SENATE BILL REPORT

SSB 6309

BYSenate Committee on Children & Family Services (originally sponsored by Senators Kiskaddon, Bailey and West)

Revising rules for dependency proceedings.

Senate Committee on Children & Family Services

Senate Hearing Date(s):January 25, 1988; January 26, 1988

Majority Report:  That Substitute Senate Bill No. 6309 be substituted therefor, and the substitute bill do pass.

      Signed by Senators Kiskaddon, Chairman; Bailey, Vice Chairman; Craswell, Fleming, Garrett, McDonald, Stratton.

Senate Staff:Jean Soliz (786-7755)

                  February 13, 1988

AS PASSED SENATE, FEBRUARY 10, 1988

BACKGROUND:

Children who are in need of state protection must first be found to be dependent by juvenile court order.  If there is reasonable cause to believe that abuse or neglect has occurred, law enforcement officers may remove a child from the home. 

A child may remain in temporary care in the custody of the Department of Social and Health Services under a shelter order until the child is returned home or until the state seeks jurisdiction over the child by filing a dependency petition.

Although current law states that the dependency hearing must occur within 45 days of the filing of the petition, the hearings are often postponed for long periods of time. 

Because of these delays, children often remain in temporary situations to their detriment and parents are deprived of the right to prove that the child should be returned home.  In addition, children and families are deprived of services which could assist the family to heal.

The court is required to approve a disposition plan for each child found to be dependent.  Although a disposition plan must set forth steps that families and the Department must complete to improve the situation, plans are often nonspecific and monitoring is not always effective.  Children remain in temporary situations without social services for long periods of time because of these practices.

SUMMARY:

The time limit for holding a hearing on a dependency petition is expanded to 75 days.  If the hearing is not held within that time, any party or attorney may be sanctioned for contempt if undue delay has occurred.  Juvenile courts are required to schedule dependencies on an expedited basis.

Disposition plans shall be consistent with the best interests of children, and shall include a goal of achieving permanence for the child.  The service plans and parental requirements shall have time limits and court reviews of the plans shall include findings regarding completion of the requirements.

If a dependency has lasted for two years, a court is required to approve a permanent plan for the child, order that a petition for termination be filed, or dismiss the dependency.  A dependency may be continued only if the court finds, based upon a preponderance of the evidence, that it is in the best interests of the child to continue the dependency.

Appropriation:    none

Revenue:    none

Fiscal Note:      none requested

Effective Date:July 1, 1989

Senate Committee - Testified: Joyce Hobson, Department of Social and Health Services; Mauree McKaen, Washington State Code Review Panel