READ FIRST TIME 02/14/08.   

     AN ACT Relating to implementing a program of tiered classification for foster parent licensing; adding new sections to chapter 74.13 RCW; and creating new sections.

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:
     The legislature finds that out-of-home care providers are an essential partner in the child welfare system, with responsibility for the care of vulnerable children whose families are unable to meet their needs. Because children who enter the out-of-home care system have experienced varying degrees of stress and trauma before placement, providers sometimes are called upon to provide care for children with significant behavioral challenges and intensive developmental needs. Other children who enter out-of-home care may require extraordinary care due to health care needs or medical fragility. The legislature also finds that providers with specialized skills and experience, or professional training and expertise, can contribute significantly to a child's well-being by promoting placement stability and supporting the child's developmental growth while in out-of-home care. The legislature intends to implement an intensive resource home pilot to enhance the continuum of care options and to promote permanency and positive outcomes for children served in the child welfare system by authorizing the department to contract for intensive resource home services on a pilot basis.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 2   A new section is added to chapter 74.13 RCW to read as follows:
     (1) The department shall select two geographic areas with high concentrations of children with significant needs in out-of-home care for implementing an intensive resource home pilot. In choosing the pilot sites, the department shall: (a) Examine areas where there are concentrations of children with significant behavioral challenges and intensive developmental or medical needs who are being served in family foster homes; (b) consider sites of appropriate size that will allow for careful analysis of the impact of the intensive resource home pilot on the array of out-of-home care providers, including providers of behavioral rehabilitation services; and (c) determine the number of children to be served in these selected sites. Implementation of the program at the pilot sites also shall be structured to support the long-term goal of eventual expansion of the pilot statewide.
     (2) Based on the information gathered by the work group convened under chapter 413, Laws of 2007, and the additional information gathered pursuant to this section, the department shall work collaboratively in:
     (a) Seeking recommendations from foster parents and other out-of-home service providers, including child placing agencies, regarding the qualifications and requirements of intensive resource home providers, the needs of the children to be served, and the desired outcomes to be measured or monitored at the respective pilot sites; and
     (b) Consulting with experts in child welfare, children's mental health, and children's health care to identify the evidence-based or promising practice models to be employed in the pilot and the appropriate supports to ensure program fidelity, including, but not limited to, the necessary training and clinical consultation and oversight to be provided to intensive resource homes.
     (3) Using the recommendations from foster parents, the consultations with professionals as required in subsection (2)(a) and (b) of this section, and the information provided in the report to the legislature under chapter 413, Laws of 2007, including the information presented to the work group convened to prepare and present the report, the department shall implement the pilot by entering into contracts with no more than seventy-five providers who are determined by the department to meet the eligibility criteria for the intensive resource home pilot. The department shall:
     (a) Define the criteria for intensive resource home providers, which shall include a requirement that the provider be licensed by the department as a foster parent, as well as meet additional requirements relating to relevant experience, education, training, and professional expertise necessary to meet the high needs of children identified as eligible for this pilot;
     (b) Define criteria for identifying children with high needs who may be eligible for placement with an intensive resource home provider. Such criteria shall be based on the best interests of the child and include an assessment of the child's past and current level of functioning as well as a determination that the child's treatment plan and developmental needs are consistent with the placement plan;
     (c) Establish a policy for placement of children with high needs in intensive resource homes, including a process for matching the child's needs with the provider's skills and expertise;
     (d) Establish a limit on the number and ages of children with high needs that may be placed in an intensive resource home pursuant to the pilot contract. Such limitation shall recognize that children with externalizing behaviors are most likely to experience long-term improvements in their behavior when care is provided in settings that minimize exposure to peers with challenging behaviors;
     (e) Identify one or more approved models of skill building for use by intensive resource home providers, with the assistance of other child welfare experts;
     (f) Specify the training and consultation requirements that support the models of service;
     (g) Establish a system of supports, including clinical consultation and oversight for intensive resource homes;
     (h) Develop a tiered payment system, by September 30, 2008, which may include a stipend to the provider, which takes into account the additional responsibilities intensive resource home providers have with regard to the children placed in their care. Until such time as the department has developed the tiered payment system, money for exceptional cost plans shall be used only for special services or supplies provided to the child and shall not be used to reimburse the provider for services he or she provides to the child. A stipend of not more than five hundred dollars per month may be used to reimburse the provider for services he or she provides directly to the child;
     (i) Establish clearly defined responsibilities of intensive resource home providers, who have an intensive resource home contract including responsibilities to promote permanency and connections with birth parents; and
     (j) Develop a process for annual performance reviews of intensive resource home providers.
     (4) Contracts between the department and an intensive resource home provider shall include a statement of work focusing on achieving stability in placement and measuring improved permanency outcomes and shall specify at least the following elements:
     (a) The model of treatment and care to be provided;
     (b) The training and ongoing professional consultation to be provided;
     (c) The method for determining any additional supports to be provided to an eligible child or the intensive resource home provider;
     (d) The desired outcomes to be measured;
     (e) A reasonable and efficient process for seeking a modification of the contract;
     (f) The rate and terms of payment under the contract; and
     (g) The term of the contract and the processes for an annual performance review of the intensive resource home provider and an annual assessment of the child.
     (5) Beginning on or before October 1, 2008, the department shall begin the selection of, and negotiation of contracts with, intensive resource home providers in the selected pilot sites.
     (6) Nothing in this act gives a provider eligible under this section the right to a contract under the intensive resource home pilot, and nothing in this act gives a provider that has a contract under the pilot a right to have a child or children placed in the home pursuant to the contract.
     (7) "Intensive resource home provider" means a provider who meets the eligibility criteria developed by the department under this section and who has an intensive resource home pilot contract with the department.
     (8) The department shall report to the governor and the legislature by January 30, 2009, on the implementation of the pilot, including how the pilot fits within the continuum of out-of-home care options. Based on the experiences and lessons learned from implementation of the pilot, the department shall recommend a process and timeline for expanding the pilot and implementing it statewide. The department shall report to the governor and the appropriate members of the legislature by September 1, 2009, on the expansion, and shall identify the essential elements of the intensive resource home pilot that should be addressed or replicated if the pilot is expanded.
     (9) The department shall operate this pilot using only funds appropriated specifically for the operation of this pilot. The term "specifically for the operation of this pilot" includes only those costs associated with the following: The administration of the pilot, the stipend to eligible intensive resource home providers, training for the providers, consultation for the providers, and program review consultation.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 3   If any part of this act is found to be in conflict with federal requirements that are a prescribed condition of federal funds which support the operations and services provided by the department of social and health services, the conflicting part of this act is inoperative solely to the extent of the conflict and with respect to the agencies directly affected, and this finding does not affect the operation of the remainder of this act in its application to the agencies concerned. Rules adopted under this act must meet federal requirements that are a necessary condition to the receipt of federal funds by the state.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 4   Of the amounts appropriated in the omnibus appropriations act of 2008 for implementation of this act, referencing this act by bill or chapter number, the department shall allocate two hundred thousand dollars to contract with an agency which is working in partnership with, and has been evaluated by, the University of Washington school of social work to implement promising practice constellation hub models of foster care support in areas of the state not currently served by this model, unless otherwise specified in the omnibus appropriations act of 2008.