AN ACT Relating to child abuse and neglect; adding a new chapter to Title 26 RCW; creating a new section; making appropriations; providing an effective date; and declaring an emergency.

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

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. The legislature is concerned with the increasing number of reported cases of child abuse and neglect. Recent fatalities caused directly by severe child abuse have given rise to a concern that child protective services as currently functioning may not be able to ensure the maintenance of conditions of minimal nurturance, health, and safety of the children of the state of Washington. The legislature feels that the protection and positive development of our children is paramount to the successful functioning and future of a civilized society. It is the intent of the legislature that this goal be supported by a comprehensive state-wide child protective services continuum of care and continued efforts to prevent child maltreatment.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. The department shall strive to attain children's services caseload standards of twenty-five ongoing cases and eight new cases assigned per month. In order to meet this goal, the department shall hire an adequate number of caseworker and support staff. A period of four years is allowed to implement this goal. The department may utilize clerical and electronic/computer support to the maximum extent feasible. To assist in this process, a study shall be made of child protective services procedures and required paperwork to minimize the time expended away from provision of direct services.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 3. The department shall begin pilot studies of the internally developed risk assessment tool on the effective date of this section. Training in the use of the service needs assessment/sufficiency screening model shall be developed and implemented as soon as is reasonably possible. The assessment/screening model shall be implemented on an office-by-office basis, as training is completed, but no later than one year. Implementation shall include the establishment of outcome measures and goals such that the assessment model shall be monitored, evaluated, and updated to reflect the most current research and state of the art practice. This process shall continue for a period of four years from the effective date of this section. The staff who perform the function of screening cases shall be qualified as case-carrying child protective services workers and have successfully completed all required training. In addition, these staff shall have completed successfully all required children's services training, plus training specific to the assessment model. The department shall develop minimum standards of training and report upon those standards to the appropriate committees. State-wide use of the risk assessment tool shall occur when piloting has established it as a valid and reliable instrument. Training in the use of the tool shall precede implementation in each local community services office. Use of the risk assessment tool is integrally linked to sufficient community services, including, but not limited to, early childhood education, visiting public health nurses, parenting education, prenatal care, respite day care, cooperative day care, homemaker's services, parent aid, family reconciliation services, perinatal programs, parent-infant bonding assistance, and peer support groups. The department shall assure that community resources are made available to any persons screened out by use of the risk assessment tool, through utilization of existing community resources and additional resources as necessary. The department shall engage in cooperative planning and funding with other providers for the development and expansion of community resources.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 4. Caseworkers employed in children services shall meet minimum standards. Comprehensive training for caseworkers shall be completed before such caseworkers are assigned to case-carrying responsibilities without direct supervision. Intermittent, part-time and standby workers shall be subject to the same minimum standards and training. The department shall be exempt from hiring freezes in the hiring of children's services staff. This section shall be implemented within one year of the effective date of this section.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 5. It is the desire of the legislature that the department provide materials and, if needed, instructors to the office of the administrator for the courts and the criminal justice training commission so that personnel trained by these agencies may receive instruction in recognition of child abuse and neglect if said personnel play a role in the investigation, prosecution, defense, and adjudication of juvenile delinquency and dependency cases and in the areas of child abuse and neglect. The administrator for the courts and the criminal justice training commission are requested to report to the legislature annually by the 10th of January as to the role and number of personnel receiving such training and the hours and content of this training.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 6. The department shall strive to make therapeutic day care available in all of its local office service areas. To this end, requests for proposal shall be prepared and extended, and technical assistance for development of proposals shall be made available to potential contractors. The department shall develop minimal standards for quality of care before additional contracts are let. Provisions for exceptions to the rule of twenty-four months of care maximum are to be established to allow extended care for certain children based upon recommendations of the caseworker and day care provider.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 7. The department shall provide and fund foster parent training as an ongoing part of the foster care program. The department shall contract for a variety of support services to foster parents to reduce isolation and stress, and to increase skills and confidence. This shall include, but not be limited to, respite care to enable foster parents to attend training and conferences, a twenty-four hour toll free telephone hot-line for problem solving, foster parent support groups led by paid peer trainees as a follow-up to the training, and technical assistance for the foster parent association of Washington state for such matters as grant writing, budget management, organizational efforts, bookkeeping, networking, planning, and child care.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 8. Counseling services shall be made available to children and families who have suffered from child abuse and neglect, including sexual abuse. This service shall be made available regardless of whether the child is in the home or placed in out-of-home care. The department may establish reasonable guidelines to the timeliness, frequency, and duration of such counseling.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 9. The department shall establish and maintain one or more multidisciplinary teams in each state region of the division of children and family services. The team shall consist of at least four persons, selected by the department, from professions which provide services to abused and neglected children and/or the parents of such children. The community multidisciplinary team must meet for the purpose of assisting agencies responsible for the provision of child protective services in the identification, treatment, and prevention of child abuse and neglect. The teams shall be available for consultation on all cases where a risk exists of serious harm to the child, cases where there is dispute over whether out-of-home placement is appropriate, and for any cases that the caseworker feels consultation with the team would be of assistance.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 10. Sections 1 through 9 of this act shall constitute a new chapter in Title 26 RCW.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 11. The sum of thirty-seven thousand two hundred dollars, or so much thereof as may be necessary, is appropriated for the biennium ending June 30, 1989, from the general fund to the department of social and health services for the purpose of the study in section 2 of this act.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 12. There is appropriated from the general fund to the department of social and health services for the biennium ending June 30, 1989, the sum of fifteen million twelve thousand dollars, or so much thereof as may be necessary, to carry out the purposes of implementing the staff ratio, including the necessary assistant attorneys general, specified in section 2 of this act.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 13. The sum of two million four hundred twenty-one thousand dollars, or so much thereof as may be necessary, is appropriated for the biennium ending June 30, 1989, from the general fund to the department of social and health services for the purposes of section 3 of this act.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 14. The sum of eight hundred fifty thousand dollars or so much thereof as may be necessary, is appropriated for the biennium ending June 30, 1989, from the general fund to the department of social and health services for the purposes of section 4 of this act.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 15. The sum of two million one hundred thousand dollars, or so much thereof as may be necessary, is appropriated for the biennium ending June 30, 1989, from the general fund to the department of social and health services for the purposes of section 6 of this act.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 16. The sum of one million seven hundred fifty thousand dollars, or so much thereof as may be necessary, is appropriated for the biennium ending June 30, 1989, from the general fund to the department of social and health services for the purposes of section 7 of this act. The department shall direct an amount from this appropriation, equal to the percentage of foster children served by private nonprofit child placement agencies who have primary responsibility for child welfare workers, to such agencies.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 17. The sum of two million one hundred thirty-five thousand dollars, or so much thereof as may be necessary, is appropriated for the biennium ending June 30, 1989, from the general fund to the department of social and health services for the purposes of section 8 of this act. The department shall direct an amount from this appropriation, equal to the percentage of abused and neglected children and their families provided counseling by private nonprofit child placement agencies who have primary responsibility for child welfare workers, to such agencies.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 18. If any provision of this act or its application to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the remainder of the act or the application of the provision to other persons or circumstances is not affected.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 19. If any appropriation authorized by sections 11 through 17 of this act are matched or exceeded by any appropriation provision in the 1987 operating appropriations act, then that section of this act which is matched or exceeded shall be null and void.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 20. This act is necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, and safety, the support of the state government and its existing public institutions, and shall take effect July 1, 1987.