wa-law.org > bill > 2023-24 > HB 2185 > Substitute Bill
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The department of children, youth, and families is created as an executive branch agency. The department is vested with all powers and duties transferred to it under chapter 6, Laws of 2017 3rd sp. sess. and such other powers and duties as may be authorized by law. The vision for the department is that Washington state's children and youth grow up safe and healthythriving physically, emotionally, and academically, nurtured by family and community.
The department, in partnership with state and local agencies, tribes, and communities, shall protect children and youth from harm and promote healthy development with effective, high quality prevention, intervention, and early education services delivered in an equitable manner. An important role for the department shall be to provide preventative services to help secure and preserve families in crisis. The department shall partner with the federally recognized Indian tribes to develop effective services for youth and families while respecting the sovereignty of those tribes and the government-to-government relationship. Nothing in chapter 6, Laws of 2017 3rd sp. sess. alters the duties, requirements, and policies of the federal Indian child welfare act, 25 U.S.C. Secs. 1901 through 1963, as amended, or the Indian child welfare act, chapter 13.38 RCW.
Beginning July 1, 2018, the department must develop definitions for, work plans to address, and metrics to measure the outcomes for children, youth, and families served by the department and must work with state agencies to ensure services for children, youth, and families are science-based, outcome-driven, data-informed, and collaborative.
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Beginning July 1, 2018, the department must establish short and long-term population level outcome measure goals, including metrics regarding reducing disparities by family income, race, and ethnicity in each outcome.
In addition to transparent, frequent reporting of the outcome measures in (c)(i) through (viii) of this subsection, the department must report to the legislature an examination of engagement, resource utilization, and outcomes for clients receiving department services and youth participating in juvenile court alternative programs funded by the department, no less than annually and beginning September 1, 2020. The data in this report must be disaggregated by race, ethnicity, and geography. This report must identify areas of focus to advance equity that will inform department strategies so that all children, youth, and families are thriving. Metrics detailing progress towards eliminating disparities and disproportionality over time must also be included. The report must also include information on department outcome measures, actions taken, progress toward these goals, and plans for the future year.
The outcome measures must include, but are not limited to:
Improving child development and school readiness through voluntary, high quality early learning opportunities as measured by: (A) Increasing the number and proportion of children kindergarten-ready as measured by the Washington kindergarten inventory of developing skills (WAKids) assessment including mathematics; (B) increasing the proportion of children in early learning programs that have achieved the level 3 or higher early achievers quality standard; and (C) increasing the available supply of licensed child care in child care centers, outdoor nature-based child care, and family homes, including providers not receiving state subsidy;
Preventing child abuse and neglect;
Improving child and youth safety, permanency, and well-being as measured by: (A) Reducing the number of children entering out-of-home care; (B) reducing a child's length of stay in out-of-home care; (C) reducing maltreatment of youth while in out-of-home care; (D) licensing more foster homes than there are children in foster care; (E) reducing the number of children that reenter out-of-home care within twelve months; (F) increasing the stability of placements for children in out-of-home care; and (G) developing strategies to demonstrate to foster families that their service and involvement is highly valued by the department, as demonstrated by the development of strategies to consult with foster families regarding future placement of a foster child currently placed with a foster family;
Improving reconciliation of children and youth with their families as measured by: (A) Increasing family reunification; and (B) increasing the number of youth who are reunified with their family of origin;
In collaboration with county juvenile justice programs, improving adolescent outcomes including reducing multisystem involvement and homelessness; and increasing school graduation rates and successful transitions to adulthood for youth involved in the child welfare and juvenile justice systems;
Reducing future demand for mental health and substance use disorder treatment for youth involved in the child welfare and juvenile justice systems;
In collaboration with county juvenile justice programs, reducing criminal justice involvement and recidivism as measured by: (A) An increase in the number of youth who successfully complete the terms of diversion or alternative sentencing options; (B) a decrease in the number of youth who commit subsequent crimes; and (C) eliminating the discharge of youth from institutional settings into homelessness; and
Eliminating racial and ethnic disproportionality and disparities in system involvement and across child and youth outcomes in collaboration with other state agencies.
Beginning July 1, 2018, the department must:
Lead ongoing collaborative work to minimize or eliminate systemic barriers to effective, integrated services in collaboration with state agencies serving children, youth, and families;
Identify necessary improvements and updates to statutes relevant to their responsibilities and proposing legislative changes to the governor no less than biennially;
Help create a data-focused environment in which there are aligned outcomes and shared accountability for achieving those outcomes, with shared, real-time data that is accessible to authorized persons interacting with the family, child, or youth to identify what is needed and which services would be effective;
Lead the provision of state services to adolescents, focusing on key transition points for youth, including exiting foster care and institutions, and coordinating with the office of homeless youth prevention and protection programs to address the unique needs of homeless youth; and
Create and annually update a list of the rights and responsibilities of foster parents in partnership with foster parent representatives. The list of foster parent rights and responsibilities must be posted on the department's website, provided to individuals participating in a foster parent orientation before licensure, provided to foster parents in writing at the time of licensure, and provided to foster parents applying for license renewal.
The department is accountable to the public. To ensure transparency, beginning December 30, 2018, agency performance data for the services provided by the department, including outcome data for contracted services, must be available to the public, consistent with confidentiality laws, federal protections, and individual rights to privacy. Publicly available data must include budget and funding decisions, performance-based contracting data, including data for contracted services, and performance data on metrics identified in this section. The board must work with the secretary and director to develop the most effective and cost-efficient ways to make department data available to the public, including making this data readily available on the department's website.
The department shall ensure that all new and renewed contracts for services are performance-based.
The department must execute all new and renewed contracts for services in accordance with this section and consistent with RCW 74.13B.020. When contracted services are managed through a network administrator or other third party, the department must execute data-sharing agreements with the entities managing the contracts to track provider performance measures. Contracts with network administrators or other third parties must provide the contract administrator the ability to shift resources from one provider to another, to evaluate individual provider performance, to add or delete services in consultation with the department, and to reinvest savings from increased efficiencies into new or improved services in their catchment area. Whenever possible, contractor performance data must be made available to the public, consistent with confidentiality laws and individual rights to privacy.
8.
The definitions in this subsection apply throughout this section unless the context clearly requires otherwise.
a. "Board" means the oversight board for children, youth, and families established in section 2 of this act.
b. "Director" means the director of the office of innovation, alignment, and accountability.
c. "Performance-based contract" means results-oriented contracting that focuses on the quality or outcomes that tie at least a portion of the contractor's payment, contract extensions, or contract renewals to the achievement of specific measurable performance standards and requirements.
The oversight board for children, youth, and families is established and authorized for the purpose of monitoring and ensuring that the department achieves the stated outcomes of chapter 6, Laws of 2017 3rd sp. sess., and complies with administrative acts, relevant statutes, rules, and policies pertaining to early learning, juvenile rehabilitation, juvenile justice, and children and family services.
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The board shall consist of the following members:
Two senators and two representatives from the legislature with one member from each major caucus;
One nonvoting representative from the governor's office;
One subject matter expert in early learning;
One subject matter expert in child welfare;
One subject matter expert in juvenile rehabilitation and justice;
One subject matter expert in eliminating disparities in child outcomes by family income and race and ethnicity;
One tribal representative from west of the crest of the Cascade mountains;
One tribal representative from east of the crest of the Cascade mountains;
ix. One current or former foster parent representative;
One parent stakeholder group representative;
One law enforcement representative;
One child welfare caseworker representative;
One early childhood learning program implementation practitioner;
One current or recent foster youth;
One individual with current or recent experience in the juvenile justice system;
One pediatrician;
One judicial representative presiding over child welfare court proceedings or other children's matters; and
One subject matter expert on education for youth who are dependent under chapter 13.34 RCW or placed in an institution as defined in RCW 13.40.020.
The senate members of the board shall be appointed by the leaders of the two major caucuses of the senate. The house of representatives members of the board shall be appointed by the leaders of the two major caucuses of the house of representatives. Members shall be appointed before the close of each regular session of the legislature during an odd-numbered year.
The governor shall appoint the representative from the governor's office.
The remaining board members shall be nominated and approved by a majority of the legislative board members, and serve four-year terms. The board members must ensure that at least five of the board members reside east of the crest of the Cascade mountains.
The board has the following powers, which may be exercised by majority vote of the board:
To receive reports of the office of the family and children's ombuds;
To obtain access to all relevant records in the possession of the office of the family and children's ombuds, except as prohibited by law;
To select its officers and adoption of rules for orderly procedure;
To request investigations by the office of the family and children's ombuds of administrative acts;
To request and receive information, outcome data, documents, materials, and records from the department relating to children and family welfare, juvenile rehabilitation, juvenile justice, and early learning;
To determine whether the department is achieving the performance measures; and
To review a sample of department contracts for services from a variety of program and service areas to ensure that those contracts are performance-based and to assess the measures included in each contract.
Upon receipt of records or data from the office of the family and children's ombuds or the department, the board is subject to the same confidentiality restrictions as the office of the family and children's ombuds is under RCW 43.06A.050. The provisions of RCW 43.06A.060 also apply to the board.
The board has general oversight over the performance and policies of the department and shall provide advice and input to the department and the governor.
The board must allow feedback to the board relating to carrying out the duties of the department.
The board shall review existing surveys of providers, customers, parent groups, and external services to assess whether the department is effectively delivering services, and shall conduct additional surveys as needed to assess whether the department is effectively delivering services.
The board is subject to the open public meetings act, chapter 42.30 RCW, except to the extent disclosure of records or information is otherwise confidential under state or federal law.
Records or information received by the board is confidential to the extent permitted by state or federal law. This subsection does not create an exception for records covered by RCW 13.50.100.
The board members shall receive no compensation for their service on the board, but shall be reimbursed for travel expenses incurred while conducting business of the board when authorized by the board and within resources allocated for this purpose, except appointed legislators who shall be reimbursed for travel expenses in accordance with RCW 43.03.050 and 43.03.060.
The board shall select, by majority vote, an executive director who shall be the chief administrative officer of the board and shall be responsible for carrying out the policies adopted by the board. The executive director is exempt from the provisions of the state civil service law, chapter 41.06 RCW, and shall serve at the pleasure of the board established in this section.
The board shall maintain a staff not to exceed the executive director and one additional staff person. The board-selected executive director of the board is responsible for coordinating staff appointments.
The board shall issue an annual report to the governor and legislature by December 1st of each year with a review of the department's progress towards meeting stated performance measures and desired performance outcomes, and provide advice and input to the department and governor on the department's progress towards meeting stated performance measures and desired performance outcomes.
The definitions in this subsection apply throughout this section unless the context clearly requires otherwise.
"Board" means the oversight board for children, youth, and families established in this section.
"Department" means the department of children, youth, and families.
Authority over the oversight board for children, youth, and families is transferred from the governor's office to the legislature. The continuing existence of the oversight board for children, youth, and families is not interrupted by sections 1 and 2 of this act. All members of the board serving on the effective date of this section continue to serve as members until the expiration of their terms. All records and tangible property in the possession of the board shall remain in the possession of the board. All pending business before the board shall be continued and acted upon by the board. All existing contracts and obligations shall remain in full force.
The joint legislative audit and review committee, the joint transportation committee, the select committee on pension policy, the legislative evaluation and accountability program committee, the office of legislative support services, the joint higher education committee, and the joint legislative systems committee oversight board for children, youth, and families are subject to such operational policies, procedures, and oversight as are deemed necessary by the facilities and operations committee of the senate and the executive rules committee of the house of representatives to ensure operational adequacy of the agencies of the legislative branch. As used in this section, "operational policies, procedures, and oversight" includes the development process of biennial budgets, contracting procedures, personnel policies, and compensation plans, selection of a chief administrator, facilities, and expenditures. This section does not grant oversight authority to the facilities and operations committee of the senate over any standing committee of the house of representatives or oversight authority to the executive rules committee of the house of representatives over any standing committee of the senate.
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A superior court may establish an early childhood court program to serve the needs of infants and toddlers who are under the age of three at the time the case enters the program and dependent pursuant to chapter 13.34 RCW.
An early childhood court program is a therapeutic court as defined in this chapter that provides an intensive court process for families with a child under age three who has been found dependent pursuant to chapter 13.34 RCW. To be eligible for the early childhood court program, a parent must have a child under age three that is dependent pursuant to chapter 13.34 RCW at the time the case enters the early childhood court program. The case may remain in the early childhood court program after the child is age three or older if the child is still dependent pursuant to chapter 13.34 RCW.
If a superior court creates an early childhood court program, it shall incorporate the following core components into the program:
The court shall obtain a memorandum of understanding or other agreement with the department of children, youth, and families developed in collaboration with counsel for parents and children that outlines how the two entities will coordinate and collaborate to implement the core components overall.
A community coordinator who may be employed by the courts, the county, or a nonprofit entity and who is a person with experience and training in diversity, equity, and inclusion measures and is dedicated to:
Facilitating real-time information sharing and collaboration among cross-sector professionals participating in the early childhood court program;
Coordinating and participating in family team meetings;
Identifying community-based resources and supporting the family's connection to these resources;
Building relationships and forming new partnerships across traditional and nontraditional services and systems;
Identifying training needs of early childhood court professionals and facilitating the provision of training;
Supporting the convening of community team meetings; and
Performing the tasks outlined in this subsection describing the core components of an early childhood court program unless otherwise specified.
A community team established by the court and consisting of stakeholders to the court that serve as an advisory body to the court and who implement the early childhood court program. The community team shall include diverse membership to include, but not be limited to, former parent participants, foster parents, parent and child advocates, an attorney for parents, a department of children, youth, and families caseworker, and a judicial officer. The community team aims to:
Foster a learning environment and encourage an interdisciplinary approach to meeting the needs of young children and families;
Identify and respond to challenges to accessing resources and needed systems reforms;
Support multidisciplinary trainings; and
Recommend local court policies and procedures to improve families receipt of equitable and timely access to resources and remedial services for the parent and child.
More frequent status hearings than the review hearings required under RCW 13.34.138 established by the judicial officer, these status hearings are separate from the review hearings required under RCW 13.34.138 and are intended to provide additional support to the family.
A community coordinator that serves as a liaison between the court and community-based resources to identify community-based resources, identify barriers to engagement, and collaborate with stakeholders to connect families to assessments and referrals. The community coordinator shall facilitate connecting parents with informal and formal social supports, including but not limited to peer, community, and cultural supports.
Family team meetings neutrally facilitated by the community coordinator. The family team may include all parties to the case and other people or other service providers identified by the parent to be part of the support system for the parent involved. The family team engages the parents, and the attorney for the parent, in their case plan and expediently addresses family needs and access to services and support.
Ensuring that parents are critical participants in the early childhood court program. Having experienced and culturally informed professionals supporting and working with families involved in the dependency court system is critical to successful reunification of families. The court shall aim to foster an environment in which all professionals involved in the early childhood court program increase their awareness of different forms of bias and the trauma and adversity that often accompany poverty, mental health, and substance use by identifying or developing training that increases such awareness.
Ensuring that families receive early, consistent, and frequent visitation that is developmentally appropriate for infants and toddlers; minimizes stress and anxiety for both children and parents; and occurs in a safe, comfortable, and unintimidating setting that supports parents to nurture and care for their child.
The court should encourage a respectful, strength-based, compassionate approach to working with parents in the context of the early childhood court program.
The court shall support the development of agreements that encourage:
Stakeholders participation in any available statewide structure that supports alignment to the approach of the early childhood court program, cross-site cooperation, and consistency;
Program data is regularly and continuously reviewed to ensure equity and inform and improve practice; and
Stakeholder utilization of technical assistance, training, and evaluation to assess effectiveness and improve outcomes.
Each early childhood court program must collect and review its data, including data related to race and ethnicity of program participants, to assess its effectiveness and share this data with the oversight board for children, youth, and families established in section 2 of this act. The oversight board for children, youth, and families shall share this data and hold or offer to assist in holding statewide meetings to support alignment to the core components and statewide consistency.
The caseworker assigned to an early childhood court program must have received training and competency related to cultural antibias and antiracism.
Each early childhood court program must be responsive to community needs and adopt best practices related to family reunification and serving all families, including those who are:
Black, indigenous, and persons of color;
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer; and
Experiencing disabilities.
An attorney for the parent must be present during every meeting of the early childhood court program.
Ensuring that parents voluntarily participating in the early childhood court program receive all available and appropriate services.
The ombuds shall perform the following duties:
Provide information as appropriate on the rights and responsibilities of individuals receiving family and children's services, juvenile justice, juvenile rehabilitation, and child early learning, and on the procedures for providing these services;
Investigate, upon his or her own initiative or upon receipt of a complaint, an administrative act alleged to be contrary to law, rule, or policy, imposed without an adequate statement of reason, or based on irrelevant, immaterial, or erroneous grounds; however, the ombuds may decline to investigate any complaint as provided by rules adopted under this chapter;
Monitor the procedures as established, implemented, and practiced by the department of children, youth, and families to carry out its responsibilities in delivering family and children's services with a view toward appropriate preservation of families and ensuring children's health and safety;
Review periodically the facilities and procedures of state institutions serving children, youth, and families, and state-licensed facilities or residences;
Recommend changes in the procedures for addressing the needs of children, youth, and families;
Submit annually to the oversight board for children, youth, and families created in section 2 of this act and to the governor by November 1st a report analyzing the work of the department of children, youth, and families, including recommendations;
Grant the oversight board for children, youth, and families access to all relevant records in the possession of the ombuds unless prohibited by law; and
Adopt rules necessary to implement this chapter.
The department shall develop an internal review process to determine whether department licensors have appropriately and consistently applied agency rules in inspection reports that do not involve a violation of health and safety standards. Adverse licensing decisions including license denial, suspension, revocation, modification, or nonrenewal pursuant to RCW 43.216.325 or imposition of civil fines pursuant to RCW 43.216.335 are not subject to the internal review process in this section, but may be appealed using the administrative procedure act, chapter 34.05 RCW.
The definitions in this subsection apply throughout this section.
"Child care facility licensing compliance agreement" means an agreement issued by the department in lieu of the department taking enforcement action against a child care provider that contains: (i) A description of the violation and the rule or law that was violated; (ii) a statement from the licensee regarding the proposed plan to comply with the rule or law; (iii) the date the violation must be corrected; (iv) information regarding other licensing action that may be imposed if compliance does not occur by the required date; and (v) the signature of the licensor and licensee or the licensee's delegate.
"Health and safety standards" means rules or requirements developed by the department to protect the health and safety of children against risk of bodily, mental, or psychological injury, harm, illness, or death.
The internal review process shall be conducted by the following six individuals:
Three department employees who may include child care licensors; and
Three child care providers selected by the department from names submitted by the oversight board for children, youth, and families established in section 2 of this act.
The internal review process established in this section may overturn, change, or uphold a department licensing decision by majority vote. In the event that the six individuals conducting the internal review process are equally divided, the secretary or the secretary's designee shall make the decision of the internal review process. The internal review process must provide the parties with a written decision of the outcome after completion of the internal review process. A licensee must request a review under the internal review process within ten days of the development of an inspection report and the internal review process must be completed within sixty days after the request from the licensee to initiate the internal review process is received.
The department shall enter into performance-based contracts for the provision of family support and related services. The department may enter into performance-based contracts for additional services, other than case management.
It is the goal of the legislature to expand the coverage area of network administrators to encompass the entire state. Recognizing that phased implementation may be necessary, the department shall conduct one or more procurement processes to expand the geographic coverage of network administrators for family support and related services. Expenditures for family support and related services purchased under this section must remain within the levels appropriated in the operating budget.
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Network administrators shall, directly or through subcontracts with service providers:
Assist caseworkers in meeting their responsibility for implementation of case plans and individual service and safety plans;
Provide the family support and related services within the categories of contracted services that are included in a child or family's case plan or individual service and safety plan within funds available under contract;
Manage the entire family support and related service array within the geographic boundaries of a given network; and
Have the authority to redistribute funding within the network based on provider performance and the need to address service gaps if approval is provided by the department.
While the department caseworker retains responsibility for case management, nothing in chapter 205, Laws of 2012 limits the ability of the department to continue to contract for the provision of case management services by child-placing agencies, behavioral rehabilitation services agencies, or other entities that provided case management under contract with the department prior to July 1, 2005.
The procurement process must be developed and implemented in a manner that complies with applicable provisions of intergovernmental agreements between the state of Washington and tribal governments and must provide an opportunity for tribal governments to contract for service delivery through network administrators.
The procurement and resulting contracts must include, but are not limited to, the following standards and requirements:
The use of family engagement approaches to successfully motivate families to engage in services and training of the network's contracted providers to apply such approaches;
The use of parents and youth who are successful veterans of the child welfare system to act as mentors through activities that include, but are not limited to, helping families navigate the system, facilitating parent engagement, and minimizing distrust of the child welfare system;
The establishment of qualifications for service providers participating in provider networks, such as appropriate licensure or certification, education, and accreditation by professional accrediting entities;
Adequate provider capacity to meet the anticipated service needs in the network administrator's contracted service area. The network administrator must be able to demonstrate that its provider network is culturally competent and has adequate capacity to address disproportionality, including utilization of tribal and other ethnic providers capable of serving children and families of color or who need language-appropriate services;
Fiscal solvency of network administrators and providers participating in the network;
The use of evidence-based, research-based, and promising practices, where appropriate, including fidelity and quality assurance provisions;
Network administrator quality assurance activities, including monitoring of the performance of providers in their provider network, with respect to meeting measurable service outcomes;
Network administrator data reporting, including data on contracted provider performance and service outcomes; and
6.
Performance-based payment methodologies must be used in network administrator contracting. Performance measures should relate to successful engagement by a child or parent in services included in their case plan, and resulting improvement in identified problem behaviors and interactions. For the initial three-year period of implementation of performance-based contracting, the department may transfer financial risk for the provision of services to network administrators only to the limited extent necessary to implement a performance-based payment methodology, such as phased payment for services. However, the department may develop a shared savings methodology through which the network administrator will receive a defined share of any savings that result from improved performance. If the department receives a Title IV-E waiver, the shared savings methodology must be consistent with the terms of the waiver. If a shared savings methodology is adopted, the network administrator shall reinvest the savings in enhanced services to better meet the needs of the families and children they serve.
The department must actively monitor network administrator compliance with the terms of contracts executed under this section.
The use of performance‑based contracts under this section must be done in a manner that does not adversely affect the state's ability to continue to obtain federal funding for child welfare-related functions currently performed by the state and with consideration of options to further maximize federal funding opportunities and increase flexibility in the use of such funds, including use for preventive and in‑home child welfare services.
The department shall, consistent with state and federal confidentiality requirements:
Share all relevant data with the network administrators in order for the network administrators to track the performance and effectiveness of the services in the network; and
Make all performance data available to the public.
The department must not require existing network administrators to reapply to provide network administrator services in the coverage area of the existing network administrator on June 7, 2018.