BILL REQ. #:  H-3842.2 

Prefiled 01/07/08. Read first time 01/14/08.   Referred to Committee on Early Learning & Children's Services.

     AN ACT Relating to creating a domestic violence pilot program to colocate a domestic violence advocate in a department of social and health services office; adding a new section to chapter 74.13 RCW; and providing an expiration date.

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

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   A new section is added to chapter 74.13 RCW to read as follows:
     (1) By January 2009, the department of social and health services shall create a pilot program to place a full-time domestic violence advocate in a minimum of one office of the division of children and family services.
     (2) The purpose of the program is to provide domestic violence safety planning, advocacy, information, and support to adult victims of domestic violence who are receiving services from the division of children and family services offices, and to increase the capacity of division of children and family services workers to identify and respond effectively to domestic violence in their caseloads.
     (3) The goals of the program are to:
     (a) Increase the safety of children and adult victims of domestic violence who are involved with the department's child protective services division;
     (b) Increase the adult domestic violence victim's understanding of available domestic violence resources and supports;
     (c) Increase the adult domestic violence victim's and the domestic violence perpetrator's understanding of the effects of domestic violence on children;
     (d) Provide consultation and training to child protective services social workers so that they may increase their knowledge of domestic violence and practice skills for addressing domestic violence in their caseloads, and provide safe, effective responses for children and their families experiencing domestic violence;
     (e) Decrease the rate at which victims of domestic violence are referred back to the division of children and family services;
     (f) Decrease the number of children of domestic violence victims that are placed in protective custody;
     (g) Improve the ability of division of children and family services social workers to accurately identify the full spectrum of abusive and coercive tactics that are utilized by domestic violence perpetrators, and their impact on children's safety and well-being, as well as the way they disrupt or undermine the parenting practices of adult victims of domestic violence;
     (h) Improve the ability of division of children and family services social workers to identify the range of strategies employed by adult domestic violence victims to support the safety and well-being of their children;
     (i) Increase the strategies available to division of children and family services social workers to hold the domestic violence perpetrator accountable for abusive and coercive behavior and its adverse impact on children;
     (j) Increase the ability of division of children and family services social workers to accurately identify the domestic violence perpetrator as the person responsible for the adverse impact of domestic violence on children;
     (k) Strengthen collaborations between department staff and community providers and resources; and
     (l) Conduct an evaluation of the program by comparing the outcomes of the program office to the outcomes of a comparison office that does not have the domestic violence advocate, and to develop a report of the findings and recommendations that may be used to replicate the program statewide.
     (4) The department shall convene an advisory group at the program site to provide advice on the implementation and progress of the pilot program. The advisory group shall include representatives from a local domestic violence agency, public health, domestic violence perpetrator's treatment program, protection order programs, law enforcement, the Washington state coalition against domestic violence, and others who are appropriate for the advisory group.
     (5) The department shall utilize a request for proposal process and shall select the pilot site by September 2008. The request for proposal shall require:
     (a) The community-based domestic violence agency to have experience providing domestic violence shelter or advocacy services under chapter 70.123 RCW, and experience working with families involved with child protective services or child welfare services.
     (b) The agency must be willing to commit to the following:
     (i) Involvement in the program for the duration of the program;
     (ii) Providing the employee who will be the domestic violence victim advocate located at the department office;
     (iii) Agree to supervise and support the advocate placed into the department office;
     (iv) Collaborate with the division of children and family services program supervisor at the program site; and
     (v) Participate in the evaluation of the pilot program.
     (c) The domestic violence advocate shall provide the following services while colocated at the department office:
     (i) Provide on-site education, consultation, and support to division of children and family services staff to meet the needs of the children and families involved in domestic violence situations on subjects including, but not limited to:
     (A) Identifying indicators of domestic violence;
     (B) Interviewing techniques that do not increase the risk of danger to the adult victim of domestic violence or the child;
     (C) Identifying protective behaviors that may reduce the risk of harm to the adult victim or the child;
     (D) Determining risks posed by an alleged domestic violence perpetrator to the adult victim or the child; and
     (E) How to refer victims to a domestic violence advocate;
     (ii) Provide advocacy services to facilitate linkage to appropriate community supports for families receiving services from division of children and family services offices;
     (iii) Participating in child protective services unit meetings, case reviews, or child protection team meetings, for families with identified domestic violence concerns; and
     (iv)(A) Provide general information to department workers regarding domestic violence issues such as battering tactics, resources, and safety planning development. It is not the role of the advocate to provide information or training to department workers on specialized areas of child welfare practice such as risk assessments.
     (B) Further, the domestic violence advocate shall not provide case consultation services to any family to whom they are providing direct advocacy. The domestic violence advocate may not provide direct advocacy services to any family on whose case they have provided consultation.
     (6)(a) The department shall select a pilot program site in which the supervisor who will work with the pilot program in the division of children and family services office has formal training and experience working with families affected by domestic violence and child maltreatment and who has participated in best practices work groups for domestic violence issues.
     (b) The supervisor's duties include the following:
     (i) Ensuring that the domestic violence advocate has the support necessary to implement advocate-specific portions of the program;
     (ii) Ensuring that children and family services social workers receive ongoing training regarding domestic violence;
     (iii) Ensuring appropriate case investigation, documentation, and planning in cases involving domestic violence that accurately hold domestic violence perpetrators responsible for the adverse impacts of their behavior on the children, increases children's and victim's safety, identifies and builds on adult domestic violence victim's strengths, and holds abusers accountable;
     (iv) Convening case staffings which include the domestic violence advocate; and
     (v) Providing consultation to the case workers regarding appropriate interventions for the adult victim, the child, and the alleged domestic violence perpetrator.
     (7) Provision of services by a domestic violence advocate under this section does not waive or diminish the confidential or privileged nature of communications between a victim of domestic violence and advocate pursuant to RCW 5.60.060, 70.123.075, or 70.123.076.
     (8) The Washington state institute for public policy shall evaluate the pilot program to determine the outcomes of the program.
     (a) Beginning in October 2008, the institute shall conduct a preprogram assessment. The preprogram assessment shall include a comparison of the program site to a division of children and family services office that does not contain a domestic violence advocate colocated at the site.
     (b) Following the preprogram assessment, the institute shall conduct an evaluation of the pilot program, which includes a comparison of the program and nonprogram sites to determine the following outcomes:
     (i) Changes to the rate of being referred back to child protective services intake for domestic violence related concerns;
     (ii) Whether there are documented safety assessments that identify domestic violence safety risk factors for the children and the adult victim of domestic violence;
     (iii) Whether there are documented service plans with strategies that address and mitigate identified domestic violence safety risks;
     (iv) Whether there is an increase in the ability of the adult victims of domestic violence to identify safety risks and adverse impacts of domestic violence on the children;
     (v) Whether there is an increase in the adult domestic violence victim's access to resources available to them within the community to increase the safety and security for themselves and the children;
     (vi) Whether there is an increase in the ability of the perpetrator of domestic violence to identify and understand the adverse impact of the abusive and coercive domestic violence behaviors on their children;
     (vii) Changes to the rate of children of adult domestic violence victims placed into protective custody in the program office compared to the comparison site at the end of the three-year pilot program period;
     (viii) Whether there is an increase in the knowledge of division of children and family services caseworkers regarding response to domestic violence in the child protective services caseload;
     (ix) Whether the capacity of the social worker to accurately identify domestic violence perpetrators as responsible for the negative consequences of domestic violence increases and is reflected through case plans, who is the target of investigations, and against whom findings are made; and
     (x) Whether the focus on the perpetrator will cause division of children and family services social workers to develop service plans and strategies for the perpetrator with the aim of reducing child neglect or abuse risks caused by the perpetrator's domestic violence behaviors.
     (c)(i) The institute shall use the results of the evaluation to identify the effectiveness of the program including effectiveness of training, consultation, and advocacy services, changes in social worker practices, improvements in services to families, barriers to implementing program services, and service gaps for families affected by domestic violence.
     (ii) The evaluation shall include recommendations to the department for improving domestic violence responses in other division of children and family services community offices of Washington state.
     (d) The institute shall report the findings of the program to the appropriate committees of the legislature by December 1, 2011.
     (9) This section expires January 1, 2012.