Summary of Bill (Recommended Amendments): Beginning on December 1, 2010, CA must begin converting its existing contracts with child-placing agencies into performance-based contracts to provide child welfare services (CWS). The Attorney General's Office must provide legal representation to the private agencies in the dependency cases. The provisions in the Civil Service Act regarding the specific requirements around state employees bidding to provide services do not apply.

Beginning on July 1, 2014, all CWS for 60 percent of the children for whom CA has legal custody must be provided by private agencies (referred to in the bill as supervising agencies) with whom CA has entered into performance-based contracts. Supervising agencies are defined as agencies licensed by DSHS or an Indian tribe that has entered into a performance-based contract with DSHS to provide child welfare services. The provision of Child Protective Services remains the responsibility of CA. After July 1, 2014, for the 60 percent of children for whom supervising agencies are providing CWS, CA may not directly provide CWS except in an emergency or as a provider of last resort. In this situation, DSHS is also considered a supervising agency. CA is considered a "provider of last resort" when it is unable to contract with a private agency to provide CWS in a particular geographic area or the contract with the private agency is terminated by CA or the contractor. After July 1, 2014, for the 60 percent of children for whom supervising agencies are providing CWS, CA is responsible only for monitoring the quality of services for which it has contracted and ensuring that those services meet federal and state requirements, including the Indian Child Welfare Act. DSHS must give a preference to private nonprofit agencies when entering into performance-based contracts. This requirement does apply to Indian tribes. Children whose cases are managed by supervising agencies remain dependents of the state.

As child welfare and staff vacancies occur due to voluntary employee departures, if DSHS decides the vacant positions should be filled with existing staff because there are insufficient supervising agency resources available in that region, DSHS is to then determine if there are other services in the region where the work can be performed by supervising agencies.

The performance-based contracts used by CA must be structured to hold the private agencies accountable for achieving the following goals in order of importance: child safety; reunification of the child with the parents; and child permanency with a preference for reunification.

The Child Welfare Transformation Committee (Committee) is established. The members of the Committee are as follows:

the Governor or the Governor's designee;
four private agencies, two of which are headquartered in western Washington and two of which are headquartered in eastern Washington. Two of the agencies must have an annual budget of over 1 million state-contracted dollars and two of the agencies must have an annual budget of less than 1 million state-contracted dollars;
the Assistant Secretary of the Children's Administration;
two CA regional administrators, one from eastern Washington and one from western Washington;
the CA Division of Licensed Resources administrator;
two nationally recognized experts in performance-based contracting;
the Attorney General (AG), or the AG's designee;
a representative of the collective bargaining unit that represents the largest number of CA employees;
a representative of the Office of the Family and Children's Ombudsman;
four representatives from federally-recognized Indian Tribes, two of which must operate child welfare programs selected by the Indian Policy Advisory Committee convened by DSHS's Indian Policy and Support Services Office;
a foster parent;
a parent representative who has had personal experience with the dependency system;
two present or former superior court judges with significant experience in dependency matters, selected by the Superior Court Judge's Association; and
one representatives of Partners for Our Children (POC).

The President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives jointly appoint the four private agencies, the foster parent, the parent representative and the two nationally-recognized performance-based contracting experts.

The POC representatives convene the initial meeting no later than June 15, 2009. The chair or co-chairs of the Committee are selected from among the Committee's membership by majority vote of those present at the initial meeting of the Committee. The Committee may establish advisory committees as necessary. Staff support for the Committee will be provided jointly by POC and legislative staff. The Committee is subject to the Open Public Meetings Act and the Ethics in Public Service statutes. Administrative costs for the Committee will be paid from private funds.

The Committee is to develop a transition plan that contains recommendations to the Legislature for the provision of CWS by supervising agencies. The plan must include the following:

a model or framework for performance-based contracts to be used by CA that must include the following:
- the target population;
- the contract referral and exit criteria;
- the CWS to be provided by the contractor;
- the roles and responsibilities of public and private agency workers in key case decisions;
- contract performance and case outcomes expectations;
- the method by which to measure whether the contractor has met the goals in order of importance; and
- incentives to meet program goals; and
a method by which CA can substantially reduce the current number of contracts for CWS;
a method by which clients access community-based services, how supervising agencies engage other services or form local service networks, develop subcontracts, etc.;
contract monitoring and evaluation procedures to ensure children and families are receiving timely and quality services from the supervising agencies;
a process by which to expand the capacity of private agencies to meet the service needs of children and families in a performance-based contractual arrangement;
a review of the necessity of continued administrative staffing levels in the regions in which the majority of child welfare services are being provided by supervising agencies;
a preparation of the plan to manage the delivery of child welfare services in a manner that maximizes coordination of services and programs that deliver primary prevention services;
an inclusion of methods to address the effects of racial disproportionality;
inclusion of the principles and requirements of the Centennial Accord executed in November 2001, between the state of Washington and federally recognized tribes in Washington State;
development of methods for assuring performance-based contracts adhere to the letter and intent of the federal Indian Child Welfare Act;
a method by which supervising agencies can expand services in underserved areas of the state;
appropriate reimbursement levels for supervising agencies;
a method to enhance existing data systems;
a financing arrangement that examines different payment methods and ways to reduce contractor's liability;
a description of how the transition may affect the state's ability to obtain federal funding;
a description of the costs of the transition:
- the initial startup costs and mechanisms to periodically assess the overall adequacy of funds;
- the fiscal impact of the changes;
- the feasibility of the plan; and
- the impact of the plan on DSHS employees during the transition; and
identification of any statutory or regulatory changes needed.

The Committee must also recommend how to implement its plan in stages across the state so that the 60 percent implementation is accomplished by July 1, 2014.

The Committee must report, in writing, to the Children's Oversight Committee on a quarterly basis starting on June 30, 2009. The Committee must report to the Children's Oversight Committee by June 1, 2010, its recommendation for staged implementation of the act across the state.

The Committee expires on June 30, 2014.

Within 18 months after DSHS has entered into performance-based contracts with supervising agencies, the Washington State Institute for Public Policy (WSIPP) is to provide a preliminary report due June 30, 2012, in which it reviews the outcomes achieved by the supervising agencies and compare those outcomes with the existing services offered by DSHS. Among the outcomes to be compared are relative placements, placements with siblings, re-referrals for cases in which the children who were placed in out-of-home care were reunified and then returned to out-of-home care, and timelines to achieve permanency.

No later than July 1, 2013, WSIPP is to provide to the Governor and the Legislature with the final results of the outcome comparison.

If the report indicates improved outcomes through the use of performance-based contracts with supervising agencies, the Governor is encouraged to expand the use of supervising agencies statewide.

Sections 1 through 6 take effect July 1, 2010, and Section 7 takes effect immediately. The act is only in effect if funds are specifically appropriated for this purpose.

EFFECT OF CHANGES MADE BY HUMAN SERVICES & CORRECTIONS COMMITTEE (Recommended Amendments): E2SSB 5943 replaces this bill with the following changes:

Applies the bill to 60 percent of the children for whom DSHS has legal custody, down from 100 percent.

For the other 40 percent, DSHS workers are to provide the child welfare services.

The date by which DSHS must have child welfare services provided to 60 percent of the children in the legal custody of DSHS remains July 1, 2014.
Language is added that children whose cases are managed by a supervising agency remain dependents of the state.
Adds to the membership of the Child Welfare Transformation Design Committee the following: the Governor or the Governor's designee; a foster parent and a parent representative who has had personal experience with the dependency system.
The tribal members are to be selected by the Indian policy advisory committee convened by DSHS's Indian Policy and Support Services Office.
The Committee's recommendations are to be presented to both the Governor and the Legislature.
Added to the list of responsibilities of the Committee are the following:
A review of the necessity of continued administrative staffing levels in the regions in which the majority of child welfare services are being provided by supervising agencies.
A preparation of the plan to manage the delivery of child welfare services in a manner that maximizes coordination of services and programs that deliver primary prevention services.
An inclusions of methods to address the effects of racial disproportionality.
Inclusion of the principles and requirements of the Centennial Accord executed in November 2001, between the state of Washington and federally recognized tribes in Washington State.
Development of methods for assuring performance-based contracts adhere to the letter and intent of the federal Indian Child Welfare Act.

An evaluation by WSIPP is added.
If the evaluation indicates improved outcomes through the use of performance-based contracts with supervising agencies, the Governor is encouraged to expand the use of supervising agencies statewide.