(1) The department shall establish HOPE centers across the state and may establish HOPE centers by contract, within funds appropriated by the legislature specifically for this purpose. HOPE centers shall be operated in a manner to reasonably assure that street youth placed there will not run away. Pursuant to rules established by the facility administrator, residents may come and go from the facility at reasonable hours such that no residents are free to come and go at all hours of the day and night. The facility administrator, where appropriate, may condition a resident's leaving the facility upon the resident being accompanied by the administrator or the administrator's designee and the resident may be required to notify the administrator or the administrator's designee of any intent to leave, his or her intended destination, and the probable time of his or her return to the HOPE center. Any street youth who runs away from a HOPE center shall not be readmitted unless specifically authorized by the street youth's placement and liaison specialist, and the placement and liaison specialist shall document with specific factual findings an appropriate basis for readmitting any street youth to a HOPE center. HOPE centers are required to have the following:
(a) A license issued by the department of children, youth, and families, including staff who meet licensing qualifications;
(b) A case manager who may be a contractual or a part-time employee, but must be available to work with street youth in a HOPE center at a ratio of one to every fifteen youth staying in a HOPE center. This case manager shall be known as a placement and liaison specialist. Preference shall be given to those case managers who have experience working with adolescents and are cross-credentialed in mental health and chemical dependency. The placement and liaison specialist shall:
(i) Conduct an assessment of the street youth that includes a determination of the street youth's legal status regarding residential placement;
(ii) Facilitate the street youth's return to his or her legally authorized residence at the earliest possible date or initiate processes to arrange legally authorized appropriate placement. Any street youth who may meet the definition of dependent child under RCW
13.34.030 must be referred to the department of children, youth, and families. The department of children, youth, and families shall determine whether a dependency petition should be filed under chapter
13.34 RCW. A shelter care hearing must be held within seventy-two hours to authorize out-of-home placement for any youth the department of children, youth, and families determines is appropriate for out-of-home placement under chapter
13.34 RCW. All of the provisions of chapter
13.32A RCW must be followed for children in need of services or at-risk youth;
(iii) Interface with other relevant resources and system representatives to secure long-term residential placement and other needed services for the street youth;
(iv) Be assigned immediately to each youth and meet with the youth within eight hours of the youth receiving HOPE center services;
(v) Facilitate a physical examination of any street youth who has not seen a physician within one year prior to residence at a HOPE center and facilitate evaluation by a county-designated mental health professional, a chemical dependency specialist, or both if appropriate; and
(vi) Arrange an educational assessment to measure the street youth's competency level in reading, writing, and basic mathematics, and that will measure learning disabilities or special needs;
(c) Staff trained in development needs of street youth as determined by the department, including but not limited to an on-site program manager who must work with the placement and liaison specialist to provide appropriate services on-site;
(d) A data collection system that measures outcomes for the population served, and enables research and evaluation that can be used for future program development and service delivery. Data collection systems must have confidentiality rules and protocols developed by the department;
(e) Notification requirements that meet the notification requirements of chapter
13.32A RCW. The youth's arrival date and time must be logged at intake by HOPE center staff. The staff must immediately notify law enforcement and dependency caseworkers if a street youth runs away from a HOPE center. A child may be transferred to a secure facility as defined in RCW
13.32A.030 whenever the staff reasonably believes that a street youth is likely to leave the HOPE center and not return after full consideration of the factors set forth in RCW
43.185C.290(2)(a) (i) and (ii). The street youth's temporary placement in the HOPE center must be authorized by the court or the secretary of the department of children, youth, and families if the youth is a dependent of the state under chapter
13.34 RCW or the department of children, youth, and families is responsible for the youth under chapter
13.32A RCW, or by the youth's parent or legal custodian, until such time as the parent can retrieve the youth who is returning to home;
(f) HOPE centers must identify to the department of children, youth, and families any street youth it serves who is not returning promptly to home. The department of children, youth, and families then must contact the missing children's clearinghouse identified in chapter
13.60 RCW and either report the youth's location or report that the youth is the subject of a dependency action and the parent should receive notice from the department of children, youth, and families; and
(g) Services that provide counseling and education to the street youth.
(2) The department shall award contracts for the operation of HOPE center beds with the goal of facilitating the coordination of services provided for youth by such programs and those services provided by secure and semi-secure crisis residential centers.
(3) Subject to funds appropriated for this purpose, the department must incrementally increase the number of available HOPE beds by at least seventeen beds in fiscal year 2017, at least seventeen beds in fiscal year 2018, and at least seventeen beds in fiscal year 2019, such that by July 1, 2019, seventy-five HOPE beds are established and operated throughout the state as set forth in subsection (1) of this section.
(4) Subject to funds appropriated for this purpose, the beds available in HOPE centers shall be increased incrementally. The additional capacity shall be distributed around the state based upon need and, to the extent feasible, shall be geographically situated so that HOPE beds are available across the state. In determining the need for increased numbers of HOPE beds in a particular county or counties, one of the considerations should be the volume of truancy petitions filed there.
