wa-law.org > bill > 2025-26 > HB 1660 > Original Bill

HB 1660 - Child welfare/racial dispro.

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Section 1

  1. By September 1, 2026, and biennially thereafter, the department shall, in compliance with RCW 43.01.036, submit a report to the appropriate committees of the legislature that provides data regarding racial disproportionality in child welfare and recommendations to address that disproportionality and meets the requirements of this section, with a preliminary report due October 1, 2025.

  2. The report required under this section must include, but is not limited to, the following information, from at least the last five years of available information, disaggregated by race:

    1. Child abuse referrals;

    2. Child neglect referrals;

    3. Child neglect referrals that screen in for investigation;

    4. Child abuse referrals that screen in for investigation;

    5. Families receiving a family assessment response as defined in RCW 26.44.020;

    6. Families for which the department provides a referral for prevention services;

    7. Families who receive prevention services;

    8. Children who are dependent under chapter 13.34 RCW who receive a guardian appointed by the court under RCW 13.36.050, a guardianship under RCW 11.130.215, or who receive a guardian appointed by a tribal court under RCW 74.13.031(17);

      1. The length of time that children who are dependent under chapter 13.34 RCW spend as a dependent, in foster care, with relatives, in group care, with a parent or guardian while still dependent, or in other placements; and

    9. Employees of the department separated by job classification highlighting leadership and supervisory positions separately from nonleadership and nonsupervisory positions.

  3. In addition to the information required under subsection (2) of this section, the report required under this section must include:

    1. The efforts taken by the department to address racial disproportionality in child welfare;

    2. The outcome measures used by the department to gauge improvement in addressing racial disproportionality in child welfare;

    3. Recommendations regarding policy, practice, or funding changes that could reduce racial disproportionality in child welfare;

    4. Updates on implementing the child welfare redesign; and

    5. Updates from the assessment oversight group within the department regarding monitoring the use of assessments, approving the selection of new tools, and coordinating assessment tools that are related to racial disproportionality in child welfare.

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