BILL REQ. #:  S-0697.1 

Read first time 01/29/13.   Referred to Committee on Human Services & Corrections.

     AN ACT Relating to sibling visitation for children in foster care; amending RCW 13.34.136; and creating a new section.

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

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   The Washington state legislature recognizes the importance of ensuring frequent and meaningful contact for siblings separated due to involvement in the foster care system. The legislature also recognizes that children and youth in foster care are not being provided adequate opportunities for visitation with their siblings. It is the intent of the legislature to ensure appropriate facilitation of sibling visits by enumerating the specific and appropriate limitations for such visits for the information of case managers, caregivers, birth families, and youth.

Sec. 2   RCW 13.34.136 and 2011 c 309 s 29 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) Whenever a child is ordered removed from the home, a permanency plan shall be developed no later than sixty days from the time the supervising agency assumes responsibility for providing services, including placing the child, or at the time of a hearing under RCW 13.34.130, whichever occurs first. The permanency planning process continues until a permanency planning goal is achieved or dependency is dismissed. The planning process shall include reasonable efforts to return the child to the parent's home.
     (2) The agency supervising the dependency shall submit a written permanency plan to all parties and the court not less than fourteen days prior to the scheduled hearing. Responsive reports of parties not in agreement with the department's or supervising agency's proposed permanency plan must be provided to the department or supervising agency, all other parties, and the court at least seven days prior to the hearing.
     The permanency plan shall include:
     (a) A permanency plan of care that shall identify one of the following outcomes as a primary goal and may identify additional outcomes as alternative goals: Return of the child to the home of the child's parent, guardian, or legal custodian; adoption, including a tribal customary adoption as defined in RCW 13.38.040; guardianship; permanent legal custody; long-term relative or foster care, until the child is age eighteen, with a written agreement between the parties and the care provider; successful completion of a responsible living skills program; or independent living, if appropriate and if the child is age sixteen or older. The department or supervising agency shall not discharge a child to an independent living situation before the child is eighteen years of age unless the child becomes emancipated pursuant to chapter 13.64 RCW;
     (b) Unless the court has ordered, pursuant to RCW 13.34.130(((6))) (8), that a termination petition be filed, a specific plan as to where the child will be placed, what steps will be taken to return the child home, what steps the supervising agency or the department will take to promote existing appropriate sibling relationships and/or facilitate placement together or contact in accordance with the best interests of each child, and what actions the department or supervising agency will take to maintain parent-child ties. All aspects of the plan shall include the goal of achieving permanence for the child.
     (i) The department's or supervising agency's plan shall specify what services the parents will be offered to enable them to resume custody, what requirements the parents must meet to resume custody, and a time limit for each service plan and parental requirement.
     (ii) Visitation is the right of the family, including the child and the parent, in cases in which visitation is in the best interest of the child. Early, consistent, and frequent visitation is crucial for maintaining parent-child relationships and making it possible for parents and children to safely reunify. The supervising agency or department shall encourage the maximum parent and child ((and sibling)) contact possible, when it is in the best interest of the child, including regular visitation and participation by the parents in the care of the child while the child is in placement. Visitation shall not be limited as a sanction for a parent's failure to comply with court orders or services where the health, safety, or welfare of the child is not at risk as a result of the visitation. Visitation may be limited or denied only if the court determines that such limitation or denial is necessary to protect the child's health, safety, or welfare. The court and the department or supervising agency should rely upon community resources, relatives, foster parents, and other appropriate persons to provide transportation and supervision for visitation to the extent that such resources are available, and appropriate, and the child's safety would not be compromised.
     (iii) The supervising agency or department shall facilitate the maximum child and sibling contact possible, including at least two visits per month. Visitation may not be limited or denied unless:
     (A) A court order prevents or limits visits or contacts;
     (B) The department has determined that visits or contacts would be contrary to the child's health, safety, or welfare or that they would hinder reunification efforts; or
     (C) The department has documented that:
     (I) The child or sibling is developmentally able to determine his or her needs for sibling visits or contacts and has requested that there be no contact with his or her sibling or that such contact should occur less than two times per month;
     (II) The parent of a nondependent sibling objects to or requests a limitation of visits or contacts with the dependent child;
     (III) The child is on the run from his or her placement for a majority of the current calendar month; or
     (IV) The child is not complying with visitation arrangements.
     Any exceptions, limitation, or denial of visitation must be approved by the supervisor of the department case worker and documented. The department, court, or caregiver in the out-of-home placement may not limit visitation as a sanction for a child's behavior or as an incentive to the child to change his or her behavior. Any party, including the child, the parent, the department, or the court-appointed special advocate, may challenge the denial of visits in the court which has jurisdiction over the child's case. If visitation has been denied in a proceeding regarding a sibling, the court may allow, for good cause, the child to initiate or to be added as a party to a motion filed in the sibling's case to challenge the denial of visits between the sibling and the child. If the child is allowed to participate in a motion to challenge the denial of visitation in a sibling's case, the court which authorized the participation must ensure that confidential information contained in the sibling's case is not disclosed to the child.
     (iv) A child shall be placed as close to the child's home as possible, preferably in the child's own neighborhood, unless the court finds that placement at a greater distance is necessary to promote the child's or parents' well-being.
     (((iv))) (v) The plan shall state whether both in-state and, where appropriate, out-of-state placement options have been considered by the department or supervising agency.
     (((v))) (vi) Unless it is not in the best interests of the child, whenever practical, the plan should ensure the child remains enrolled in the school the child was attending at the time the child entered foster care.
     (((vi))) (vii) The supervising agency or department shall provide all reasonable services that are available within the department or supervising agency, or within the community, or those services which the department has existing contracts to purchase. It shall report to the court if it is unable to provide such services; and
     (c) If the court has ordered, pursuant to RCW 13.34.130(((6))) (8), that a termination petition be filed, a specific plan as to where the child will be placed, what steps will be taken to achieve permanency for the child, services to be offered or provided to the child, and, if visitation would be in the best interests of the child, a recommendation to the court regarding visitation between parent and child pending a fact-finding hearing on the termination petition. The department or supervising agency shall not be required to develop a plan of services for the parents or provide services to the parents if the court orders a termination petition be filed. However, reasonable efforts to ensure visitation and contact between siblings shall be made unless there is reasonable cause to believe the best interests of the child or siblings would be jeopardized.
     (3) Permanency planning goals should be achieved at the earliest possible date. If the child has been in out-of-home care for fifteen of the most recent twenty-two months, the court shall require the department or supervising agency to file a petition seeking termination of parental rights in accordance with RCW 13.34.145(3)(b)(vi). In cases where parental rights have been terminated, the child is legally free for adoption, and adoption has been identified as the primary permanency planning goal, it shall be a goal to complete the adoption within six months following entry of the termination order.
     (4) If the court determines that the continuation of reasonable efforts to prevent or eliminate the need to remove the child from his or her home or to safely return the child home should not be part of the permanency plan of care for the child, reasonable efforts shall be made to place the child in a timely manner and to complete whatever steps are necessary to finalize the permanent placement of the child.
     (5) The identified outcomes and goals of the permanency plan may change over time based upon the circumstances of the particular case.
     (6) The court shall consider the child's relationships with the child's siblings in accordance with RCW 13.34.130(((4))) (6). Whenever the permanency plan for a child is adoption, the court shall encourage the prospective adoptive parents, birth parents, foster parents, kinship caregivers, and the department or other supervising agency to seriously consider the long-term benefits to the child adoptee and his or her siblings of providing for and facilitating continuing postadoption contact between the siblings. To the extent that it is feasible, and when it is in the best interests of the child adoptee and his or her siblings, contact between the siblings should be frequent and of a similar nature as that which existed prior to the adoption. If the child adoptee or his or her siblings are represented by an attorney or guardian ad litem in a proceeding under this chapter or in any other child custody proceeding, the court shall inquire of each attorney and guardian ad litem regarding the potential benefits of continuing contact between the siblings and the potential detriments of severing contact. This section does not require the department of social and health services or other supervising agency to agree to any specific provisions in an open adoption agreement and does not create a new obligation for the department to provide supervision or transportation for visits between siblings separated by adoption from foster care.
     (7) For purposes related to permanency planning:
     (a) "Guardianship" means a dependency guardianship or a legal guardianship pursuant to chapter 11.88 RCW or equivalent laws of another state or a federally recognized Indian tribe.
     (b) "Permanent custody order" means a custody order entered pursuant to chapter 26.10 RCW.
     (c) "Permanent legal custody" means legal custody pursuant to chapter 26.10 RCW or equivalent laws of another state or a federally recognized Indian tribe.