5599-S.E AMH COUT H1924.1
ESSB 5599 - H AMD TO HSEL COMM AMD (H-1742.1/23) 660
By Representative Couture
NOT ADOPTED 04/12/2023
Beginning on page 1, line 3, strike all material through "programs." on page 9, line 32 and insert the following:
"NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1. The legislature finds that unsheltered homelessness for youth poses a serious threat to their health and safety. The Trevor project has found that one in three transgender youth report attempting suicide. Homelessness amongst transgender youth can further endanger an already at-risk population. The legislature further finds that youth accessing shelter face additional risk and dangers. Youth seeking certain medical services are especially at risk and vulnerable. Therefore, the legislature intends to create a process where these youth and their families are connected with appropriate counseling services and the payment for those services is provided either by a family's existing health insurance or by the department of children, youth, and families.
Sec. 2. RCW 13.32A.030 and 2020 c 51 s 1 are each reenacted and amended to read as follows:
As used in this chapter the following terms have the meanings indicated unless the context clearly requires otherwise:
(1) "Abuse or neglect" means the injury, sexual abuse, sexual exploitation, negligent treatment, or maltreatment of a child by any person under circumstances that indicate the child's health, welfare, and safety is harmed, excluding conduct permitted under RCW 9A.16.100. An abused child is a child who has been subjected to child abuse or neglect as defined in this section.
(2) "Administrator" means the individual who has the daily administrative responsibility of a crisis residential center, or his or her designee.
(3) "At-risk youth" means a juvenile:
(a) Who is absent from home for at least seventy-two consecutive hours without consent of his or her parent;
(b) Who is beyond the control of his or her parent such that the child's behavior endangers the health, safety, or welfare of the child or any other person; or
(c) Who has a substance abuse problem for which there are no pending criminal charges related to the substance abuse.
(4) "Child," "juvenile," "youth," and "minor" mean any unemancipated individual who is under the chronological age of eighteen years.
(5) "Child in need of services" means a juvenile:
(a) Who is beyond the control of his or her parent such that the child's behavior endangers the health, safety, or welfare of the child or any other person;
(b) Who has been reported to law enforcement as absent without consent for at least twenty-four consecutive hours on two or more separate occasions from the home of either parent, a crisis residential center, an out-of-home placement, or a court-ordered placement; and
(i) Has exhibited a serious substance abuse problem; or
(ii) Has exhibited behaviors that create a serious risk of harm to the health, safety, or welfare of the child or any other person;
(c)(i) Who is in need of: (A) Necessary services, including food, shelter, health care, clothing, or education; or (B) services designed to maintain or reunite the family;
(ii) Who lacks access to, or has declined to use, these services; and
(iii) Whose parents have evidenced continuing but unsuccessful efforts to maintain the family structure or are unable or unwilling to continue efforts to maintain the family structure; or
(d) Who is a "sexually exploited child."
(6) "Child in need of services petition" means a petition filed in juvenile court by a parent, child, or the department seeking adjudication of placement of the child.
(7) "Crisis residential center" means a secure or semi-secure facility established pursuant to chapter 74.13 RCW.
(8) "Custodian" means the person or entity that has the legal right to custody of the child.
(9) "Department" means the department of children, youth, and families.
(10) "Extended family member" means an adult who is a grandparent, brother, sister, stepbrother, stepsister, uncle, aunt, or first cousin with whom the child has a relationship and is comfortable, and who is willing and available to care for the child.
(11) "Family reconciliation services" means services provided by culturally relevant, trauma-informed community-based entities under contract with the department, or provided directly by the department, designed to assess and stabilize the family with the goal of resolving crisis and building supports, skills, and connection to community networks and resources including, but not limited to:
(a) Referrals for services for suicide prevention, psychiatric or other medical care, psychological care, behavioral health treatment, legal assistance, or educational assistance;
(b) Parent training;
(c) Assistance with conflict management or dispute resolution; or
(d) Other social services, as appropriate to meet the needs of the child and the family.
(12) "Gender-affirming treatment" means health services or products that support and affirm an individual's gender identity, including social, psychological, behavioral, and medical or surgical interventions. Gender-affirming care services include, but are not limited to, evaluation and treatments for gender dysphoria, gender-affirming hormone therapy, and gender-affirming surgical procedures.
(13) "Guardian" means the person or agency that (a) has been appointed as the guardian of a child in a legal proceeding other than a proceeding under chapter 13.34 RCW, and (b) has the legal right to custody of the child pursuant to such appointment. The term "guardian" does not include a "dependency guardian" appointed pursuant to a proceeding under chapter 13.34 RCW.
(((13)))(14) "Multidisciplinary team" means a group formed to provide assistance and support to a child who is an at-risk youth or a child in need of services and his or her parent. The team must include the parent, a department caseworker, a local government representative when authorized by the local government, and when appropriate, members from the mental health and substance abuse disciplines. The team may also include, but is not limited to, the following persons: Educators, law enforcement personnel, probation officers, employers, church persons, tribal members, therapists, medical personnel, social service providers, placement providers, and extended family members. The team members must be volunteers who do not receive compensation while acting in a capacity as a team member, unless the member's employer chooses to provide compensation or the member is a state employee.
(((14)))(15) "Out-of-home placement" means a placement in a foster family home or group care facility licensed pursuant to chapter 74.15 RCW or placement in a home, other than that of the child's parent, guardian, or legal custodian, not required to be licensed pursuant to chapter 74.15 RCW.
(((15)))(16) "Parent" means the parent or parents who have the legal right to custody of the child. "Parent" includes custodian or guardian.
(((16)))(17) "Protected health care services" means gender-affirming treatment and reproductive health care services that are lawful in the state of Washington.
(18) "Reproductive health care services" means all services, care, or products of a medical, surgical, psychiatric, therapeutic, mental health, behavioral health, diagnostic, preventative, rehabilitative, supportive, counseling, referral, prescribing, or dispensing nature relating to the human reproductive system including, but not limited to, all services, care, and products relating to pregnancy, assisted reproduction, contraception, miscarriage management, or the termination of a pregnancy, including self-managed terminations.
(19) "Secure facility" means a crisis residential center, or portion thereof, that has locking doors, locking windows, or a secured perimeter, designed and operated to prevent a child from leaving without permission of the facility staff.
(((17)))(20) "Semi-secure facility" means any facility, including but not limited to crisis residential centers or specialized foster family homes, operated in a manner to reasonably assure that youth placed there will not run away. Pursuant to rules established by the department, the facility administrator shall establish reasonable hours for residents to come and go from the facility such that no residents are free to come and go at all hours of the day and night. To prevent residents from taking unreasonable actions, the facility administrator, where appropriate, may condition a resident's leaving the facility upon the resident being accompanied by the administrator or the administrator's designee and the resident may be required to notify the administrator or the administrator's designee of any intent to leave, his or her intended destination, and the probable time of his or her return to the center.
(((18)))(21) "Sexually exploited child" means any person under the age of eighteen who is a victim of the crime of commercial sex abuse of a minor under RCW 9.68A.100, promoting commercial sexual abuse of a minor under RCW 9.68A.101, or promoting travel for commercial sexual abuse of a minor under RCW 9.68A.102.
(((19)))(22) "Staff secure facility" means a structured group care facility licensed under rules adopted by the department with a ratio of at least one adult staff member to every two children.
(((20)))(23) "Temporary out-of-home placement" means an out-of-home placement of not more than fourteen days ordered by the court at a fact-finding hearing on a child in need of services petition.
Sec. 3. RCW 13.32A.082 and 2013 c 4 s 2 are each amended to read as follows:
(1)(a) Except as provided in (b) of this subsection, any person, unlicensed youth shelter, or runaway and homeless youth program that, without legal authorization, provides shelter to a minor and that knows at the time of providing the shelter that the minor is away from a lawfully prescribed residence or home without parental permission, shall promptly report the location of the child to the parent, the law enforcement agency of the jurisdiction in which the person lives, or the department.
(b)(i) If a licensed overnight youth shelter, or another licensed organization with a stated mission to provide services to homeless or runaway youth and their families, shelters a child and knows at the time of providing the shelter that the child is away from a lawfully prescribed residence or home without parental permission, it must contact the youth's parent within seventy-two hours, but preferably within twenty-four hours, following the time that the youth is admitted to the shelter or other licensed organization's program. The notification must include the whereabouts of the youth, a description of the youth's physical and emotional condition, and the circumstances surrounding the youth's contact with the shelter or organization. If there are compelling reasons not to notify the parent, the shelter or organization must instead notify the department. If the shelter or organization shelters a youth and the shelter or organization is aware that the youth is seeking or receiving protected health care services, the shelter or organization shall notify the department so that the department can connect the youth and family with appropriate counseling services as described under section 4 of this act.
(ii) At least once every eight hours after learning that a youth receiving services or shelter under this section is away from home without permission, the shelter or organization staff must consult the information that the Washington state patrol makes publicly available under RCW 43.43.510(2). If the youth is publicly listed as missing, the shelter or organization must immediately notify the department of its contact with the youth listed as missing. The notification must include a description of the minor's physical and emotional condition and the circumstances surrounding the youth's contact with the shelter or organization.
(c) Reports required under this section may be made by telephone or any other reasonable means.
(2) Unless the context clearly requires otherwise, the definitions in this subsection apply throughout this section.
(a) "Shelter" means the person's home or any structure over which the person has any control.
(b) "Promptly report" means to report within eight hours after the person has knowledge that the minor is away from a lawfully prescribed residence or home without parental permission.
(c) "Compelling reasons" include, but are not limited to, circumstances that indicate that notifying the parent or legal guardian will subject the minor to abuse or neglect as defined in RCW 26.44.020.
(3) When the department receives a report under subsection (1) of this section, it shall make a good faith attempt to notify the parent that a report has been received and offer services designed to resolve the conflict and accomplish a reunification of the family.
(4) Nothing in this section prohibits any person, unlicensed youth shelter, or runaway and homeless youth program from immediately reporting the identity and location of any minor who is away from a lawfully prescribed residence or home without parental permission more promptly than required under this section.
NEW SECTION.  Sec. 4. A new section is added to chapter 13.32A RCW to read as follows:
(1) The department, in coordination with the health care authority and managed care organizations, shall:
(a) Identify appropriate counseling services for youth seeking or receiving protected health care services and their family members;
(b) Develop and implement a referral system to connect youth and families with a child seeking or receiving protected health care services who are referred to the department under RCW 13.32A.082 with appropriate counseling services; and
(c) Provide payment for appropriate counseling services for youth seeking or receiving protected health care services and their family members if those counseling services are not covered by the youth or family member's medical assistance program under chapter 74.09 RCW or a private health plan according to rules established under subsection (2) of this section.
(2) The department has the authority to develop rules to implement this section, including rules to determine:
(a) Whether the department should provide payment for counseling services for a youth or family member because they are not enrolled in a medical assistance program under chapter 74.09 RCW or do not have health insurance coverage that will cover the counseling services; and
(b) The appropriate frequency and length of counseling services for which the department will provide payment."
EFFECT: Replaces the contents of the bill with the following:
A requirement that a licensed shelter or organization notify the department of children, youth, and families (DCYF) when the shelter or organization is aware that the youth receiving shelter is seeking or receiving protected health care services so that the DCYF can connect the youth and family with appropriate counseling services; and
A requirement that DCYF: (1) Identify appropriate counseling services for youth seeking or receiving protected health care services and their family members; (2) develop and implement a referral system to connect youth and families with a child seeking or receiving protected health care services who are referred to the DCYF by a youth homeless shelter or similar organization; and (3) provide payment for appropriate counseling services for youth seeking or receiving protected health care services and their family members if those counseling services are not covered by the youth or family member's health insurance.
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