has been placed in a foster family home or the home of a relative care provider by the department or a child-placing agency and the child has thereafter resided in the home for at least ninety consecutive days, the department or child-placing agency shall notify the foster family in writing of the reasons upon which the decision to move the child was based, at least five days prior to moving the child to another placement, unless:

(a) A court order has been entered requiring an immediate change in placement; or

(b) ((~~The child is being returned home;~~

~~(c)~~)) The child's safety is in jeopardy((~~; or~~

~~(d) The child is residing in a receiving home or a group home~~)).

(2) If a decision is made by the department or a child-placing agency to move a child to another placement, the foster family parent or relative care provider shall receive written notice of his or her right to request a review of the removal decision regarding a child that is residing in the home of the foster parent or relative pursuant to a court order entered in a proceeding under this chapter through the department's complaint resolution process. Notification of the department's complaint resolution process is not required to be provided if:

(a) A court order has been entered requiring an immediate change in placement; or

(b) The child is being returned home and a court order has been entered to that effect.

(3) If the child has resided in a foster family home for less than ninety days or if, due to one or more of the circumstances in subsection (1) of this section, it is not possible to give five days' notification, the department or child-placing agency shall notify the foster family of proposed placement changes as soon as reasonably possible.

((~~(3)~~)) (4) This section is intended solely to assist in minimizing disruption to the child in changing foster care placements. Nothing in this section shall be construed to ((~~require that a court hearing be held prior to changing a child's foster care placement nor to~~)) create any substantive custody rights in the foster parents.

*Sec. 16 was vetoed, see message at end of chapter.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 17. Part headings used in this act do not constitute any part of the law.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 18. Sections 11 through 14 of this act shall constitute a new chapter in Title 71 RCW.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 19. If any provision of this act or its application to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the remainder of the act or the application of the provision to other persons or circumstances is not affected.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 20. Sections 11 through 14 of this act are necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety, or support of the state government and its existing public institutions, and shall take effect immediately.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 21. If specific funding for the purposes of section 13 of this act, referencing section 13 of this act by bill and section number, is not provided by June 30, 1991, in the omnibus appropriations act, then section 13 of this act shall be null and void.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 22. If specific funding for the purposes of section 14 of this act, referencing section 14 of this act by bill and section number, is not provided by June 30, 1991, in the omnibus appropriations act, then section 14 of this act shall be null and void.