5557-S2.E AMH CFS H2557.1

5557-S2.E AMH CFS H2557.1

E2SSB 5557 - H COMM AMD

By Committee on Children & Family Services

Strike everything after the enacting clause and insert the following:

"NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. This act may be referred to as the homeless youth prevention, protection, and education act, or the HOPE act. Every day many youth in this state seek shelter out on the street. A nurturing nuclear family does not exist for them, and state-sponsored alternatives such as foster homes do not meet the demand and isolate youth, who feel like outsiders in families not their own. The legislature recognizes the need to develop placement alternatives for dependent youth ages sixteen to eighteen, who are living on the street. The HOPE act is an effort to engage youth and provide them access to services through development of life skills in a setting that supports them. Nothing in this act shall constitute an entitlement.

Sec. 2. RCW 74.15.020 and 1998 c 269 s 3 are each amended to read as follows:

For the purpose of chapter 74.15 RCW and RCW 74.13.031, and unless otherwise clearly indicated by the context thereof, the following terms shall mean:

(1) "Agency" means any person, firm, partnership, association, corporation, or facility which receives children, expectant mothers, or persons with developmental disabilities for control, care, or maintenance outside their own homes, or which places, arranges the placement of, or assists in the placement of children, expectant mothers, or persons with developmental disabilities for foster care or placement of children for adoption, and shall include the following irrespective of whether there is compensation to the agency or to the children, expectant mothers or persons with developmental disabilities for services rendered:

(a) "Child day-care center" means an agency which regularly provides care for a group of children for periods of less than twenty-four hours;

(b) "Child-placing agency" means an agency which places a child or children for temporary care, continued care, or for adoption;

(c) "Community facility" means a group care facility operated for the care of juveniles committed to the department under RCW 13.40.185. A county detention facility that houses juveniles committed to the department under RCW 13.40.185 pursuant to a contract with the department is not a community facility;

(d) "Crisis residential center" means an agency which is a temporary protective residential facility operated to perform the duties specified in chapter 13.32A RCW, in the manner provided in RCW 74.13.032 through 74.13.036;

(e) "Family day-care provider" means a child day-care provider who regularly provides child day care for not more than twelve children in the provider's home in the family living quarters;

(f) "Foster-family home" means an agency which regularly provides care on a twenty-four hour basis to one or more children, expectant mothers, or persons with developmental disabilities in the family abode of the person or persons under whose direct care and supervision the child, expectant mother, or person with a developmental disability is placed;

(g) "Group-care facility" means an agency, other than a foster-family home, which is maintained and operated for the care of a group of children on a twenty-four hour basis;

(h) "HOPE center" means an agency licensed by the secretary to provide temporary residential placement and other services to street youth. A street youth may remain in a HOPE center for thirty days while services are arranged and permanent placement is coordinated. No street youth may stay longer than thirty days unless approved by the department and any additional days approved by the department must be based on the unavailability of a long-term placement option. A street youth whose parent wants him or her returned to home may remain in a HOPE center until his or her parent arranges return of the youth, not longer. All other street youth must have court approval under chapter 13.34 or 13.32A RCW to remain in a HOPE center up to thirty days;

(i) "Maternity service" means an agency which provides or arranges for care or services to expectant mothers, before or during confinement, or which provides care as needed to mothers and their infants after confinement;

((~~(i)~~)) (j) "Service provider" means the entity that operates a community facility.

(2) "Agency" shall not include the following:

(a) Persons related to the child, expectant mother, or person with developmental disability in the following ways:

(i) Any blood relative, including those of half-blood, and including first cousins, nephews or nieces, and persons of preceding generations as denoted by prefixes of grand, great, or great-great;

(ii) Stepfather, stepmother, stepbrother, and stepsister;

(iii) A person who legally adopts a child or the child's parent as well as the natural and other legally adopted children of such persons, and other relatives of the adoptive parents in accordance with state law;

(iv) Spouses of any persons named in (i), (ii), or (iii) of this subsection (2)(a), even after the marriage is terminated; or

(v) Extended family members, as defined by the law or custom of the Indian child's tribe or, in the absence of such law or custom, a person who has reached the age of eighteen and who is the Indian child's grandparent, aunt or uncle, brother or sister, brother-in-law or sister-in-law, niece or nephew, first or second cousin, or stepparent who provides care in the family abode on a twenty-four-hour basis to an Indian child as defined in 25 U.S.C. Sec. 1903(4);

(b) Persons who are legal guardians of the child, expectant mother, or persons with developmental disabilities;

(c) Persons who care for a neighbor's or friend's child or children, with or without compensation, where: (i) The person providing care for periods of less than twenty-four hours does not conduct such activity on an ongoing, regularly scheduled basis for the purpose of engaging in business, which includes, but is not limited to, advertising such care; or (ii) the parent and person providing care on a twenty-four-hour basis have agreed to the placement in writing and the state is not providing any payment for the care;

(d) Parents on a mutually cooperative basis exchange care of one another's children;

(e) A person, partnership, corporation, or other entity that provides placement or similar services to exchange students or international student exchange visitors or persons who have the care of an exchange student in their home;

(f) Nursery schools or kindergartens which are engaged primarily in educational work with preschool children and in which no child is enrolled on a regular basis for more than four hours per day;

(g) Schools, including boarding schools, which are engaged primarily in education, operate on a definite school year schedule, follow a stated academic curriculum, accept only school-age children and do not accept custody of children;

(h) Seasonal camps of three months' or less duration engaged primarily in recreational or educational activities;

(i) Hospitals licensed pursuant to chapter 70.41 RCW when performing functions defined in chapter 70.41 RCW, nursing homes licensed under chapter 18.51 RCW and boarding homes licensed under chapter 18.20 RCW;

(j) Licensed physicians or lawyers;

(k) Facilities providing care to children for periods of less than twenty-four hours whose parents remain on the premises to participate in activities other than employment;

(l) Facilities approved and certified under chapter 71A.22 RCW;

(m) Any agency having been in operation in this state ten years prior to June 8, 1967, and not seeking or accepting moneys or assistance from any state or federal agency, and is supported in part by an endowment or trust fund;

(n) Persons who have a child in their home for purposes of adoption, if the child was placed in such home by a licensed child-placing agency, an authorized public or tribal agency or court or if a replacement report has been filed under chapter 26.33 RCW and the placement has been approved by the court;

(o) An agency operated by any unit of local, state, or federal government or an agency, located within the boundaries of a federally recognized Indian reservation, licensed by the Indian tribe;

(p) An agency located on a federal military reservation, except where the military authorities request that such agency be subject to the licensing requirements of this chapter.

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

(4) "Juvenile" means a person under the age of twenty-one who has been sentenced to a term of confinement under the supervision of the department under RCW 13.40.185.

(5) "Probationary license" means a license issued as a disciplinary measure to an agency that has previously been issued a full license but is out of compliance with licensing standards.

(6) "Requirement" means any rule, regulation, or standard of care to be maintained by an agency.

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

(8) "Street youth" means a person under the age of eighteen who lives outdoors or in another unsafe location not intended for occupancy by the minor and who is not residing with his or her parent or at his or her legally authorized residence.

(9) "Transitional living services" means at a minimum, to the extent funds are available, the following:

(a) 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;

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

(c) 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;

(d) Individual and group counseling;

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

(f) Establishing networks with federal agencies and state and local organizations such as the United States 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.

Transitional living services shall be tailored to meet the needs of the individual youth. If a youth demonstrates a consistent unwillingness to participate in the acquisition of transitional living skills and services, a reassessment shall be done of the youth's appropriateness for the program.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 3. A new section is added to chapter 74.15 RCW to read as follows:

The secretary shall establish HOPE centers that provide no more than seventy-five beds across the state and may establish HOPE centers by contract, within funds appropriated by the legislature specifically for this purpose. HOPE centers shall be operated in a manner to reasonably assure that street youth placed there will not run away. Street youth may leave a HOPE center during the course of the day to attend school or other necessary appointments, but the street youth must be accompanied by an administrator or an administrator's designee. The street youth must provide the administration with specific information regarding his or her destination and expected time of return to the HOPE center. Any street youth who runs away from a HOPE center shall not be readmitted unless specifically authorized by the street youth's placement and liaison specialist, and the placement and liaison specialist shall document with specific factual findings an appropriate basis for readmitting any street youth to a HOPE center. HOPE centers are required to have the following:

(1) A license issued by the secretary;

(2) A professional with a master's degree in counseling, social work, or related field and at least one year of experience working with street youth or a bachelor of arts degree in social work or a related field and five years of experience working with street youth. This professional staff person may be contractual or a part-time employee, but must be available to work with street youth in a HOPE center at a ratio of one to every fifteen youth staying in a HOPE center. This professional shall be known as a placement and liaison specialist. Preference shall be given to those professionals cross-credentialed in mental health and chemical dependency. The placement and liaison specialist shall:

(a) Conduct an assessment of the street youth that includes a determination of the street youth's legal status regarding residential placement;

(b) Facilitate the street youth's return to his or her legally authorized residence at the earliest possible date or initiate processes to arrange legally authorized appropriate placement. Any street youth who may meet the definition of dependent child under RCW 13.34.030 must be referred to the department. The department shall determine whether a dependency petition should be filed under chapter 13.34 RCW. A shelter care hearing must be held within seventy-two hours to authorize out-of-home placement for any youth the department determines is appropriate for out-of-home placement under chapter 13.34 RCW. All of the provisions of chapter 13.32A RCW must be followed for children in need of services or at-risk youth;

(c) Interface with other relevant resources and system representatives to secure long-term residential placement and other needed services for the street youth;

(d) Be assigned immediately to each youth and meet with the youth within eight hours of the youth receiving HOPE center services;

(e) Develop a therapeutic relationship with the youth that enables the specialist to help the street youth navigate the social service and child welfare systems;

(f) Facilitate a physical examination of any street youth who has not seen a physician within one year prior to residence at a HOPE center and facilitate evaluation by a county-designated mental health professional, a chemical dependency specialist, or both if appropriate; and

(g) Arrange an educational assessment to measure the street youth's competency level in reading, writing, and basic mathematics, and that will measure learning disabilities or special needs;

(3) Staff trained in development needs of street youth as determined by the secretary, including an administrator who is a professional with a master's degree in counseling, social work, or a related field and at least one year of experience working with street youth, or a bachelor of arts degree in social work or a related field and five years of experience working with street youth, who must work with the placement and liaison specialist to provide appropriate services on site;

(4) A data collection system that measures outcomes for the population served, and enables research and evaluation that can be used for future program development and service delivery. Data collection systems must have confidentiality rules and protocols developed by the secretary;

(5) Notification requirements that meet the notification requirements of chapter 13.32A RCW. The youth's arrival date and time must be logged at intake by HOPE center staff. The staff must immediately notify law enforcement and dependency caseworkers if a street youth runs away from a HOPE center. A child may be transferred to a secure facility as defined in RCW 13.32A.030 whenever the staff reasonably believes that a street youth is likely to leave the HOPE center and not return after full consideration of the factors set forth in RCW 13.32A.130(2)(a) (i) and (ii). The street youth's temporary placement in the HOPE center must be authorized by the court or the secretary if the youth is a dependent of the state under chapter 13.34 RCW or the department is responsible for the youth under chapter 13.32A RCW, or by the youth's parent or legal custodian, until such time as the parent can retrieve the youth who is returning to home;

(6) HOPE centers must identify to the department any street youth it serves who is not returning promptly to home. The department then must contact the missing children's clearinghouse identified in chapter 13.60 RCW and either report the youth's location or report that the youth is the subject of a dependency action and the parent should receive notice from the department; and

(7) Services that provide counseling and education to the street youth.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 4. A new section is added to chapter 74.15 RCW to read as follows:

The secretary is authorized to license HOPE centers that meet statutory and rule requirements created by the secretary. The secretary is authorized to develop rules necessary to carry out the provisions of this act. The secretary may rely upon existing licensing provisions in development of licensing requirements for HOPE centers, as are appropriate to carry out the intent of this act. HOPE centers shall be required to adhere to departmental regulations prohibiting the use of alcohol, tobacco, controlled substances, violence, and sexual activity between residents.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 5. A new section is added to chapter 13.60 RCW to read as follows:

The department of social and health services shall develop a procedure for reporting missing children information to the missing children clearinghouse on children who are receiving departmental services in each of its administrative regions. The purpose of this procedure is to link parents to missing children. When the department has obtained information that a minor child has been located at a facility funded by the department, the department shall notify the clearinghouse and the child's legal custodian, advising the custodian of the child's whereabouts or that the child is subject to a dependency action. The department shall inform the clearinghouse when reunification occurs.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 6. The Washington institute for public policy shall review the effectiveness of the procedures established in section 5 of this act. The study shall include: (1) The number of legal custodians who utilize the clearinghouse; (2) the number of children who are located after the department's procedures are operational; (3) the impediments to effective utilization of the procedures and what steps may be taken to reduce or eliminate the impediments; (4) the methods of public education regarding the availability of the program and how to increase public awareness of the program.

The review shall be submitted to the legislature and the governor not later than December 1, 2001.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 7. A new section is added to chapter 74.15 RCW to read as follows:

The department shall provide technical assistance in preparation of grant proposals for HOPE centers to nonprofit organizations unfamiliar with and inexperienced in submission of requests for proposals to the department.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 8. A new section is added to chapter 74.15 RCW to read as follows:

The department shall consider prioritizing, on an ongoing basis, the awarding of contracts for HOPE centers to providers who have not traditionally been awarded contracts with the department.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 9. The department of social and health services shall seek any necessary federal waivers for federal funding of the programs created under this act. The department shall pursue federal funding sources for the programs created under this act, and report to the legislature any statutory barriers to federal funding.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 10. The Washington state institute for public policy shall review the effectiveness of the HOPE centers. The study shall include the characteristics of the youth being served, the services offered to participating youth, the success of permanent placement of youth, the number of youth participating in each program, educational achievement of participants, employment history of participants, the outcomes for youth who have progressed through the programs, and other measures that the institute deems helpful in determining the measurable outcomes of this act.

The review shall be submitted to the legislature and the governor not later than December 1, 2001.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 11. 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. 12. Within funds specifically appropriated by the legislature, HOPE center beds referenced in section 3 of this act shall be phased in at the rate of twenty-five percent each year beginning January 1, 2000, until the maximum is attained.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 13. Section 3 of this act takes effect January 1, 2000.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 14. If specific funding for the purposes of this act, referencing this act by bill or chapter number, is not provided by June 30, 1999, in the omnibus appropriations act, this act is null and void."

Correct the title.