BILL REQ. #:  H-3376.1 

READ FIRST TIME 04/20/09.   

     AN ACT Relating to crisis residential centers; amending RCW 74.13.032, 13.32A.030, 74.13.0321, 74.13.033, and 74.13.034; and reenacting and amending RCW 13.32A.130.

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

Sec. 1   RCW 74.13.032 and 1998 c 296 s 4 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) Within funding appropriated for this purpose, the department shall establish, by contracts with private or public vendors, including licensed private group care facilities, regional crisis residential centers ((with)) consisting of secure and semi-secure facilities as defined in RCW 13.32A.030. These facilities shall be structured group care facilities licensed under rules adopted by the department ((and shall have an average of at least four adult staff members and in no event less than three adult staff members to every eight children)).
     (2) ((Within available funds appropriated for this purpose, the department shall establish, by contracts with private or public vendors, regional crisis residential centers with secure facilities. These facilities shall be facilities licensed under rules adopted by the department. These centers may also include semi-secure facilities and to such extent shall be subject to subsection (1) of this section.)) The department shall adopt rules for referral to and the operation of crisis residential centers with the goal of maximizing the utilization of beds, resources, and staff to meet the needs of youth and their families as expressed in RCW 13.32A.010. Rules shall:
     (a) Require a minimum of two staff persons in each facility when youth are present; and
     (b) Establish additional minimum staff-to-youth ratios to ensure safety, reflect actual utilization patterns in crisis residential centers, and allow for flexibility as bed usage increases or decreases.
     (3) ((The department shall, in addition to the facilities established under subsections (1) and (2) of this section, establish additional crisis residential centers pursuant to contract with licensed private group care facilities.
     (4))) The staff at the facilities established under this section shall be trained so that they may effectively counsel ((juveniles admitted to the centers,)) and provide treatment, supervision, and structure to ((the juveniles that recognize)) youth admitted to the center, recognizing the need for support and the varying circumstances that cause children to leave their families, and carry out the responsibilities stated in RCW 13.32A.090. The responsibilities stated in RCW 13.32A.090 may, in any of the centers, be carried out by the department.
     (((5))) (4) The secure ((facilities located within)) facility crisis residential centers shall be operated to conform with the definition in RCW 13.32A.030. ((The facilities shall have an average of no less than one adult staff member to every ten children. The staffing ratio shall continue to ensure the safety of the children.
     (6) If a secure crisis residential center is located in or adjacent to a secure juvenile detention facility, the center shall be operated in a manner that prevents in-person contact between the residents of the center and the persons held in such facility.))
     (5) Services or programs authorized or required to be provided by the department under this section shall be provided to the extent funding is appropriated in the omnibus appropriations act or otherwise available to the department for such specific services and programs. The department has no responsibility to provide specific services or programs under this section if funds are not specifically appropriated or available.

Sec. 2   RCW 13.32A.030 and 2000 c 123 s 2 are each amended to read as follows:
     As used in this chapter the following terms have the meanings indicated unless the context clearly requires otherwise:
     (1) "Abuse or neglect" means the injury, sexual abuse, sexual exploitation, negligent treatment, or maltreatment of a child by any person under circumstances which indicate that the child's health, welfare, and safety is harmed, excluding conduct permitted under RCW 9A.16.100. An abused child is a child who has been subjected to child abuse or neglect as defined in this section.
     (2) "Administrator" means the individual who has the daily administrative responsibility of a crisis residential center, or his or her designee.
     (3) "At-risk youth" means a juvenile:
     (a) Who is absent from home for at least seventy-two consecutive hours without consent of his or her parent;
     (b) Who is beyond the control of his or her parent such that the child's behavior endangers the health, safety, or welfare of the child or any other person; or
     (c) Who has a substance abuse problem for which there are no pending criminal charges related to the substance abuse.
     (4) "Child," "juvenile," and "youth" mean any unemancipated individual who is under the chronological age of eighteen years.
     (5) "Child in need of services" means a juvenile:
     (a) Who is beyond the control of his or her parent such that the child's behavior endangers the health, safety, or welfare of the child or other person;
     (b) Who has been reported to law enforcement as absent without consent for at least twenty-four consecutive hours on two or more separate occasions from the home of either parent, a crisis residential center, an out-of-home placement, or a court-ordered placement; and
     (i) Has exhibited a serious substance abuse problem; or
     (ii) Has exhibited behaviors that create a serious risk of harm to the health, safety, or welfare of the child or any other person; or
     (c)(i) Who is in need of: (A) Necessary services, including food, shelter, health care, clothing, or education; or (B) services designed to maintain or reunite the family;
     (ii) Who lacks access to, or has declined to utilize, these services; and
     (iii) Whose parents have evidenced continuing but unsuccessful efforts to maintain the family structure or are unable or unwilling to continue efforts to maintain the family structure.
     (6) "Child in need of services petition" means a petition filed in juvenile court by a parent, child, or the department seeking adjudication of placement of the child.
     (7) "Crisis residential center" means a secure or semi-secure facility established pursuant to chapter 74.13 RCW.
     (8) "Custodian" means the person or entity who has the legal right to the custody of the child.
     (9) "Department" means the department of social and health services.
     (10) "Extended family member" means an adult who is a grandparent, brother, sister, stepbrother, stepsister, uncle, aunt, or first cousin with whom the child has a relationship and is comfortable, and who is willing and available to care for the child.
     (11) "Guardian" means that person or agency that (a) has been appointed as the guardian of a child in a legal proceeding other than a proceeding under chapter 13.34 RCW, and (b) has the right to legal custody of the child pursuant to such appointment. The term "guardian" does not include a "dependency guardian" appointed pursuant to a proceeding under chapter 13.34 RCW.
     (12) "Multidisciplinary team" means a group formed to provide assistance and support to a child who is an at-risk youth or a child in need of services and his or her parent. The team shall include the parent, a department case worker, a local government representative when authorized by the local government, and when appropriate, members from the mental health and substance abuse disciplines. The team may also include, but is not limited to, the following persons: Educators, law enforcement personnel, probation officers, employers, church persons, tribal members, therapists, medical personnel, social service providers, placement providers, and extended family members. The team members shall be volunteers who do not receive compensation while acting in a capacity as a team member, unless the member's employer chooses to provide compensation or the member is a state employee.
     (13) "Out-of-home placement" means a placement in a foster family home or group care facility licensed pursuant to chapter 74.15 RCW or placement in a home, other than that of the child's parent, guardian, or legal custodian, not required to be licensed pursuant to chapter 74.15 RCW.
     (14) "Parent" means the parent or parents who have the legal right to custody of the child. "Parent" includes custodian or guardian.
     (15) "Secure facility" means a crisis residential center((, or portion thereof,)) that:
     (a) Is located in or adjacent to a secure juvenile detention facility;
     (b) Has locking doors, locking windows, or a secured perimeter, designed and operated to prevent a child from leaving without permission of the facility staff; and
     (c) Is operated in a manner that prevents in-person contact between the youth admitted to the center and the juveniles being held in the detention facility.
     (16) "Semi-secure facility" means any facility, including but not limited to crisis residential centers or specialized foster family homes, operated in a manner to reasonably assure that youth placed there will not run away. Pursuant to rules established by the department, the facility administrator shall establish reasonable hours for residents to come and go from the facility such that no residents are free to come and go at all hours of the day and night. To prevent residents from taking unreasonable actions, the facility administrator, where appropriate, may condition a resident's leaving the facility upon the resident being accompanied by the administrator or the administrator's designee and the resident may be required to notify the administrator or the administrator's designee of any intent to leave, his or her intended destination, and the probable time of his or her return to the center.
     (17) "Staff secure facility" means a structured group care facility licensed under rules adopted by the department with a ratio of at least one adult staff member to every two children.
     (18) "Temporary out-of-home placement" means an out-of-home placement of not more than fourteen days ordered by the court at a fact-finding hearing on a child in need of services petition.

Sec. 3   RCW 13.32A.130 and 2000 c 162 s 13 and 2000 c 123 s 15 are each reenacted and amended to read as follows:
     (1) A child admitted to a secure facility shall remain in the facility for at least twenty-four hours after admission but for not more than five consecutive days. ((If the child admitted under this section is transferred between secure and semi-secure facilities, the aggregate length of time spent in all such centers or facilities may not exceed five)) A child admitted to a semi-secure facility may remain for not more than fifteen consecutive days. If a child is transferred between a secure facility and a semi-secure facility, the aggregate length of time spent in both facilities may not exceed fifteen consecutive days per admission.
     (2)(a)(i) The facility administrator shall determine within twenty-four hours after a child's admission to a secure facility whether the child is likely to remain in a semi-secure facility and may transfer the child to a semi-secure facility or release the child to the department. The determination shall be based on: (A) The need for continued assessment, protection, and treatment of the child in a secure facility; and (B) the likelihood the child would remain at a semi-secure facility until his or her parents can take the child home or a petition can be filed under this title.
     (ii) In making the determination the administrator shall consider the following information if known: (A) The child's age and maturity; (B) the child's condition upon arrival at the center; (C) the circumstances that led to the child's being taken to the center; (D) whether the child's behavior endangers the health, safety, or welfare of the child or any other person; (E) the child's history of running away; and (F) the child's willingness to cooperate in the assessment.
     (b) If the administrator of a secure facility determines the child is unlikely to remain in a semi-secure facility, the administrator shall keep the child in the secure facility pursuant to this chapter and in order to provide for space for the child may transfer another child who has been in the facility for at least seventy-two hours to a semi-secure facility. The administrator shall only make a transfer of a child after determining that the child who may be transferred is likely to remain at the semi-secure facility.
     (c) A crisis residential center administrator is authorized to transfer a child to a crisis residential center in the area where the child's parents reside or where the child's lawfully prescribed residence is located.
     (d) An administrator may transfer a child from a semi-secure facility to a secure facility whenever he or she reasonably believes that the child is likely to leave the semi-secure facility and not return and after full consideration of all factors in (a)(i) and (ii) of this subsection.
     (3) If no parent is available or willing to remove the child during the first seventy-two hours following admission, the department shall consider the filing of a petition under RCW 13.32A.140.
     (4) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (1) of this section, the parents may remove the child at any time ((during the five-day period)) unless the staff of the crisis residential center has reasonable cause to believe that the child is absent from the home because he or she is abused or neglected or if allegations of abuse or neglect have been made against the parents. The department or any agency legally charged with the supervision of a child may remove a child from a crisis residential center at any time after the first twenty-four-hour period after admission has elapsed and only after full consideration by all parties of the factors in subsection (2)(a) of this section.
     (5) Crisis residential center staff shall make reasonable efforts to protect the child and achieve a reconciliation of the family. If a reconciliation and voluntary return of the child has not been achieved within forty-eight hours from the time of admission, and if the administrator of the center does not consider it likely that reconciliation will be achieved within ((the five-day period)) five days of the child being admitted to the center, then the administrator shall inform the parent and child of: (a) The availability of counseling services; (b) the right to file a child in need of services petition for an out-of-home placement, the right of a parent to file an at-risk youth petition, and the right of the parent and child to obtain assistance in filing the petition; (c) the right to request the facility administrator or his or her designee to form a multidisciplinary team; (d) the right to request a review of any out-of-home placement; (e) the right to request a mental health or chemical dependency evaluation by a county-designated professional or a private treatment facility; and (f) the right to request treatment in a program to address the child's at-risk behavior under RCW 13.32A.197.
     (6) At no time shall information regarding a parent's or child's rights be withheld. The department shall develop and distribute to all law enforcement agencies and to each crisis residential center administrator a written statement delineating the services and rights. The administrator of the facility or his or her designee shall provide every resident and parent with a copy of the statement.
     (7) A crisis residential center and any person employed at the center acting in good faith in carrying out the provisions of this section are immune from criminal or civil liability for such actions.

Sec. 4   RCW 74.13.0321 and 1995 c 312 s 61 are each amended to read as follows:
     No contract may provide reimbursement or compensation to:
     (1) A secure facility crisis residential ((center's secure facility)) center for any service delivered or provided to a resident child after five consecutive days of residence; or
     (2) A semi-secure facility crisis residential center for any service delivered or provided to a resident child after fifteen consecutive days of residence.

Sec. 5   RCW 74.13.033 and 2000 c 162 s 16 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) If a resident child of a crisis residential center becomes by his or her behavior disruptive to the facility's program, such ((resident)) child may be immediately removed to a separate area within the facility and counseled on an individual basis until such time as the child regains his or her composure. The department may set rules ((and regulations)) establishing additional procedures for dealing with severely disruptive children on the premises.
     (2) When the ((juvenile)) child resides in ((this)) a crisis residential facility, all services deemed necessary to the ((juvenile's)) child's reentry to ((normal)) family life shall be made available to the ((juvenile)) child as required by chapter 13.32A RCW. In assessing the child and providing these services, the ((facility)) center staff shall:
     (a) Interview the ((juvenile)) child as soon as possible;
     (b) Contact the ((juvenile's)) child's parents and arrange for a counseling interview with the ((juvenile)) child and his or her parents as soon as possible;
     (c) Conduct counseling interviews with the ((juvenile)) child and his or her parents, to the end that resolution of the child/parent conflict is attained and the child is returned home as soon as possible;
     (d) Provide additional crisis counseling as needed, to the end that placement of the child in the crisis residential center will be required for the shortest time possible, but not to exceed five consecutive days if the child resides at a secure facility crisis residential center; and
     (e) Convene, when appropriate, a multidisciplinary team.
     (3) Based on the assessments done under subsection (2) of this section the ((facility)) center staff may refer any child who, as the result of a mental or emotional disorder, or intoxication by alcohol or other drugs, is suicidal, seriously assaultive, or seriously destructive toward others, or otherwise similarly evidences an immediate need for emergency medical evaluation and possible care, for evaluation pursuant to chapter 71.34 RCW, to a mental health professional pursuant to chapter 71.05 RCW, or to a chemical dependency specialist pursuant to chapter 70.96A RCW whenever such action is deemed appropriate and consistent with law.
     (4) A ((juvenile)) child taking unauthorized leave from a ((facility)) center shall be apprehended and returned to it by law enforcement officers or other persons designated as having this authority as provided in RCW 13.32A.050. If returned to the facility after having taken unauthorized leave for a period of more than twenty-four hours a ((juvenile)) child shall be supervised by ((such a facility)) staff at the center for ((a)) an appropriate period, ((pursuant to this chapter, which, unless where otherwise provided,)) except that supervision may not exceed five consecutive days ((on the premises)) in a secure facility or fifteen consecutive days in a semi- secure facility. Costs of housing ((juveniles)) children admitted to crisis residential centers shall be assumed by the department ((for a period not to exceed five consecutive days)).

Sec. 6   RCW 74.13.034 and 2000 c 162 s 17 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) A child taken into custody and taken to a crisis residential center established pursuant to RCW 74.13.032 may, if the center is unable to provide appropriate treatment, supervision, and structure to the child, be taken at department expense to another crisis residential center((, the nearest regional secure crisis residential center, or a secure facility with which it is collocated under RCW 74.13.032)). Placement in both locations shall not exceed ((five)) fifteen consecutive days from the point of intake as provided in RCW 13.32A.130.
     (2) A child taken into custody and taken to a semi-secure crisis residential center established by this chapter may be placed physically by the department or the department's designee and, at departmental expense and approval, in a secure juvenile detention facility operated by the county in which the center is located for a maximum of forty-eight hours, including Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays, if the child has taken unauthorized leave from the semi-secure center and the ((person in charge)) administrator of the center determines that the center cannot provide supervision and structure adequate to ensure that the child will not again take unauthorized leave. ((Juveniles)) Youth placed in such a facility pursuant to this section may not, to the extent possible, come in contact with alleged, adjudicated, or convicted juvenile or adult offenders being held in the detention facility.
     (3) Any child placed in secure detention pursuant to this section shall, during the period of confinement, be provided with appropriate treatment by the department or the department's designee, which shall include the services defined in RCW 74.13.033(2). If the child placed in secure detention is not returned home or if an alternative living arrangement agreeable to the parent and the child is not made within twenty-four hours after the child's admission, the child shall be taken at the department's expense to a crisis residential center. Placement in ((the)) a secure facility crisis residential center ((or centers)) plus placement in juvenile detention under this section shall not exceed five consecutive days from the point of intake as provided in RCW 13.32A.130.
     (4) Juvenile detention facilities used pursuant to this section shall first be certified by the department to ensure that ((juveniles)) youth placed in the facility pursuant to this section are provided with living conditions suitable to the safety and well-being of the child. Where space is available, juvenile courts, when certified by the department to do so, shall provide secure placement for ((juveniles)) youth pursuant to this section, at department expense.