The legislature reaffirms its declarations under RCW 13.34.020 that the family unit is the fundamental resource of American life which should be nurtured and that the family unit should remain intact in the absence of compelling evidence to the contrary. The legislature declares that the goal of serving emotionally disturbed and mentally ill children, potentially dependent children, and families-in-conflict in their own homes to avoid out-of-home placement of the child, when that form of care is premature, unnecessary, or inappropriate, is a high priority of this state.

State efforts shall address the needs of children and their families, including emotionally disturbed and mentally ill children, potentially dependent children, and families-in-conflict by:

(1) Serving children and families as a unit in the least restrictive setting available and in close proximity to the family home, consistent with the best interests and special needs of the child;

(2) Ensuring that appropriate social and health services are provided to the family unit both prior to and during the removal of a child from the home and after family reunification;

(3) Ensuring that the safety and best interests of the child are the paramount considerations when making placement and service delivery decisions;

(4) Recognizing the interdependent and changing nature of families and communities, building upon their inherent strengths, maintaining their dignity and respect, and tailoring programs to their specific circumstances;

(5) Developing and implementing comprehensive, preventive, and early intervention social and health services which have demonstrated the ability to delay or reduce the need for out-of-home placements and ameliorate problems before they become chronic or severe;

(6) Authorizing and facilitating blended funding for children who require services and residential treatment from multiple services systems; including child welfare services, mental health, alcohol and drug, and juvenile rehabilitation;

(7) Being sensitive to the family and community culture, norms, values, and expectations, ensuring that all services are provided in a culturally appropriate and relevant manner, and ensuring participation of racial and ethnic minorities at all levels of planning, delivery, and evaluation efforts;

(8)(a) Developing coordinated social and health services which:

(i) Identify problems experienced by children and their families early and provide services which are adequate in availability, appropriate to the situation, and effective;

(ii) Seek to bring about meaningful change before family situations become irreversibly destructive and before disturbed psychological behavioral patterns and health problems become severe or permanent;

(iii) Serve children and families in their own homes thus preventing unnecessary out-of-home placement or institutionalization;

(iv) Focus resources on social and health problems as they begin to manifest themselves rather than waiting for chronic and severe patterns of illness, criminality, and dependency to develop which require long-term treatment, maintenance, or custody;

(v) Reduce duplication of and gaps in service delivery;

(vi) Improve planning, budgeting, and communication among all units of the department and among all agencies that serve children and families; and

(vii) Utilize outcome standards for measuring the effectiveness of social and health services for children and families.

(b) In developing services under this subsection, local communities must be involved in planning and developing community networks that are tailored to their unique needs.

Severability—2000 c 219: "If any provision of this act or its application to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the remainder of the act or the application of the provision to other persons or circumstances is not affected." [ 2000 c 219 s 3.]

Effective date—2000 c 219: "This act takes effect July 1, 2000." [ 2000 c 219 s 4.]

Finding—Intent—Severability—1994 sp.s. c 7: See notes following RCW 43.70.540.

Effective date—1983 c 192: "Sections 2 through 4 of this act shall take effect January 1, 1984." [ 1983 c 192 s 8.]

To update, specify, and expand the policy stated in RCW 74.14A.020, the following is declared:

It is the policy of the state of Washington to promote:

(1) Family-oriented services and supports that:

(a) Respond to the changing nature of families; and

(b) Respond to what individuals and families say they need, and meet those needs in a way that maintains their dignity and respects their choices;

(2) Culturally relevant services and supports that:

(a) Explicitly recognize the culture and beliefs of each family and use these as resources on behalf of the family;

(b) Provide equal access to culturally unique communities in planning and programs, and day-to-day work, and actively address instances where clearly disproportionate needs exist; and

(c) Enhance every culture's ability to achieve self-sufficiency and contribute in a productive way to the larger community;

(3) Coordinated services that:

(a) Develop strategies and skills for collaborative planning, problem solving, and service delivery;

(b) Encourage coordination and innovation by providing both formal and informal ways for people to communicate and collaborate in planning and programs;

(c) Allow clients, vendors, community people, and other agencies to creatively provide the most effective, responsive, and flexible services; and

(d) Commit to an open exchange of skills and information; and expect people throughout the system to treat each other with respect, dignity, and understanding;

(4) Locally planned services and supports that:

(a) Operate on the belief that each community has special characteristics, needs, and strengths;

(b) Include a cross section of local community partners from the public and private sectors, in the planning and delivery of services and supports; and

(c) Support these partners in addressing the needs of their communities through both short-range and long-range planning and in establishing priorities within state and federal standards;

(5) Community-based prevention that encourages and supports state residents to create positive conditions in their communities to promote the well-being of families and reduce crises and the need for future services;

(6) Outcome-based services and supports that:

(a) Include a fair and realistic system for measuring both short-range and long-range progress and determining whether efforts make a difference;

(b) Use outcomes and indicators that reflect the goals that communities establish for themselves and their children;

(c) Work towards these goals and outcomes at all staff levels and in every agency; and

(d) Provide a mechanism for informing the development of program policies;

(7) Customer service that:

(a) Provides a climate that empowers staff to deliver quality programs and services;

(b) Is provided by courteous, sensitive, and competent professionals; and

(c) Upholds the dignity and respect of individuals and families by providing appropriate staff recognition, information, training, skills, and support;

(8) Creativity that:

(a) Increases the flexibility of funding and programs to promote innovation in planning, development, and provision of quality services; and

(b) Simplifies and reduces or eliminates rules that are barriers to coordination and quality services.

Family policy council: Chapter 70.190 RCW.

The department of children, youth, and families shall address the needs of juvenile offenders whose standard range sentences do not include commitment by developing nonresidential community-based programs designed to reduce the incidence of manifest injustice commitments when consistent with public safety.

Effective date—2017 3rd sp.s. c 6 ss 601-631, 701-728, and 804: See note following RCW 13.04.011.

Conflict with federal requirements—2017 3rd sp.s. c 6: See RCW 43.216.908.

Effective date—1983 c 192: See note following RCW 74.14A.020.

The department of children, youth, and families shall involve a juvenile offender's family as a unit in the treatment process. The department need not involve the family as a unit in cases when family ties have by necessity been irrevocably broken. When the natural parents have been or will be replaced by a foster family or guardian, the new family will be involved in the treatment process.

Effective date—2017 3rd sp.s. c 6 ss 601-631, 701-728, and 804: See note following RCW 13.04.011.

Conflict with federal requirements—2017 3rd sp.s. c 6: See RCW 43.216.908.

Effective date—1983 c 192: See note following RCW 74.14A.020.

The secretary shall:

(1)(a) Consult with relevant qualified professionals to develop a set of minimum guidelines to be used for identifying all children who are in a state-assisted support system, whether at-home or out-of-home, who are likely to need long-term care or assistance, because they face physical, emotional, medical, mental, or other long-term challenges;

(b) The guidelines must, at a minimum, consider the following criteria for identifying children in need of long-term care or assistance:

(i) Placement within the foster care system for two years or more;

(ii) Multiple foster care placements;

(iii) Repeated unsuccessful efforts to be placed with a permanent adoptive family;

(iv) Chronic behavioral or educational problems;

(v) Repetitive criminal acts or offenses;

(vi) Failure to comply with court-ordered disciplinary actions and other imposed guidelines of behavior, including drug and alcohol rehabilitation; and

(vii) Chronic physical, emotional, medical, mental, or other similar conditions necessitating long-term care or assistance;

(2) Develop programs that are necessary for the long-term care of children and youth that are identified for the purposes of this section. Programs must: (a) Effectively address the educational, physical, emotional, mental, and medical needs of children and youth; and (b) incorporate an array of family support options, to individual needs and choices of the child and family. The programs must be ready for implementation by January 1, 1995;

(3) Conduct an evaluation of all children currently within the foster care agency caseload to identify those children who meet the criteria set forth in this section. All children entering the foster care system must be evaluated for identification of long-term needs within thirty days of placement;

(4) As a result of the passage of chapter 232, Laws of 2000, the department is conducting a pilot project to do a comparative analysis of a variety of assessment instruments to determine the most effective tools and methods for evaluation of children. The pilot project may extend through August 31, 2001. The department shall report to the appropriate committees in the senate and house of representatives by September 30, 2001, on the results of the pilot project. The department shall select an assessment instrument that can be implemented within available resources. The department shall complete statewide implementation by December 31, 2001. The department shall report to the appropriate committees in the senate and house of representatives on how the use of the selected assessment instrument has affected department policies, by no later than December 31, 2002, December 31, 2004, and December 31, 2006;

(5) Use the assessment tool developed pursuant to subsection (4) of this section in making out-of-home placement decisions for children;

(6) Each region of the department shall make the appropriate number of referrals to the foster care assessment program to ensure that the services offered by the program are used to the extent funded pursuant to the department's contract with the program. The department shall report to the legislature by November 30, 2000, on the number of referrals, by region, to the foster care assessment program. If the regions are not referring an adequate number of cases to the program, the department shall include in its report an explanation of what action it is or has taken to ensure that the referrals are adequate;

(7) The department shall report to the legislature by December 15, 2000, on how it will use the foster care assessment program model to assess children as they enter out-of-home care;

(8) The department is to accomplish the tasks listed in subsections (4) through (7) of this section within existing resources;

(9) Study and develop a comprehensive plan for the evaluation and identification of all children and youth in need of long-term care or assistance, including, but not limited to, the mentally ill, developmentally disabled, medically fragile, seriously emotionally or behaviorally disabled, and physically impaired;

(10) Study and develop a plan for the children and youth in need of long-term care or assistance to ensure the coordination of services between the department's divisions and between other state agencies who are involved with the child or youth;

(11) Study and develop guidelines for transitional services, between long-term care programs, based on the person's age or mental, physical, emotional, or medical condition; and

(12) Study and develop a statutory proposal for the emancipation of minors.

Section captions—Severability—Effective date—1993 c 508: See RCW 74.39A.900 through 74.39A.903.

Emancipation of minors: Chapter 13.64 RCW.

Within available funds, the secretary of the department of children, youth, and families shall support blended funding projects for youth. To be eligible for blended funding a child must be eligible for services designed to address a behavioral, mental, emotional, or substance abuse issue from the department of social and health services or the department of children, youth, and families and require services from more than one categorical service delivery system. Before any blended funding project is established by the secretary of the department of children, youth, and families, any entity or person proposing the project shall seek input from the public health and safety network or networks established in the catchment area of the project. The network or networks shall submit recommendations on the blended funding project to the private-public initiative described in RCW 70.305.020. The private-public initiative shall advise the secretary whether to approve the proposed blended funding project. The network shall review the proposed blended funding project pursuant to its authority to examine the decategorization of program funds under *RCW 70.190.110, within the current appropriation level. The department shall document the number of children who participate in blended funding projects, the total blended funding amounts per child, the amount charged to each appropriation by program, and services provided to each child through each blended funding project.

*Reviser's note: RCW 70.190.110 was repealed by 2011 1st sp.s. c 32 s 13, effective June 30, 2012.

Effective date—2018 c 58: See note following RCW 28A.655.080.

Transition plan—Report to the legislature—2011 1st sp.s. c 32: See note following RCW 70.305.005.

Severability—Effective date—2000 c 219: See notes following RCW 74.14A.020.

This act may be known and cited as the "children and family services act."