Passed by the House April 13, 2011 Yeas 77   ________________________________________ Speaker of the House of Representatives Passed by the Senate April 7, 2011 Yeas 49   ________________________________________ President of the Senate | I, Barbara Baker, Chief Clerk of the House of Representatives of the State of Washington, do hereby certify that the attached is SUBSTITUTE HOUSE BILL 1697 as passed by the House of Representatives and the Senate on the dates hereon set forth. ________________________________________ Chief Clerk | |
Approved ________________________________________ Governor of the State of Washington | Secretary of State State of Washington |
State of Washington | 62nd Legislature | 2011 Regular Session |
READ FIRST TIME 02/17/11.
AN ACT Relating to unannounced monthly visits to persons providing care to children in the dependency system; reenacting and amending RCW 74.13.031; and creating a new section.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
NEW SECTION. Sec. 1 The legislature finds that foster parents
are a critical piece of the dependency system. The legislature further
finds that the majority of foster parents provide excellent care to
children in the dependency system, many of whom have suffered serious
damage in their families of origin. It is the legislature's belief
that through the selfless dedication of many foster parents that abused
and neglected children are able to heal and go on to lead productive
lives. The legislature also believes that some foster parents act in
ways that are damaging to the children in their care and it is the
department of social and health services' responsibility to make sure
all children in care are safe. The legislature finds that unannounced
visits to caregivers' homes is another method by which the department
of social and health services can make sure the children in foster care
are safe.
Sec. 2 RCW 74.13.031 and 2009 c 520 s 51, 2009 c 491 s 7, and
2009 c 235 s 2 are each reenacted and amended to read as follows:
(1) The department and supervising agencies shall develop,
administer, supervise, and monitor a coordinated and comprehensive plan
that establishes, aids, and strengthens services for the protection and
care of runaway, dependent, or neglected children.
(2) Within available resources, the department and supervising
agencies shall recruit an adequate number of prospective adoptive and
foster homes, both regular and specialized, i.e. homes for children of
ethnic minority, including Indian homes for Indian children, sibling
groups, handicapped and emotionally disturbed, teens, pregnant and
parenting teens, and the department shall annually report to the
governor and the legislature concerning the department's and
supervising agency's success in: (a) Meeting the need for adoptive and
foster home placements; (b) reducing the foster parent turnover rate;
(c) completing home studies for legally free children; and (d)
implementing and operating the passport program required by RCW
74.13.285. The report shall include a section entitled "Foster Home
Turn-Over, Causes and Recommendations."
(3) The department shall investigate complaints of any recent act
or failure to act on the part of a parent or caretaker that results in
death, serious physical or emotional harm, or sexual abuse or
exploitation, or that presents an imminent risk of serious harm, and on
the basis of the findings of such investigation, offer child welfare
services in relation to the problem to such parents, legal custodians,
or persons serving in loco parentis, and/or bring the situation to the
attention of an appropriate court, or another community agency. An
investigation is not required of nonaccidental injuries which are
clearly not the result of a lack of care or supervision by the child's
parents, legal custodians, or persons serving in loco parentis. If the
investigation reveals that a crime against a child may have been
committed, the department shall notify the appropriate law enforcement
agency.
(4) The department or supervising agencies shall offer, on a
voluntary basis, family reconciliation services to families who are in
conflict.
(5) The department or supervising agencies shall monitor placements
of children in out-of-home care and in-home dependencies to assure the
safety, well-being, and quality of care being provided is within the
scope of the intent of the legislature as defined in RCW 74.13.010 and
74.15.010. Under this section children in out-of-home care and in-home
dependencies and their caregivers shall receive a private and
individual face-to-face visit each month. The department and the
supervising agencies shall randomly select no less than ten percent of
the caregivers currently providing care to receive one unannounced
face-to-face visit in the caregiver's home per year. No caregiver will
receive an unannounced visit through the random selection process for
two consecutive years. If the caseworker makes a good faith effort to
conduct the unannounced visit to a caregiver and is unable to do so,
that month's visit to that caregiver need not be unannounced. The
department and supervising agencies are encouraged to group monthly
visits to caregivers by geographic area so that in the event an
unannounced visit cannot be completed, the caseworker may complete
other required monthly visits. The department shall use a method of
random selection that does not cause a fiscal impact to the department.
The department or supervising agencies shall conduct the monthly
visits with children and caregivers to whom it is providing child
welfare services.
(6) The department and supervising agencies shall have authority to
accept custody of children from parents and to accept custody of
children from juvenile courts, where authorized to do so under law, to
provide child welfare services including placement for adoption, to
provide for the routine and necessary medical, dental, and mental
health care, or necessary emergency care of the children, and to
provide for the physical care of such children and make payment of
maintenance costs if needed. Except where required by Public Law 95-608 (25 U.S.C. Sec. 1915), no private adoption agency which receives
children for adoption from the department shall discriminate on the
basis of race, creed, or color when considering applications in their
placement for adoption.
(7) The department and supervising agency shall have authority to
provide temporary shelter to children who have run away from home and
who are admitted to crisis residential centers.
(8) The department and supervising agency shall have authority to
purchase care for children.
(9) The department shall establish a children's services advisory
committee with sufficient members representing supervising agencies
which shall assist the secretary in the development of a partnership
plan for utilizing resources of the public and private sectors, and
advise on all matters pertaining to child welfare, licensing of child
care agencies, adoption, and services related thereto. At least one
member shall represent the adoption community.
(10) The department and supervising agencies shall have authority
to provide continued foster care or group care as needed to participate
in or complete a high school or vocational school program.
(11)(a) The department shall, within amounts appropriated for this
specific purpose, have authority to provide continued foster care or
group care to youth ages eighteen to twenty-one years who are:
(i) Enrolled and participating in a postsecondary or vocational
educational program;
(ii) Participating in a program or activity designed to promote or
remove barriers to employment;
(iii) Engaged in employment for eighty hours or more per month; or
(iv) Incapable of engaging on any of the activities described in
(a)(i) through (iii) of this subsection due to a medical condition that
is supported by regularly updated information.
(b) A youth who remains eligible for placement services or benefits
pursuant to department rules may continue to receive placement services
and benefits until the youth reaches his or her twenty-first birthday.
(12) The department, within amounts appropriated for this specific
purpose, ((have)) has authority to provide adoption support benefits,
or subsidized relative guardianship benefits on behalf of youth ages
eighteen to twenty-one years who achieved permanency through adoption
or a subsidized relative guardianship at age sixteen or older and who
are engaged in one of the activities described in subsection (11) of
this section.
(13) The department shall refer cases to the division of child
support whenever state or federal funds are expended for the care and
maintenance of a child, including a child with a developmental
disability who is placed as a result of an action under chapter 13.34
RCW, unless the department finds that there is good cause not to pursue
collection of child support against the parent or parents of the child.
Cases involving individuals age eighteen through twenty shall not be
referred to the division of child support unless required by federal
law.
(14) The department and supervising agencies shall have authority
within funds appropriated for foster care services to purchase care for
Indian children who are in the custody of a federally recognized Indian
tribe or tribally licensed child-placing agency pursuant to parental
consent, tribal court order, or state juvenile court order; and the
purchase of such care shall be subject to the same eligibility
standards and rates of support applicable to other children for whom
the department purchases care.
Notwithstanding any other provision of RCW 13.32A.170 through
13.32A.200 and 74.13.032 through 74.13.036, or of this section all
services to be provided by the department under subsections (4), (6),
and (7) of this section, subject to the limitations of these
subsections, may be provided by any program offering such services
funded pursuant to Titles II and III of the federal juvenile justice
and delinquency prevention act of 1974.
(15) Within amounts appropriated for this specific purpose, the
supervising agency or department shall provide preventive services to
families with children that prevent or shorten the duration of an out-of-home placement.
(16) The department and supervising agencies shall have authority
to provide independent living services to youths, including individuals
who have attained eighteen years of age, and have not attained twenty-one years of age who are or have been in foster care.
(17) The department and supervising agencies shall consult at least
quarterly with foster parents, including members of the foster parent
association of Washington state, for the purpose of receiving
information and comment regarding how the department and supervising
agencies are performing the duties and meeting the obligations
specified in this section and RCW 74.13.250 and 74.13.320 regarding the
recruitment of foster homes, reducing foster parent turnover rates,
providing effective training for foster parents, and administering a
coordinated and comprehensive plan that strengthens services for the
protection of children. Consultation shall occur at the regional and
statewide levels.
(18)(a) The department shall, within current funding levels, place
on ((the)) its public web site ((maintained by the department)) a
document listing the duties and responsibilities the department has to
a child subject to a dependency petition including, but not limited to,
the following:
(i) Reasonable efforts, including the provision of services, toward
reunification of the child with his or her family;
(ii) Sibling visits subject to the restrictions in RCW
13.34.136(2)(b)(ii);
(iii) Parent-child visits;
(iv) Statutory preference for placement with a relative or other
suitable person, if appropriate; and
(v) Statutory preference for an out-of-home placement that allows
the child to remain in the same school or school district, if practical
and in the child's best interests.
(b) The document must be prepared in conjunction with a community-based organization and must be updated as needed.