SHB 1858 -
By Committee on Human Services & Corrections
ADOPTED 04/07/2011
Strike everything after the enacting clause and insert the following:
"Sec. 1 RCW 74.13.032 and 2009 c 520 s 53 are each amended to
read as follows:
(1) The department shall establish, through performance-based
contracts with private or public vendors, regional crisis residential
centers with semi-secure facilities. 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, through performance-based 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.
(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 performance-based contracts with
licensed private group care facilities.
(4) The department is authorized to allow contracting entities to
include a combination of secure or semi-secure crisis residential
centers as defined in RCW 13.32A.030 and/or HOPE centers pursuant to
RCW 74.15.220 in the same building or structure. The department shall
permit the colocation of these centers only if the entity operating the
facility agrees to designate a particular number of beds to each type
of center that is located within the building or structure.
(5) The staff at the facilities established under this section
shall be trained so that they may effectively counsel juveniles
admitted to the centers, provide treatment, supervision, and structure
to the juveniles that recognize 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))) (6) The secure facilities located within 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))) (7) 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.
Sec. 2 RCW 74.15.220 and 1999 c 267 s 12 are each amended to read
as follows:
The secretary shall establish HOPE centers that provide no more
than seventy-five beds across the state and may establish HOPE centers
by contract, within funds appropriated by the legislature specifically
for this purpose. HOPE centers shall be operated in a manner to
reasonably assure that street youth placed there will not run away.
Street youth may leave a HOPE center during the course of the day to
attend school or other necessary appointments, but the street youth
must be accompanied by an administrator or an administrator's designee.
The street youth must provide the administration with specific
information regarding his or her destination and expected time of
return to the HOPE center. Any street youth who runs away from a HOPE
center shall not be readmitted unless specifically authorized by the
street youth's placement and liaison specialist, and the placement and
liaison specialist shall document with specific factual findings an
appropriate basis for readmitting any street youth to a HOPE center.
HOPE centers are required to have the following:
(1) A license issued by the secretary;
(2) A professional with a master's degree in counseling, social
work, or related field and at least one year of experience working with
street youth or a bachelor of arts degree in social work or a related
field and five years of experience working with street youth. This
professional staff person may be contractual or a part-time employee,
but must be available to work with street youth in a HOPE center at a
ratio of one to every fifteen youth staying in a HOPE center. This
professional shall be known as a placement and liaison specialist.
Preference shall be given to those professionals cross-credentialed in
mental health and chemical dependency. The placement and liaison
specialist shall:
(a) Conduct an assessment of the street youth that includes a
determination of the street youth's legal status regarding residential
placement;
(b) Facilitate the street youth's return to his or her legally
authorized residence at the earliest possible date or initiate
processes to arrange legally authorized appropriate placement. Any
street youth who may meet the definition of dependent child under RCW
13.34.030 must be referred to the department. The department shall
determine whether a dependency petition should be filed under chapter
13.34 RCW. A shelter care hearing must be held within seventy-two
hours to authorize out-of-home placement for any youth the department
determines is appropriate for out-of-home placement under chapter 13.34
RCW. All of the provisions of chapter 13.32A RCW must be followed for
children in need of services or at-risk youth;
(c) Interface with other relevant resources and system
representatives to secure long-term residential placement and other
needed services for the street youth;
(d) Be assigned immediately to each youth and meet with the youth
within eight hours of the youth receiving HOPE center services;
(e) Facilitate a physical examination of any street youth who has
not seen a physician within one year prior to residence at a HOPE
center and facilitate evaluation by a county-designated mental health
professional, a chemical dependency specialist, or both if appropriate;
and
(f) Arrange an educational assessment to measure the street youth's
competency level in reading, writing, and basic mathematics, and that
will measure learning disabilities or special needs;
(3) Staff trained in development needs of street youth as
determined by the secretary, including an administrator who is a
professional with a master's degree in counseling, social work, or a
related field and at least one year of experience working with street
youth, or a bachelor of arts degree in social work or a related field
and five years of experience working with street youth, who must work
with the placement and liaison specialist to provide appropriate
services on site;
(4) A data collection system that measures outcomes for the
population served, and enables research and evaluation that can be used
for future program development and service delivery. Data collection
systems must have confidentiality rules and protocols developed by the
secretary;
(5) Notification requirements that meet the notification
requirements of chapter 13.32A RCW. The youth's arrival date and time
must be logged at intake by HOPE center staff. The staff must
immediately notify law enforcement and dependency caseworkers if a
street youth runs away from a HOPE center. A child may be transferred
to a secure facility as defined in RCW 13.32A.030 whenever the staff
reasonably believes that a street youth is likely to leave the HOPE
center and not return after full consideration of the factors set forth
in RCW 13.32A.130(2)(a) (i) and (ii). The street youth's temporary
placement in the HOPE center must be authorized by the court or the
secretary if the youth is a dependent of the state under chapter 13.34
RCW or the department is responsible for the youth under chapter 13.32A
RCW, or by the youth's parent or legal custodian, until such time as
the parent can retrieve the youth who is returning to home;
(6) HOPE centers must identify to the department any street youth
it serves who is not returning promptly to home. The department then
must contact the missing children's clearinghouse identified in chapter
13.60 RCW and either report the youth's location or report that the
youth is the subject of a dependency action and the parent should
receive notice from the department;
(7) Services that provide counseling and education to the street
youth; and
(8) The department shall ((only)) award contracts for the operation
of HOPE center beds and responsible living skills programs ((in
departmental regions: (a) With operating secure crisis residential
centers; or (b) in which the secretary finds significant progress is
made toward opening a secure crisis residential center)) with the goal
of facilitating the coordination of services provided for youth by such
programs and those services provided by secure and semi-secure crisis
residential centers.
Sec. 3 RCW 74.15.255 and 2010 c 289 s 10 are each amended to read
as follows:
(1)(a) Within available funds appropriated for this purpose, the
department shall contract for a continuum of short-term stabilization
services pursuant to RCW 13.32A.030 and 74.15.220. The department
shall collaborate with service providers in a manner that allows secure
and semi-secure crisis residential centers and HOPE centers to be
located in a geographically representative manner and to facilitate the
coordination of services provided for youth by such programs. To
achieve efficiencies and increase utilization, the department shall
allow the colocation of these centers in the same building or
structure, except that a youth may not be placed in a secure facility
or the secure portion of a colocated facility except as specifically
authorized by chapter 13.32A RCW. The department shall allow the
colocation of these centers only if the entity operating the facility
agrees to designate a particular number of beds to each type of center
that is located within the building or structure. The beds so
designated must be used only to serve the eligible youth in the program
or center for which they are designated.
(b) The department shall adopt rules to allow the licensing of
colocated facilities that include any combination of secure or semi-secure crisis residential centers as defined in RCW 13.32A.030, or HOPE
centers as defined in RCW 74.15.020. Such rules may provide for
flexible payment structures, center specific licensing waivers, or
other appropriate methods to increase utilization and provide
flexibility, while continuing to meet the statutory goals of the
programs. The rules shall provide that a condition of being licensed
as a colocated facility is that the contracting entity must designate
a particular number of beds in the colocated facility to each type of
center that is located within the building or structure. The beds so
designated must be used only to serve the eligible youth in the program
or center for which they are designated.
(2) The department shall require that to be licensed or continue to
be licensed as a secure or semi-secure crisis residential center or
HOPE center that the center has on staff, or otherwise has access to,
a person who has been trained to work with the needs of sexually
exploited children. For purposes of this ((section)) subsection,
"sexually exploited child" means that person as defined in RCW
13.32A.030(17)."
SHB 1858 -
By Committee on Human Services & Corrections
ADOPTED 04/07/2011
On page 1, line 3 of the title, after "centers;" strike the remainder of the title and insert "and amending RCW 74.13.032, 74.15.220, and 74.15.255."