BILL REQ. #:  S-1786.1 

READ FIRST TIME 02/19/07.   

     AN ACT Relating to creating the children in families administration within the department of social and health services; amending RCW 43.20A.010, 43.20A.060, 26.44.125, 26.44.220, 28A.300.800, 72.05.435, 74.13.570, and 74.13.660; adding a new section to chapter 43.20A RCW; and creating new sections.

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

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   The legislature finds it is necessary to realign Washington's child welfare system from time to time, as more information becomes available about the types of evidence-based and emerging practices that keep Washington's families strong and healthy. The legislature intends to clarify the mission and focus of the administration within the department of social and health services that is primarily responsible for the delivery of services to families, children, and youth so that children and youth will have safe, permanent homes and so that families will be better supported in their efforts to care for and parent their own children, whenever possible. The legislature believes that clear and specific legislative direction, setting out the importance of collaboration with the community and how services to families, adolescents, and children must be provided, will help to provide a strong foundation for a more efficient and effective agency.
     The legislature expects the new children in families administration to cooperate with communities to deliver services and to prevent child abuse and neglect, to provide intervention services early to preserve the family when high-risk situations are identified, and to provide effective services to protect children and strengthen families when child abuse and neglect have occurred.
     The legislature intends that the new children in families administration work with community partners, including foster parents, to provide services to support the efforts of families to care for and parent their own children safely, protect abused and neglected children, and provide quality care and permanent families for children. The legislature intends that the new administration work with families to create opportunities to strengthen the parent-child relationship, encourage social behaviors that connect parents to beneficial community resources, and eliminate practices that are unsafe for children and youth. The new administration's responsibility will include working with community partners to promote safe and stable placements of children, facilitate the delivery of appropriate treatment services to families and their children, help to connect youth to appropriate services, improve foster parent training and support, and help to maintain connections between siblings in out-of-home placement.
     The legislature finds that confidence in government is critical to achieving the goals of the mission and that confidence is built by establishing accountability for providing needed services to families, children, and youth. The legislature finds that a clear mission will help the new administration fulfill the responsibility of protecting children, helping their parents, and finding families for children, in a cost-effective manner. The legislature intends that the leadership of the new administration be held accountable to produce results, based upon the legislature's articulation of the agency's mission and goals. The legislature also encourages the new administration to recognize the critical nature of fostering a sense of employee satisfaction and achievement in doing the important work of the administration.

Sec. 101   RCW 43.20A.010 and 1989 1st ex.s. c 9 s 211 are each amended to read as follows:
     The department of social and health services is designed to integrate and coordinate all those activities involving provision of care for individuals who, as a result of their economic, social or health condition, require financial assistance, institutional care, rehabilitation or other social and health services. In order to provide for maximum efficiency of operation consistent with meeting the needs of those served or affected, the department will encompass substantially all of the powers, duties and functions vested by law on June 30, 1970, in the department of public assistance, the department of institutions, the veterans' rehabilitation council and the division of vocational rehabilitation of the coordinating council on occupational education. The department will ((concern itself with changing social needs, and will)) expedite the development and implementation of programs designed to achieve its goals. In furtherance of this policy, it is generally the ((legislative)) legislature's intent to set forth ((only)) the broad outline of the structure of the department, leaving specific details of its internal organization and management to those charged with its administration.

Sec. 102   RCW 43.20A.060 and 1989 1st ex.s. c 9 s 213 are each amended to read as follows:
     The department of social and health services shall be subdivided into divisions and administrations, including a division of vocational rehabilitation and the children in families administration. Except as otherwise specified or as federal requirements may differently require, these divisions and administrations shall be established and organized in accordance with plans to be prepared by the secretary and approved by the governor. In preparing such plans, the secretary shall endeavor to promote efficient public management, to improve programs, and to take full advantage of the economies, both fiscal and administrative, to be gained from the consolidation of the departments of public assistance, institutions, the veterans' rehabilitation council, and the division of vocational rehabilitation of the coordinating council on occupational education.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 103   A new section is added to chapter 43.20A RCW to read as follows:
     (1) The mission of the children in families administration is to coordinate and work with the community, including foster parents, to develop services and programs designed to prevent child abuse and neglect, to support the efforts of families to care for and parent their own children safely, to strengthen families when child abuse and neglect have occurred, to provide intervention services early designed to preserve the family when high-risk situations are identified, to provide effective services to protect abused and neglected children, and to ensure permanent families for children. The administration must, either directly or through interagency agreements or contracts with service providers in local communities:
     (a) Promote safe and stable placements of children;
     (b) Facilitate the delivery of appropriate treatment services to families and their children;
     (c) Help connect youth to appropriate services;
     (d) Improve foster parent recruitment, retention, training, and support; and
     (e) Help maintain connections between siblings in out-of-home placement.
     (2) The administration must, within available funds, offer or contract with service providers who offer evidence-based programs or practices, as well as promising practices, in such areas as substance abuse treatment, mental health services, domestic violence treatment, parent-child interaction therapy, and parenting classes.
     (3) If the workload for the administration's social workers reaches a level in which the focus of the social workers' attention in a particular office shifts away from the priority work of conducting social work in the field, the administration may hire support staff to fulfill such functions as:
     (a) Providing in-office support that does not require the level of education and training of a social worker, such as providing transportation, gathering documents, delivering information, and other administrative functions;
     (b) Assisting with court discovery requests and public disclosure requests; and
     (c) Providing in-home services to families to teach basic skills necessary to better care for their children.
     (4) The definitions in this subsection apply throughout this section unless the context clearly requires otherwise.
     (a) "Promising practice" means a practice that presents, based on preliminary information, potential for becoming a research-based or consensus-based practice.
     (b) "Evidence-based" means a program or practice that has had multiple site, random controlled trials across heterogeneous populations demonstrating that the program or practice is effective for the population.

Sec. 201   RCW 26.44.125 and 1998 c 314 s 9 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) A person who is named as an alleged perpetrator after October 1, 1998, in a founded report of child abuse or neglect has the right to seek review and amendment of the finding as provided in this section.
     (2) Within twenty calendar days after receiving written notice from the department under RCW 26.44.100 that a person is named as an alleged perpetrator in a founded report of child abuse or neglect, he or she may request that the department review the finding. The request must be made in writing. If a request for review is not made as provided in this subsection, the alleged perpetrator may not further challenge the finding and shall have no right to agency review or to an adjudicative hearing or judicial review of the finding.
     (3) Upon receipt of a written request for review, the department shall review and, if appropriate, may amend the finding. Management level staff within the ((children's)) children in families administration designated by the secretary shall be responsible for the review. The review must be conducted in accordance with procedures the department establishes by rule. Upon completion of the review, the department shall notify the alleged perpetrator in writing of the agency's determination. The notification must be sent by certified mail, return receipt requested, to the person's last known address.
     (4) If, following agency review, the report remains founded, the person named as the alleged perpetrator in the report may request an adjudicative hearing to contest the finding. The adjudicative proceeding is governed by chapter 34.05 RCW and this section. The request for an adjudicative proceeding must be filed within thirty calendar days after receiving notice of the agency review determination. If a request for an adjudicative proceeding is not made as provided in this subsection, the alleged perpetrator may not further challenge the finding and shall have no right to agency review or to an adjudicative hearing or judicial review of the finding.
     (5) Reviews and hearings conducted under this section are confidential and shall not be open to the public. Information about reports, reviews, and hearings may be disclosed only in accordance with federal and state laws pertaining to child welfare records and child protective services reports.
     (6) The department may adopt rules to implement this section.

Sec. 202   RCW 26.44.220 and 2005 c 345 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) Within existing resources, the department shall develop a curriculum designed to train staff of the department's ((children's)) children in families administration who assess or provide services to adolescents on how to screen and respond to referrals to child protective services when those referrals may involve victims of abuse or neglect between the ages of eleven and eighteen. At a minimum, the curriculum developed pursuant to this section shall include:
     (a) Review of relevant laws and regulations, including the requirement that the department investigate complaints if a parent's or caretaker's actions result in serious physical or emotional harm or present an imminent risk of serious harm to any person under eighteen;
     (b) Review of policies of the department's ((children's)) children in families administration that require assessment and screening of abuse and neglect referrals on the basis of risk and not age;
     (c) Explanation of safety assessment and risk assessment models;
     (d) Case studies of situations in which the department has received reports of alleged abuse or neglect of older children and adolescents;
     (e) Discussion of best practices in screening and responding to referrals involving older children and adolescents; and
     (f) Discussion of how abuse and neglect referrals related to adolescents are investigated and when law enforcement must be notified.
     (2) As it develops its curriculum pursuant to this section, the department shall request that the office of the family and children's ombudsman review and comment on its proposed training materials. The department shall consider the comments and recommendations of the office of the family and children's ombudsman as it develops the curriculum required by this section.
     (3) The department shall complete the curriculum materials required by this section no later than December 31, 2005.
     (4) Within existing resources, the department shall incorporate training on the curriculum developed pursuant to this section into existing training for child protective services workers who screen intake calls, ((children's)) children in families administration staff responsible for assessing or providing services to older children and adolescents, and all new employees of the ((children's)) children in families administration responsible for assessing or providing services to older children and adolescents.

Sec. 203   RCW 28A.300.800 and 2002 c 326 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) Within existing resources, the department of social and health services, in cooperation with the office of the superintendent of public instruction, shall convene a working group to prepare a plan for the legislature which addresses educational stability and continuity for school-age children who enter into short-term foster care. The working group shall be comprised of representatives from:
     (a) The ((children's)) children in families administration of the department of social and health services;
     (b) The special education, transportation, and apportionment divisions of the office of the superintendent of public instruction;
     (c) The Washington state institute for public policy;
     (d) School districts;
     (e) Organizations that regularly advocate for foster children;
     (f) Foster parents; and
     (g) Other individuals with related expertise as deemed appropriate by the working group.
     (2)(a) The working group shall develop a plan for assuring that the best interests of the child are a primary consideration in the school placement of a child in short-term foster care. The plan must:
     (i) Determine the current status of school placement for children placed in short-term foster care;
     (ii) Identify options and possible funding sources from existing resources which could be made available to assure that children placed in short-term foster care are able to remain in the school where they were enrolled prior to placement;
     (iii) Submit recommendations to the legislature by November 1, 2002, to assure the best interest of the child receives primary consideration in school placement decisions.
     (b) The plan shall be developed within existing resources.

Sec. 204   RCW 72.05.435 and 1998 c 269 s 15 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) The department shall establish by rule a policy for the common use of residential group homes for juvenile offenders under the jurisdiction of the juvenile rehabilitation administration and the ((children's)) children in families administration.
     (2) A juvenile confined under the jurisdiction of the juvenile rehabilitation administration who is convicted of a class A felony is not eligible for placement in a community facility operated by ((children's)) children in families administration that houses juveniles who are not under the jurisdiction of juvenile rehabilitation administration unless:
     (a) The juvenile is housed in a separate living unit solely for juvenile offenders;
     (b) The community facility is a specialized treatment program and the youth is not assessed as sexually aggressive under RCW 13.40.470; or
     (c) The community facility is a specialized treatment program that houses one or more sexually aggressive youth and the juvenile is not assessed as sexually vulnerable under RCW 13.40.470.

Sec. 205   RCW 74.13.570 and 2005 c 93 s 2 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) The department shall establish an oversight committee composed of staff from the ((children's)) children in families administration of the department, the office of the superintendent of public instruction, the higher education coordinating board, foster youth, former foster youth, foster parents, and advocacy agencies to develop strategies for maintaining foster children in the schools they were attending at the time they entered foster care and to promote opportunities for foster youth to participate in postsecondary education or training.
     (2) The duties of the oversight committee shall include, but are not limited to:
     (a) Developing strategies for school-based recruitment of foster homes;
     (b) Monitoring the progress of current pilot projects that assist foster children to continue attending the schools they were attending at the time they entered foster care;
     (c) Overseeing the expansion of the number of pilot projects;
     (d) Promoting the use of best practices, throughout the state, demonstrated by the pilot projects and other programs relating to maintaining foster children in the schools they were attending at the time they entered foster care;
     (e) Informing the legislature of the status of efforts to maintain foster children in the schools they were attending at the time they entered foster care;
     (f) Assessing the scope and nature of statewide need among current and former foster youth for assistance to pursue and participate in postsecondary education or training opportunities;
     (g) Identifying available sources of funding available in the state for services to former foster youth to pursue and participate in postsecondary education or training opportunities;
     (h) Reviewing the effectiveness of activities in the state to support former foster youth to pursue and participate in postsecondary education or training opportunities;
     (i) Identifying new activities, or existing activities that should be modified or expanded, to best meet statewide needs; and
     (j) Reviewing on an ongoing basis the progress toward improving educational and vocational outcomes for foster youth.

Sec. 206   RCW 74.13.660 and 2006 c 353 s 3 are each amended to read as follows:
     Under the foster parent critical support and retention program, foster parents who care for sexually reactive children, physically assaultive children, or children with other high-risk behaviors shall receive:
     (1) Availability at any time of the day or night to address specific concerns related to the identified child;
     (2) Assessment of risk and development of a safety and supervision plan;
     (3) Home-based foster parent training utilizing evidence-based models; and
     (4) Referral to relevant community services and training provided by the local ((children's)) children in families administration office or community agencies.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 301   Part headings used in this act are not any part of the law.