Washington State
House of Representatives
Office of Program Research
BILL
ANALYSIS
Early Learning & Human Services Committee
HB 2253
Brief Description: Concerning updates to the licensing division of the department of children, youth, and families.
Sponsors: Representatives Bernbaum, Reed, Leavitt, Zahn and Fosse; by request of Department of Children, Youth, and Families.
Brief Summary of Bill
  • Modifies licensure requirements to receive children for supervision or care (including foster care) to remove the exemption for physicians and lawyers, allows the termination of licenses for inactivity, exempts kinship care providers from completing blood-borne pathogen training, expands child-specific licenses to relatives or close family friends for placement of a specific child in the care and custody of another state who is to be placed in Washington, and removes the specification for the sex of children that a licensed individual may care for.
  • Removes the requirement for state monitoring of the residential program at the Washington School for the Deaf and comprehensive child health and safety reviews every three years.
  • Modifies staffing requirements in regional crisis residential centers with semi-secure facilities.
Hearing Date: 1/14/26
Staff: Luke Wickham (786-7146).
Background:

Licensure by the Department of Children, Youth, and Families.
It is unlawful for any entity designated as an "agency" to receive children for supervision or care, or arrange for their placement in foster care or with adoptive families, unless licensed by the Department of Children, Youth, and Families.  Agencies include child care businesses, placing agencies, foster homes, group care facilities, resource and assessment centers, and numerous other types of entities.  Certain individuals and entities are exempted from licensure requirements, including physicians and lawyers.

 

Licensure rules designate requirements appropriate to the ages and other characteristics of persons served and services offered, as well as requirements for suitability of facilities and operations, background checks, staffing, safety and provision of necessary care, and record keeping, among other requirements.

 

A foster care license is valid for a three-year period, and may be renewed at the end of that period.

 

Child-Specific License.

A child-specific or kinship license is issued for placement of a specific child or children and is available to relatives and relatives defined by the tribe caring for children in out-of-home care.  

 

Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children.

The Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children (ICPC) is a uniform law enacted in all 50 states.  It establishes procedures for the interstate placement of children and responsibilities for those involved in placing a child.  The placements covered by the ICPC include placements with parents, relatives, foster care, group homes, and certain residential facilities.

 

Crisis Residential Centers.

Crisis Residential Centers (CRCs) are short-term, semi-secure facilities for runaway youth and adolescents in conflict with their families.  Youth can remain in a CRC for up to 15 consecutive days.  There must be four staff members, and in no event less than three staff members to every eight children, in a CRC.

 

Washington School for the Deaf.

The Washington School for the Deaf is an American Sign Language-English bilingual school located in Vancouver, Washington that serves deaf and hard of hearing students in pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade.  There are cottages located at the Washington School for the Deaf where students who live far away stay during the week.  

 

There are requirements for state monitoring of the residential program at the Washington School for the Deaf, including a requirement for comprehensive child health and safety reviews every three years.
Summary of Bill:

The Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF) may issue a child-specific license to a relative or close family friend for placement of a specific child in the care and custody of another state who is to be placed in Washington through the Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children.

 

Exempts kinship care providers from completing blood-borne pathogen training.

 

Removes the licensing exemption for physicians and lawyers receiving children for supervision or care.

 

Allows the DCYF to terminate a license to receive children for supervision or care when a license has been inactive.  The DCYF is required to develop rules in collaboration with impacted groups to define inactivity, assess for inactivity, and provide exceptions to termination for inactivity.

 

Limits what must be included on licenses to receive children for supervision or care to remove the specification for the sex of persons to be served so that licenses just specify the category of care which an agency is authorized to render and the age and number of persons to be served.

 

The staffing requirements for regional crisis residential centers with semi-secure facilities are modified to require one staff member to every four children during working hours and one staff member to every six children during sleeping hours (instead of four staff members and in no event less than three staff members to every eight children).

 

The requirement for state monitoring of the residential program at the Washington School for the Deaf and comprehensive child health and safety reviews every three years is removed.
Appropriation: None.
Fiscal Note: Available.
Effective Date: The bill takes effect 90 days after adjournment of the session in which the bill is passed.