BILL REQ. #:  S-1615.1 

READ FIRST TIME 02/21/11.   

     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 caregiver's 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. 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.