1898 AMS HSC S2529

1898 AMS HSC S2529.1

By Senator Hargrove

HB 1898 - S COMM AMD

By Committee on Human Services & Corrections

Strike everything after the enacting clause and insert the following:

"Sec. 1. RCW 74.15.020 and 1999 c 267 s 11 are each amended to read as follows:

For the purpose of chapter 74.15 RCW and RCW 74.13.031, and unless otherwise clearly indicated by the context thereof, the following terms shall mean:

(1) "Agency" means any person, firm, partnership, association, corporation, or facility which receives children, expectant mothers, or persons with developmental disabilities for control, care, or maintenance outside their own homes, or which places, arranges the placement of, or assists in the placement of children, expectant mothers, or persons with developmental disabilities for foster care or placement of children for adoption, and shall include the following irrespective of whether there is compensation to the agency or to the children, expectant mothers or persons with developmental disabilities for services rendered:

(a) "Child day-care center" means an agency which regularly provides care for a group of children for periods of less than twenty-four hours;

(b) "Child-placing agency" means an agency which places a child or children for temporary care, continued care, or for adoption;

(c) "Community facility" means a group care facility operated for the care of juveniles committed to the department under RCW 13.40.185. A county detention facility that houses juveniles committed to the department under RCW 13.40.185 pursuant to a contract with the department is not a community facility;

(d) "Crisis residential center" means an agency which is a temporary protective residential facility operated to perform the duties specified in chapter 13.32A RCW, in the manner provided in RCW 74.13.032 through 74.13.036;

(e) "Emergency respite center" is an agency that may be commonly known as a crisis nursery, that provides emergency and crisis care for up to seventy-two hours to children who have been admitted by their parents or guardians to prevent abuse or neglect. Emergency respite centers may operate for up to twenty-four hours a day, and for up to seven days a week. Emergency respite centers may provide care for children ages birth through seventeen, and for persons eighteen through twenty with developmental disabilities who are admitted with a sibling or siblings through age seventeen. Emergency respite centers may not substitute for crisis residential centers or HOPE centers, or any other services defined under this section, and may not substitute for services which are required under chapter 13.32A or 13.34 RCW;

(f) "Family day-care provider" means a child day-care provider who regularly provides child day care for not more than twelve children in the provider's home in the family living quarters;

((~~(f)~~)) (g) "Foster-family home" means an agency which regularly provides care on a twenty-four hour basis to one or more children, expectant mothers, or persons with developmental disabilities in the family abode of the person or persons under whose direct care and supervision the child, expectant mother, or person with a developmental disability is placed;

((~~(g)~~)) (h) "Group-care facility" means an agency, other than a foster-family home, which is maintained and operated for the care of a group of children on a twenty-four hour basis;

((~~(h)~~)) (i) "HOPE center" means an agency licensed by the secretary to provide temporary residential placement and other services to street youth. A street youth may remain in a HOPE center for thirty days while services are arranged and permanent placement is coordinated. No street youth may stay longer than thirty days unless approved by the department and any additional days approved by the department must be based on the unavailability of a long-term placement option. A street youth whose parent wants him or her returned to home may remain in a HOPE center until his or her parent arranges return of the youth, not longer. All other street youth must have court approval under chapter 13.34 or 13.32A RCW to remain in a HOPE center up to thirty days;

((~~(i)~~)) (j) "Maternity service" means an agency which provides or arranges for care or services to expectant mothers, before or during confinement, or which provides care as needed to mothers and their infants after confinement;

((~~(j)~~)) (k) "Responsible living skills program" means an agency licensed by the secretary that provides residential and transitional living services to persons ages sixteen to eighteen who are dependent under chapter 13.34 RCW and who have been unable to live in his or her legally authorized residence and, as a result, the minor lived outdoors or in another unsafe location not intended for occupancy by the minor. Dependent minors ages fourteen and fifteen may be eligible if no other placement alternative is available and the department approves the placement;

((~~(k)~~)) (l) "Service provider" means the entity that operates a community facility.

(2) "Agency" shall not include the following:

(a) Persons related to the child, expectant mother, or person with developmental disability in the following ways:

(i) Any blood relative, including those of half-blood, and including first cousins, nephews or nieces, and persons of preceding generations as denoted by prefixes of grand, great, or great-great;

(ii) Stepfather, stepmother, stepbrother, and stepsister;

(iii) A person who legally adopts a child or the child's parent as well as the natural and other legally adopted children of such persons, and other relatives of the adoptive parents in accordance with state law;

(iv) Spouses of any persons named in (i), (ii), or (iii) of this subsection (2)(a), even after the marriage is terminated; or

(v) Extended family members, as defined by the law or custom of the Indian child's tribe or, in the absence of such law or custom, a person who has reached the age of eighteen and who is the Indian child's grandparent, aunt or uncle, brother or sister, brother-in-law or sister-in-law, niece or nephew, first or second cousin, or stepparent who provides care in the family abode on a twenty-four-hour basis to an Indian child as defined in 25 U.S.C. Sec. 1903(4);

(b) Persons who are legal guardians of the child, expectant mother, or persons with developmental disabilities;

(c) Persons who care for a neighbor's or friend's child or children, with or without compensation, where: (i) The person providing care for periods of less than twenty-four hours does not conduct such activity on an ongoing, regularly scheduled basis for the purpose of engaging in business, which includes, but is not limited to, advertising such care; or (ii) the parent and person providing care on a twenty-four-hour basis have agreed to the placement in writing and the state is not providing any payment for the care;

(d) Parents on a mutually cooperative basis exchange care of one another's children;

(e) A person, partnership, corporation, or other entity that provides placement or similar services to exchange students or international student exchange visitors or persons who have the care of an exchange student in their home;

(f) Nursery schools or kindergartens which are engaged primarily in educational work with preschool children and in which no child is enrolled on a regular basis for more than four hours per day;

(g) Schools, including boarding schools, which are engaged primarily in education, operate on a definite school year schedule, follow a stated academic curriculum, accept only school-age children and do not accept custody of children;

(h) Seasonal camps of three months' or less duration engaged primarily in recreational or educational activities;

(i) Hospitals licensed pursuant to chapter 70.41 RCW when performing functions defined in chapter 70.41 RCW, nursing homes licensed under chapter 18.51 RCW and boarding homes licensed under chapter 18.20 RCW;

(j) Licensed physicians or lawyers;

(k) Facilities providing care to children for periods of less than twenty-four hours whose parents remain on the premises to participate in activities other than employment;

(l) Facilities approved and certified under chapter 71A.22 RCW;

(m) Any agency having been in operation in this state ten years prior to June 8, 1967, and not seeking or accepting moneys or assistance from any state or federal agency, and is supported in part by an endowment or trust fund;

(n) Persons who have a child in their home for purposes of adoption, if the child was placed in such home by a licensed child-placing agency, an authorized public or tribal agency or court or if a replacement report has been filed under chapter 26.33 RCW and the placement has been approved by the court;

(o) An agency operated by any unit of local, state, or federal government or an agency, located within the boundaries of a federally recognized Indian reservation, licensed by the Indian tribe;

(p) An agency located on a federal military reservation, except where the military authorities request that such agency be subject to the licensing requirements of this chapter.

(3) "Department" means the state department of social and health services.

(4) "Juvenile" means a person under the age of twenty-one who has been sentenced to a term of confinement under the supervision of the department under RCW 13.40.185.

(5) "Probationary license" means a license issued as a disciplinary measure to an agency that has previously been issued a full license but is out of compliance with licensing standards.

(6) "Requirement" means any rule, regulation, or standard of care to be maintained by an agency.

(7) "Secretary" means the secretary of social and health services.

(8) "Street youth" means a person under the age of eighteen who lives outdoors or in another unsafe location not intended for occupancy by the minor and who is not residing with his or her parent or at his or her legally authorized residence.

(9) "Transitional living services" means at a minimum, to the extent funds are available, the following:

(a) Educational services, including basic literacy and computational skills training, either in local alternative or public high schools or in a high school equivalency program that leads to obtaining a high school equivalency degree;

(b) Assistance and counseling related to obtaining vocational training or higher education, job readiness, job search assistance, and placement programs;

(c) Counseling and instruction in life skills such as money management, home management, consumer skills, parenting, health care, access to community resources, and transportation and housing options;

(d) Individual and group counseling; and

(e) Establishing networks with federal agencies and state and local organizations such as the United States department of labor, employment and training administration programs including the job training partnership act which administers private industry councils and the job corps; vocational rehabilitation; and volunteer programs.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. A new section is added to chapter 74.15 RCW to read as follows:

The secretary is authorized to license emergency respite centers. The department may adopt rules to specify licensing requirements for emergency respite centers.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 3. The legislature intends to increase the likelihood that pregnant women will obtain adequate prenatal care and will provide their newborns with adequate health care during the first few days of their lives. The legislature recognizes that prenatal and postdelivery health care for newborns and their mothers is especially critical to their survival and well-being. The legislature intends that reasonable steps should be taken to remove any barriers to such care, particularly for those parents who may otherwise encounter emotional and/or psychological barriers to obtaining such care by reducing impediments to obtaining prenatal and postdelivery care to newborns while encouraging pregnant women to act responsibly regarding the health of their newborns. The legislature does not intend to encourage the abandonment of newborn children nor to change existing law relating to notification to parents under chapter 13.34 RCW, but rather to assure that abandonment does not occur and that all newborns have an opportunity for adequate health care and a stable home life.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 4. A new section is added to chapter 13.34 RCW to read as follows:

(1) For purposes of this section:

(a) "Appropriate location" means the emergency department of a hospital licensed under chapter 70.41 RCW during the hours the hospital is in operation.

(b) "Newborn" means a live human being who is less than seventy-two hours old.

(c) "Qualified person" means any person that the parent transferring the newborn reasonably believes is a bona fide employee, volunteer, or medical staff member of the hospital and who represents to the parent transferring the newborn that he or she can and will summon appropriate resources to meet the newborn's immediate needs.

(2) A parent of a newborn who transfers the newborn to a qualified person at an appropriate location is not subject to criminal liability under RCW 9A.42.060, 9A.42.070, 9A.42.080, 26.20.030, or 26.20.035.

(3)(a) The qualified person and the hospital shall not require the parent transferring the newborn to provide any identifying information in order to transfer the newborn.

(b) The qualified person and the hospital shall attempt to protect the anonymity of the parent who transfers the newborn, while providing an opportunity for the parent to anonymously give the hospital such information as the parent knows about the family medical history of the parents and the newborn. The qualified person and the hospital shall provide referral information about adoption options, counseling, appropriate medical and emotional aftercare services, domestic violence, and legal rights to the parent seeking to transfer the newborn.

(c) If a parent of a newborn transfers the newborn to a qualified person at an appropriate location pursuant to this section, the hospital shall cause child protective services to be notified within twenty-four hours after receipt of such a newborn. Child protective services shall assume custody of the newborn within twenty-four hours after receipt of notification and shall arrange for discharge of the newborn from the hospital.

(d) A hospital, its employees, volunteers, and medical staff are immune from any criminal or civil liability for accepting or receiving a newborn under this section.

Sec. 5. RCW 9A.42.060 and 1996 c 302 s 2 are each amended to read as follows:

(1) Except as provided in subsection (2) of this section, a person is guilty of the crime of abandonment of a dependent person in the first degree if:

(a) The person is the parent of a child, a person entrusted with the physical custody of a child or other dependent person, or a person employed to provide to the child or other dependent person any of the basic necessities of life;

(b) The person recklessly abandons the child or other dependent person; and

(2) A parent of a newborn who transfers the newborn to a qualified person at an appropriate location pursuant to section 4 of this act is not subject to criminal liability under this section.

(3) Abandonment of a dependent person in the first degree is a class B felony.

Sec. 6. RCW 9A.42.070 and 1996 c 302 s 3 are each amended to read as follows:

(1) Except as provided in subsection (2) of this section, a person is guilty of the crime of abandonment of a dependent person in the second degree if:

(b) The person recklessly abandons the child or other dependent person; and:

(i) As a result of being abandoned, the child or other dependent person suffers substantial bodily harm; or

(ii) Abandoning the child or other dependent person creates an imminent and substantial risk that the child or other dependent person will die or suffer great bodily harm.

(2) A parent of a newborn who transfers the newborn to a qualified person at an appropriate location pursuant to section 4 of this act is not subject to criminal liability under this section.

(3) Abandonment of a dependent person in the second degree is a class C felony.

Sec. 7. RCW 9A.42.080 and 1996 c 302 s 4 are each amended to read as follows:

(1) Except as provided in subsection (2) of this section, a person is guilty of the crime of abandonment of a dependent person in the third degree if:

(a) The person is the parent of a child, a person entrusted with the physical custody of a child or other dependent person, or a person employed to provide to the child or dependent person any of the basic necessities of life; and

(b) The person recklessly abandons the child or other dependent person; and:

(i) As a result of being abandoned, the child or other dependent person suffers bodily harm; or

(ii) Abandoning the child or other dependent person creates an imminent and substantial risk that the child or other person will suffer substantial bodily harm.

(2) A parent of a newborn who transfers the newborn to a qualified person at an appropriate location pursuant to section 4 of this act is not subject to criminal liability under this section.

(3) Abandonment of a dependent person in the third degree is a gross misdemeanor.

Sec. 8. RCW 26.20.030 and 1984 c 260 s 26 are each amended to read as follows:

(1) Except as provided in subsection (2) of this section, any person who has a child dependent upon him or her for care, education or support and deserts such child in any manner whatever with intent to abandon it is guilty of the crime of family abandonment.

(2) A parent of a newborn who transfers the newborn to a qualified person at an appropriate location pursuant to section 4 of this act is not subject to criminal liability under this section.

(3) The crime of family abandonment is a class C felony under chapter 9A.20 RCW.

Sec. 9. RCW 26.20.035 and 1984 c 260 s 27 are each amended to read as follows:

(1) Except as provided in subsection (2) of this section, any person who is able to provide support, or has the ability to earn the means to provide support, and who:

(a) Willfully omits to provide necessary food, clothing, shelter, or medical attendance to a child dependent upon him or her; or

(b) Willfully omits to provide necessary food, clothing, shelter, or medical attendance to his or her spouse,

is guilty of the crime of family nonsupport.

(2) A parent of a newborn who transfers the newborn to a qualified person at an appropriate location pursuant to section 4 of this act is not subject to criminal liability under this section.

(3) The crime of family nonsupport is a gross misdemeanor under chapter 9A.20 RCW.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 10. (1) The secretary of the department of social and health services shall convene a task force to recommend methods of implementing sections 3 through 9 of this act, including how private or public funding may be obtained to support a program of public education regarding the provisions of sections 3 through 9 of this act. The task force shall consider all reasonable methods of educating Washington residents about the need for prenatal and postdelivery health care for a newborn whose parents may otherwise not seek such care and place their newborn at risk as a result. The task force shall also consider, and make recommendations regarding: (a) Ways to meet the medical and emotional needs of the mother and to improve the promotion of adoption as an alternative to placing a newborn in situations that create a serious risk to his or her health; and (b) methods of providing access to (i) the medical history of the parents of a newborn who is transferred to a hospital pursuant to section 4 of this act; and (ii) the medical history of the newborn, consistent with the protection of the anonymity of the parents of the newborn. The task force shall develop model forms of policies and procedures for hospitals to use in receiving newborns under section 4 of this act.

(2) In addition to the secretary, or the secretary's designee, the task force shall include but not be limited to representation from the following: (a) Licensed physicians; (b) public and private agencies which provide adoption services; (c) private attorneys handling adoptions; (d) the licensed nursing community; (e) hospitals; (f) prosecuting attorneys; (g) foster parents; (h) the department of health; (i) the attorney general; (j) advocacy groups concerned with the availability of adoption records; (k) risk managers; and (l) the public. At least three members of the task force shall be public members. The task force may seek input from other experts as needed.

(3) Members of the task force shall serve without compensation.

(4) The task force shall submit its report and recommendations to the governor and legislature not later than December 1, 2001.

(5) This section expires January 1, 2003.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 11. Sections 3 through 9 of this act are necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety, or support of the state government and its existing public institutions, and take effect immediately."

HB 1898 - S COMM AMD

By Committee on Human Services & Corrections

On page 1, line 1 of the title, after "nurseries;" strike the remainder of the title and insert "amending RCW 74.15.020, 9A.42.060, 9A.42.070, 9A.42.080, 26.20.030, and 26.20.035; adding a new section to chapter 74.15 RCW; adding a new section to chapter 13.34 RCW; creating new sections; prescribing penalties; providing an expiration date; and declaring an emergency."