BILL REQ. #:  H-3924.1 

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

     AN ACT Relating to establishing a foster parent critical support and retention program; creating new sections; and making an appropriation.

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

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   The legislature finds that:
     (1) Foster parents have little means to cope with children who are sexually reactive, are physically assaultive, or have other high-risk behaviors. There is little support for them in the foster home setting. This lack of support contributes to the fact that most of these very high-risk children will have multiple foster home placements;
     (2) Two-thirds of the work of child protective services in Washington state is linked with families that it sees repeatedly. The families have cumulative risks such as drug abuse, domestic violence, and mental illness. Abuse of children in these families frequently occurs;
     (3) Many of our next generation's sexual predators and violent offenders are in foster care today. These children have had severe and repeated early abuse, are under age twelve, and move freely in schools and child care. In 1992, the division of children and family services reported that children who were sexually reactive molested an average of five children while in foster care; and
     (4) In our state, hundreds of these children are now in foster care. This pressures an already stressed foster care system. It also sets the stage for these children to enter into a lifetime of deviant behavior.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 2   A foster parent critical support and retention program is established to retain foster parents who care for children who act out sexually, are physically assaultive, or have other high-risk behaviors. The foster parent critical support and retention program is to be implemented under the division of children and family services' contract and supervision. A contractor must demonstrate experience providing in-home case management to foster homes that are licensed through the division of children and family services.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 3   Under the foster parent critical support and retention program, foster parents who care for children who act out sexually and/or physically or have other high-risk behaviors shall receive:
     (1) Twenty-four/seven emergency assistance;
     (2) Assessment of risk and development of a safety and supervision plan;
     (3) Home-based foster parent training utilizing evidence-based models;
     (4) Ongoing support groups; and
     (5) Referral to community services.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 4   The sum of two hundred seventy-five thousand dollars, or as much thereof as may be necessary, is appropriated for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2007, from the general fund to the division of children and family services for direct services for the purposes of this act.