Requires short-term support to include case aides who provide temporary assistance to foster parents as needed.

Requires the department of social and health services to: (1) Contract with nonprofit community-based organizations in each region to establish a statewide pool of individuals to provide the support;

(2) Ensure that a case review panel reviews cases involving dependent children where permanency is not achieved for children within eighteen months after being placed in out-of-home care;

(3) Design and implement an expedited foster licensing process; and

(4) With technical consultation from the caseload forecast council and associated technical work groups, review the forecasts of licensed foster care.

Requires the department and the office of innovation, alignment, and accountability, in consultation with stakeholders and others, to identify a system of support services to be provided to foster parents.

Requires a criminal background check for a person residing in a home that will be used to provide foster care for dependent youth.

Requires the state institute for public policy to prepare an outcome evaluation of the short-term support.

Authorizes the secretary of the department of social and health services to, in order to encourage adoption of children between the ages of fourteen and eighteen, include continued eligibility for the Washington college bound scholarship as part of a new negotiated adoption agreement.

Creates the foster parent shared leave pool to allow employees to donate leave to be used as shared leave for an employee who is a foster parent needing to care for or preparing to accept a foster child in their home.

Repeals the child and family reinvestment account.

Eliminates the termination and repeal, under the sunset act, of the child and family reinvestment account and the methodology for calculating savings.

Requires any residual balance remaining in the child and family reinvestment account to be transferred to the general fund.

Creates the child welfare system improvement account.

Makes appropriations from the state general fund to the office of civil legal aid for the office to: (1) Provide legal representation for foster children in two counties; and

(2) Contract with the Washington state center for court research for an assessment of differential outcomes in dependency proceedings before termination of parental rights.

"AN ACT Relating to [child welfare,] foster care[,] and adoption support."