AN ACT Relating to the
children's services advisory committee; and amending RCW 74.13.031.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF
WASHINGTON:
Sec. 1. RCW 74.13.031 and 1990 c
146 s 9 are each amended to read as follows:
The department shall
have the duty to provide child welfare services as defined in RCW 74.13.020,
and shall:
(1) Develop,
administer, supervise, and monitor a coordinated and comprehensive plan that
establishes, aids, and strengthens services for the protection and care of
homeless, runaway, dependent, or neglected children.
(2) Develop a
recruiting plan for recruiting an adequate number of prospective adoptive and
foster homes, both regular and specialized, i.e. homes for children of ethnic
minority, including Indian homes for Indian children, sibling groups,
handicapped and emotionally disturbed, and annually submit the plan for review
to the house and senate committees on social and health services. The plan
shall include a section entitled "Foster Home Turn-Over, Causes and
Recommendations."
(3) Investigate
complaints of neglect, abuse, or abandonment of children, and on the basis of
the findings of such investigation, offer child welfare services in relation to
the problem to such parents, legal custodians, or persons serving in loco
parentis, and/or bring the situation to the attention of an appropriate court,
or another community agency: PROVIDED, That an investigation is not required
of nonaccidental injuries which are clearly not the result of a lack of care or
supervision by the child's parents, legal custodians, or persons serving in
loco parentis. If the investigation reveals that a crime may have been
committed, the department shall notify the appropriate law enforcement agency.
(4) Offer, on a
voluntary basis, family reconciliation services to families who are in
conflict.
(5) Monitor out-of-home
placements, on a timely and routine basis, to assure the safety, well-being,
and quality of care being provided is within the scope of the intent of the
legislature as defined in RCW 74.13.010 and 74.15.010, and annually submit a
report delineating the results to the house and senate committees on social and
health services.
(6) Have authority to
accept custody of children from parents and to accept custody of children from
juvenile courts, where authorized to do so under law, to provide child welfare
services including placement for adoption, and to provide for the physical care
of such children and make payment of maintenance costs if needed. Except where
required by Public Law 95-608 (25 U.S.C. Sec. 1915), no private adoption agency
which receives children for adoption from the department shall discriminate on
the basis of race, creed, or color when considering applications in their
placement for adoption.
(7) Have authority to
provide temporary shelter to children who have run away from home and who are
admitted to crisis residential centers.
(8) Have authority to
purchase care for children; and shall follow in general the policy of using
properly approved private agency services for the actual care and supervision
of such children insofar as they are available, paying for care of such children
as are accepted by the department as eligible for support at reasonable rates
established by the department.
(9) Establish a
children's services advisory committee which shall assist the secretary in the
development of a partnership plan for utilizing resources of the public and
private sectors, and advise on all matters pertaining to child welfare, ((day
care,)) licensing of child care agencies, adoption, and services related
thereto. At ((least one-third of the membership shall be composed of child
care providers, and at)) least one member shall represent the adoption
community.
(10) Have authority to
provide continued foster care or group care for individuals from eighteen
through twenty years of age to enable them to complete their high school or
vocational school program.
(11) Have authority
within funds appropriated for foster care services to purchase care for Indian
children who are in the custody of a federally recognized Indian tribe or
tribally licensed child-placing agency pursuant to parental consent, tribal
court order, or state juvenile court order; and the purchase of such care shall
be subject to the same eligibility standards and rates of support applicable to
other children for whom the department purchases care.
Notwithstanding
any other provision of RCW 13.32A.170 through 13.32A.200 and 74.13.032 through
74.13.036, or of this section all services to be provided by the department of
social and health services under subsections (4), (6), and (7) of this section,
subject to the limitations of these subsections, may be provided by any program
offering such services funded pursuant to Titles II and III of the federal
juvenile justice and delinquency prevention act of 1974.
