Human Services

Ensuring that Washington’s most vulnerable residents are treated fairly and are able to lead strong and productive lives is a costly but worthwhile investment, and it’s an investment the Legislature has made for years.

Empowering and improving the lives of Washington’s children remain at the core of the legislation we introduced this session. We passed dramatic changes to the child welfare system to keep children safe and families together whenever possible.

The Children’s Administration of DSHS has seen alarming trends over the last several years in complaints and even child fatalities. After years of trying to rework the system internally, the time has come to bring much needed reform to the welfare of children and families in our state.

The Legislature passed a comprehensive reform of our state’s Child Welfare Services system – services such as foster care, adoption, family preservation, and group care living. The department will be required to convert to Performance Based Contracts with measurable outcomes, rather than just reporting contacts. In the pilot areas, the Department will be required to enter into contracts with non-state agencies to deliver child welfare services beginning in 2012, at which point the governor will decide whether or not to continue the project (HB 2106).

This year we passed legislation to keep military families together when a parent is called up for military service (HB 1170). We added provisions to have special needs children placed with guardians qualified to handle them (SB 5285). New efforts will be made to help DSHS tackle the problems facing sexually aggressive youth and their families (HB 1419). We will now provide parents with all pertinent information relating to custody procedures as well as ensuring that custody decisions for military parents are not adversely impacted because they are overseas.

New legislation will help DSHS work with children aged 18 or older in foster care who are in community college or other post-secondary education programs for up to 3 years (HB 1961). We also are requiring courts to consider the well being of siblings separated by adoption when planning for permanent placement (HB 1938).