wa-law.org > bill > 2023-24 > SB 5230 > Substitute Bill
The legislature recognizes that the existing extended foster care program helps hundreds of young Washingtonians who were in foster care prepare for independence and it prevents them from experiencing homelessness.
A 2020 Washington state institute for public policy study showed that compared to nonparticipants, the average youth participating in extended foster care was more likely to be employed and have greater earnings. The legislature also finds that extended foster care significantly reduced homelessness, receipt of public assistance, use of medical emergency departments, diagnosis of substance abuse and treatment, criminal convictions, and involvement of offspring in the child welfare system. The legislature finds that the Washington state institute for public policy's benefit-cost analysis found that the extended foster care program produces $3.95 of lifetime benefits for each $1 invested. Furthermore, of the total benefits, 40 percent represents savings and revenue that would accrue to state, local, and federal governments.
Despite this promising data, young people in foster care still experience barriers to accessing the existing extended foster care program: 20 percent of young people leaving foster care do not participate in extended foster care. The legislature recognizes this is troubling given that 17 percent of youth who are dependent at age 18 experience homelessness within one year. The legislature further recognizes that in 2021, through proclamation 21-02, governor Jay Inslee authorized emergency housing and support services for youth who aged out of extended foster care during the COVID-19 pandemic. Former extended foster care youth continue to receive emergency housing and support services as a result of this proclamation. The legislature finds that these support services have played and continue to play a critical role in keeping young alumni of the foster care system housed.
Therefore, the legislature resolves to reduce barriers that young people currently experience when seeking to participate in extended foster care and to make the transition from foster care to extended foster care as seamless as possible, such that all dependent youth are aware of the program when they turn 18 and all youth who want to participate are able to participate. The legislature further resolves to enact support services for youth aging out of extended foster care to ensure they have the support needed to be successfully independent and productive young adults.
The definitions in this section apply throughout this chapter unless the context clearly requires otherwise.
In order to facilitate the delivery of extended foster care services, the court, upon the agreement of the youth to participate in the extended foster care program, shall maintain the dependency proceeding for any youth who is dependent at the age of 18 years until the youth turns 21 or withdraws their agreement to participate.
For the purposes of pursuing federal reimbursement only, the department may request judicial findings that a youth is:
Enrolled in a secondary education program or a secondary education equivalency program;
Enrolled and participating in a postsecondary academic or postsecondary vocational program, or has applied for and can demonstrate that he or she intends to timely enroll in a postsecondary academic or postsecondary vocational program;
Participating in a program or activity designed to promote employment or remove barriers to employment;
Engaged in employment for 80 hours or more per month; or
Not able to engage in any of the activities described in (a) through (d) of this subsection due to a documented medical condition.
When the court maintains the dependency proceeding of a youth pursuant to subsection (1) of this section, the youth is eligible to receive extended foster care services pursuant to RCW 74.13.031, subject to the youth's continuing eligibility and agreement to participate.
A dependent youth receiving extended foster care services is a party to the dependency proceeding. The youth's parent or guardian must be dismissed from the dependency proceeding when the youth reaches the age of 18.
The court shall dismiss the dependency proceeding for any youth who is a dependent and who, at the age of 18 years, does not meet any of the criteria described in subsection (2)(a) through (e) of this section or does not agree to participate in the program.
The court shall order a youth participating in extended foster care services to be under the placement and care authority of the department, subject to the youth's continuing agreement to participate in extended foster care services. The department may establish foster care rates appropriate to the needs of the youth participating in extended foster care services. The department's placement and care authority over a youth receiving extended foster care services is solely for the purpose of providing services and does not create a legal responsibility for the actions of the youth receiving extended foster care services.
[Empty]
If a youth does not already have counsel, the court shall appoint counsel to represent a youth, as defined in RCW 13.34.030(2)(b), in dependency proceedings under this section. Subject to amounts appropriated, the state shall pay the costs of legal services provided by an attorney appointed pursuant to this subsection based on the phase-in schedule outlined in RCW 13.34.212, provided that the legal services are provided in accordance with the rules of professional conduct, the standards of practice, caseload limits, and training guidelines adopted by the children's representation work group established in section 9, chapter 210, Laws of 2021.
In cases where the statewide children's legal representation program provides funding and where consistent with its administration and oversight responsibilities, the statewide children's legal representation program should prioritize continuity of counsel for children who are already represented at county expense when the statewide children's legal representation program becomes effective in a county. The statewide children's legal representation program shall coordinate with relevant county stakeholders to determine how best to prioritize continuity of counsel.
The case plan for and delivery of services to a youth receiving extended foster care services is subject to the review requirements set forth in RCW 13.34.138 and 13.34.145, and should be applied in a developmentally appropriate manner, as they relate to youth age 18 to 21 years. Additionally, the court shall consider:
Whether the youth is safe in his or her placement;
Whether the youth continues to be eligible for extended foster care services;
Whether the current placement is developmentally appropriate for the youth;
The youth's development of independent living skills; and
The youth's overall progress toward transitioning to full independence and the projected date for achieving such transition.
Prior to the review hearing, the youth's attorney shall indicate whether there are any contested issues and may provide additional information necessary for the court's review.
The definitions in this section apply throughout this chapter unless the context clearly requires otherwise.
The department shall develop, administer, supervise, and monitor a coordinated and comprehensive plan that establishes, aids, and strengthens services for the protection and care of runaway, dependent, or neglected children.
Within available resources, the department shall recruit an adequate number of prospective adoptive and foster homes, both regular and specialized, i.e. homes for children of ethnic minority, including Indian homes for Indian children, sibling groups, children with disabilities or behavioral health conditions, teens, pregnant and parenting teens, and the department shall annually report to the governor and the legislature concerning the department's success in: (a) Meeting the need for adoptive and foster home placements; (b) reducing the foster parent turnover rate; (c) completing home studies for legally free children; and (d) implementing and operating the passport program required by RCW 74.13.285. The report shall include a section entitled "Foster Home Turn-Over, Causes and Recommendations."
The department shall investigate complaints of any recent act or failure to act on the part of a parent or caretaker that results in death, serious physical or emotional harm, or sexual abuse or exploitation, or that presents an imminent risk of serious harm, and on the basis of the findings of such investigation, offer child welfare services in relation to the problem to such parents, legal custodians, or persons serving in loco parentis, and/or bring the situation to the attention of an appropriate court, or another community agency. An investigation is not required of nonaccidental injuries which are clearly not the result of a lack of care or supervision by the child's parents, legal custodians, or persons serving in loco parentis. If the investigation reveals that a crime against a child may have been committed, the department shall notify the appropriate law enforcement agency.
As provided in RCW 26.44.030, the department may respond to a report of child abuse or neglect by using the family assessment response.
The department shall offer, on a voluntary basis, family reconciliation services to families who are in conflict.
The department shall monitor placements of children in out-of-home care and in-home dependencies to assure the safety, well-being, and quality of care being provided is within the scope of the intent of the legislature as defined in RCW 74.13.010 and 74.15.010. Under this section children in out-of-home care and in-home dependencies and their caregivers shall receive a private and individual face-to-face visit each month. The department shall randomly select no less than ten percent of the caregivers currently providing care to receive one unannounced face‑to‑face visit in the caregiver's home per year. No caregiver will receive an unannounced visit through the random selection process for two consecutive years. If the caseworker makes a good faith effort to conduct the unannounced visit to a caregiver and is unable to do so, that month's visit to that caregiver need not be unannounced. The department is encouraged to group monthly visits to caregivers by geographic area so that in the event an unannounced visit cannot be completed, the caseworker may complete other required monthly visits. The department shall use a method of random selection that does not cause a fiscal impact to the department.
The department shall conduct the monthly visits with children and caregivers to whom it is providing child welfare services.
The department shall have authority to accept custody of children from parents and to accept custody of children from juvenile courts, where authorized to do so under law, to provide child welfare services including placement for adoption, to provide for the routine and necessary medical, dental, and mental health care, or necessary emergency care of the children, and to provide for the physical care of such children and make payment of maintenance costs if needed. Except where required by Public Law 95-608 (25 U.S.C. Sec. 1915), no private adoption agency which receives children for adoption from the department shall discriminate on the basis of race, creed, or color when considering applications in their placement for adoption.
The department shall have authority to provide temporary shelter to children who have run away from home and who are admitted to crisis residential centers.
The department shall have authority to purchase care for children.
The department shall establish a children's services advisory committee which shall assist the secretary in the development of a partnership plan for utilizing resources of the public and private sectors, and advise on all matters pertaining to child welfare, licensing of child care agencies, adoption, and services related thereto. At least one member shall represent the adoption community.
[Empty]
The department shall provide continued extended foster care services to nonminor dependents who request extended foster care. The department shall develop policies and procedures to ensure that dependent youth aged 15 and older are informed of the extended foster care program.
The department shall pursue federal reimbursement, where appropriate, when a youth is:
Enrolled in a secondary education program or a secondary education equivalency program;
Enrolled and participating in a postsecondary academic or postsecondary vocational education program;
Participating in a program or activity designed to promote employment or remove barriers to employment;
Engaged in employment for eighty hours or more per month; or
Not able to engage in any of the activities described in (b)(i) through (iv) of this subsection due to a documented medical condition.
To be eligible for extended foster care services, the nonminor dependent must have been dependent at the time that he or she reached age 18 years. If the dependency case of the nonminor dependent was dismissed pursuant to RCW 13.34.267, he or she may receive extended foster care services pursuant to a voluntary placement agreement under RCW 74.13.336 or pursuant to an order of dependency issued by the court under RCW 13.34.268. A nonminor dependent whose dependency case was dismissed by the court may request extended foster care services before reaching age 21 years. Eligible nonminor dependents may unenroll and reenroll in extended foster care through a voluntary placement agreement an unlimited number of times between ages 18 and 21.
The department shall not create additional eligibility requirements for extended foster care. The department shall develop and implement rules and policies designed to provide age-appropriate social work support for youth in extended foster care.
The department shall make efforts to ensure that extended foster care services maximize medicaid reimbursements. This must include the department ensuring that health and mental health extended foster care providers participate in medicaid, unless the condition of the extended foster care youth requires specialty care that is not available among participating medicaid providers or there are no participating medicaid providers in the area. The department shall coordinate other services to maximize federal resources and the most cost-efficient delivery of services to extended foster care youth.
The department shall allow a youth who has received extended foster care services, but lost his or her eligibility, to reenter the extended foster care program an unlimited number of times through a voluntary placement agreement when he or she meets the eligibility criteria again.
A youth enrolled in extended foster care may elect to receive a licensed foster care placement or may live independently. A youth who is not in a licensed foster care placement is eligible for a monthly supervised independent living subsidy effective the date the youth signs the voluntary placement agreement, agrees to dependency, or informs their social worker that they are living independently, whichever occurs first.
The department shall pursue federal reimbursement, where appropriate, when a youth is residing in an approved supervised independent living setting. If the youth is not residing in an approved supervised independent living setting the department is to work with the youth to help identify an appropriate living arrangement until the youth is living in a safe location approved by the department. During this time, the department shall continue to pay the monthly supervised independent living subsidy.
The department shall have authority to provide adoption support benefits, or relative guardianship subsidies on behalf of youth ages 18 to 21 years who achieved permanency through adoption or a relative guardianship at age 16 or older and who are:
Enrolled in a secondary education program or a secondary education equivalency program;
Enrolled and participating in a postsecondary academic or postsecondary vocational education program;
Participating in a program or activity designed to promote employment or remove barriers to employment;
Engaged in employment for 80 hours or more per month; or
Not able to engage in any of the activities described in (a) through (d) of this subsection due to a documented medical condition.
The department shall refer cases to the division of child support whenever state or federal funds are expended for the care and maintenance of a child, including a child with a developmental disability who is placed as a result of an action under chapter 13.34 RCW, unless the department finds that there is good cause not to pursue collection of child support against the parent or parents of the child. Cases involving individuals age 18 through 20 shall not be referred to the division of child support unless required by federal law.
The department shall have authority within funds appropriated for foster care services to purchase care for Indian children who are in the custody of a federally recognized Indian tribe or tribally licensed child-placing agency pursuant to parental consent, tribal court order, or state juvenile court order. The purchase of such care is exempt from the requirements of chapter 74.13B RCW and may be purchased from the federally recognized Indian tribe or tribally licensed child-placing agency, and shall be subject to the same eligibility standards and rates of support applicable to other children for whom the department purchases care.
Notwithstanding any other provision of RCW 13.32A.170 through 13.32A.200, 43.185C.295, 74.13.035, and 74.13.036, or of this section all services to be provided by the department under subsections (4), (7), and (8) of this section, subject to the limitations of these subsections, may be provided by any program offering such services funded pursuant to Titles II and III of the federal juvenile justice and delinquency prevention act of 1974.
Within amounts appropriated for this specific purpose, the department shall provide preventive services to families with children that prevent or shorten the duration of an out-of-home placement.
The department shall have authority to provide independent living services to youths, including individuals who have attained eighteen years of age, and have not attained twenty-three years of age, who are or have been in the department's care and custody, or who are or were nonminor dependents.
The department shall consult at least quarterly with foster parents, including members of the foster parent association of Washington state, for the purpose of receiving information and comment regarding how the department is performing the duties and meeting the obligations specified in this section and RCW 74.13.250 regarding the recruitment of foster homes, reducing foster parent turnover rates, providing effective training for foster parents, and administering a coordinated and comprehensive plan that strengthens services for the protection of children. Consultation shall occur at the regional and statewide levels.
[Empty]
The department shall, within current funding levels, place on its public website a document listing the duties and responsibilities the department has to a child subject to a dependency petition including, but not limited to, the following:
Reasonable efforts, including the provision of services, toward reunification of the child with his or her family;
Sibling visits subject to the restrictions in RCW 13.34.136(2)(b)(ii);
Parent-child visits;
Statutory preference for placement with a relative or other suitable person, if appropriate; and
Statutory preference for an out-of-home placement that allows the child to remain in the same school or school district, if practical and in the child's best interests.
The document must be prepared in conjunction with a community-based organization and must be updated as needed.
[Empty]
The department shall have the authority to purchase legal representation for parents or kinship caregivers, or both, of children who are at risk of being dependent, or who are dependent, to establish or modify a parenting plan under RCW 13.34.155 or chapter 26.09, 26.26A, or 26.26B RCW or secure orders establishing other relevant civil legal relationships authorized by law, when it is necessary for the child's safety, permanence, or well-being. The department's purchase of legal representation for kinship caregivers must be within the department's appropriations. This subsection does not create an entitlement to legal representation purchased by the department and does not create judicial authority to order the department to purchase legal representation for a parent or kinship caregiver. Such determinations are solely within the department's discretion. The term "kinship caregiver" as used in this section means a caregiver who meets the definition of "kin" in RCW 74.13.600(1), unless the child is an Indian child as defined in RCW 13.38.040 and 25 U.S.C. Sec. 1903. For an Indian child as defined in RCW 13.38.040 and 25 U.S.C. Sec. 1903, the term "kinship caregiver" as used in this section means a caregiver who is an "extended family member" as defined in RCW 13.38.040(8).
The department is encouraged to work with the office of public defense parent representation program and the office of civil legal aid to develop a cost-effective system for providing effective civil legal representation for parents and kinship caregivers if it exercises its authority under this subsection.
A youth who has reached age 18 years may request extended foster care services authorized under RCW 74.13.031 at any time before he or she reaches the age of 21 years if:
The dependency proceeding of the youth was dismissed pursuant to RCW 13.34.267(5) at the time that he or she reached age 18 years; or
The court, after holding the dependency case open pursuant to RCW 13.34.267(1), has dismissed the case because the youth became ineligible for extended foster care services.
[Empty]
Upon a request for extended foster care services by a youth pursuant to subsection (1) of this section, a determination that the youth is eligible for extended foster care services, and the completion of a voluntary placement agreement, the department shall provide extended foster care services to the youth.
In order to continue receiving extended foster care services after entering into a voluntary placement agreement with the department, the youth must agree to the entry of an order of dependency within 180 days of the date that the youth is placed in extended foster care pursuant to a voluntary placement agreement.
A youth may enter into a voluntary placement agreement for extended foster care services. A youth becomes eligible for extended foster care services as of the date the youth signs an extended foster care agreement or voluntary placement agreement. A youth who is not in a licensed foster care placement upon signing an extended foster care agreement or voluntary placement agreement, and who has turned 18 years old, shall receive their initial supervised independent living subsidy within one week of signing either agreement.
"Voluntary placement agreement," for the purposes of this section, means a written voluntary agreement between a nonminor dependent who agrees to submit to the care and authority of the department for the purposes of participating in the extended foster care program. A youth may sign a voluntary placement agreement to participate in extended foster care prior to the age of 18, in which case the agreement will take effect on the youth's 18th birthday. The youth may withdraw his or her consent to participate, at any time, including prior to their 18th birthday. A voluntary placement agreement may be signed by a dependent electronically.
The postextended foster care program is created within the department to support young adults ages 21 through 25 with a financial subsidy.
The dependency case must be dismissed when the young person turns 21.
The following young adults are eligible to participate in the postextended foster care program:
Young adults between ages 21 through 25 who were dependent on their 18th birthday as defined in RCW 13.34.030; or
Young adults who participated in extended foster care as provided for in RCW 13.34.267. These young adults will automatically be enrolled in postextended foster care, and their dependency would be dismissed at age 21.
Young adults may enter and exit postextended foster care as needed between the ages of 21 through 25.
By January 1, 2024, the department shall contract with one or more entities to operate the postextended foster care program. The entity or entities will be able to administer the stipends to young adults until they turn 26 or the young adults voluntarily opt out of the postextended foster care program.
In developing and contracting for the postextended foster care program, the department shall consult with a stakeholder group that must include, but is not limited to:
One current or former foster youth under age 25;
One attorney who represents dependent children;
One attorney who represents young people in extended foster care;
One representative of an organization familiar with providing direct cash assistance;
One tribal representative who works with youth in extended foster care;
One representative of the department;
One subject matter expert in child welfare; and
One subject matter expert in eliminating disparities in outcomes by income and race and ethnicity.