BILL REQ. #:  H-4347.1 

Read first time 01/20/2006.   Referred to Committee on Children & Family Services.

     AN ACT Relating to expanding parenting provisions in the WorkFirst program; and amending RCW 74.08A.270.

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

Sec. 1   RCW 74.08A.270 and 2002 c 89 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) Good cause reasons for failure to participate in WorkFirst program components include: (a) Situations where the recipient is a parent or other relative personally providing care for a child under the age of six years, and formal or informal child care, or day care for an incapacitated individual living in the same home as a dependent child, is necessary for an individual to participate or continue participation in the program or accept employment, and such care is not available, and the department fails to provide such care; or (b) the recipient is a parent with a child under the age of one year((, except that at the time a child reaches the age of three months, the recipient is required to participate in one of the following for up to twenty hours per week:
     (i) Instruction or training which has the purpose of improving parenting skills or child well-being;
     (ii) Preemployment or job readiness training;
     (iii) Course study leading to a high school diploma or GED; or
     (iv) Volunteering in a child care facility licensed under chapter 74.15 RCW so long as the child care facility agrees to accept the recipient as a volunteer and the child without compensation while the parent is volunteering at the facility. The volunteer recipient and his or her child shall not be counted for the purposes of determining licensed capacity or the staff to child ratio of the facility)).
     (2) Nothing in this section shall prevent a recipient from participating fully in the WorkFirst program on a voluntary basis. A recipient who chooses to participate fully in the WorkFirst program shall be considered to be fulfilling the requirements of this section.
     (3) For any recipient who claims a good cause reason for failure to participate in the WorkFirst program based on the fact that the recipient has a child under the age of one year, the department shall, within existing resources, conduct an assessment of the recipient within ninety days and before a job search component is initiated in order to determine if the recipient has any specific service needs or employment barriers. As part of this assessment, or prior to it, a caseworker shall assist the recipient in identifying and accessing appropriate instruction, training, or counseling which has the purpose of improving parenting skills or child well-being. The assessment may also include identifying the need for substance abuse treatment, mental health treatment, or domestic violence services, and shall be used in developing the recipient's individual responsibility plan.
     (4) A parent may only receive the exemption under subsection (1)(b) of this section one time, for one child.