RCWA 74.13.368

Title 74. Public Assistance (Refs & Annos)

Chapter 74.13. Child Welfare Services (Refs & Annos)

Foster Care

(1)(a) The child welfare transformation design committee is established, with members as provided in this subsection.

(i) The governor or the governor's designee;

(ii) Four private agencies that, as of May 18, 2009, provide child welfare services to children and families referred to them by the department.   Two agencies must be headquartered in western Washington and two must be headquartered in eastern Washington.  Two agencies must have an annual budget of at least one million state-contracted dollars and two must have an annual budget of less than one million state-contracted dollars;

(iii) The assistant secretary of the children's administration in the department;

(iv) Two regional administrators in the children's administration selected by the assistant secretary, one from one of the department's administrative regions one or two, and one from one of the department's administrative regions three, four, five, or six;

(v) The administrator for the division of licensed resources in the children's administration;

(vi) Two nationally recognized experts in performance-based contracts;

(vii) The attorney general or the attorney general's designee;

(viii) A representative of the collective bargaining unit that represents the largest number of employees in the children's administration;

(ix) A representative from the office of the family and children's ombudsman;

(x) Four representatives from the Indian policy advisory committee convened by the department's office of Indian policy and support services;

(xi) Two currently elected or former superior court judges with significant experience in dependency matters, selected by the superior court judge's association;

(xii) One representative from partners for our children affiliated with the University of Washington school of social work;

(xiii) A member of the Washington state racial disproportionality advisory committee;

(xiv) A foster parent;

(xv) A youth currently in or a recent alumnus of the Washington state foster care system, to be designated by the cochairs of the committee; and

(xvi) A parent representative who has had personal experience with the dependency system.

(b) The president of the senate and the speaker of the house of representatives shall jointly appoint the members under (a)(ii), (xiv), and (xvi) of this subsection.

(c) The representative from partners for our children shall convene the initial meeting of the committee no later than June 15, 2009.

(d) The cochairs of the committee shall be the assistant secretary for the children's administration and another member selected by a majority vote of those members present at the initial meeting.

(2) The committee shall establish a transition plan containing recommendations to the legislature and the governor consistent with this section for the provision of child welfare services by supervising agencies pursuant to RCW 74.13.360.

(3) The plan shall include the following:

(a) A model or framework for performance-based contracts to be used by the department that clearly defines:

(i) The target population;

(ii) The referral and exit criteria for the services;

(iii) The child welfare services including the use of evidence-based services and practices to be provided by contractors;

(iv) The roles and responsibilities of public and private agency workers in key case decisions;

(v) Contract performance and outcomes, including those related to eliminating racial disparities in child outcomes;

(vi) That supervising agencies will provide culturally competent service;

(vii) How to measure whether each contractor has met the goals listed in RCW 74.13.360(5); and

(viii) Incentives to meet performance outcomes;

(b) A method by which the department will substantially reduce its current number of contracts for child welfare services;

(c) A method or methods by which clients will access community-based services, how private supervising agencies will engage other services or form local service networks, develop subcontracts, and share information and supervision of children;

(d) Methods to address the effects of racial disproportionality, as identified in the 2008 Racial Disproportionality Advisory Committee Report published by the Washington state institute for public policy in June 2008;

(e) Methods for inclusion of the principles and requirements of the centennial accord executed in November 2001, executed between the state of Washington and federally recognized tribes in Washington state;

(f) Methods for assuring performance-based contracts adhere to the letter and intent of the federal Indian child welfare act;

(g) Contract monitoring and evaluation procedures that will ensure that children and families are receiving timely and quality services and that contract terms are being implemented;

(h) A method or methods by which to ensure that the children's administration has sufficiently trained and experienced staff to monitor and manage performance-based contracts;

(i) A process by which to expand the capacity of supervising and other private agencies to meet the service needs of children and families in a performance-based contractual arrangement;

(j) A method or methods by which supervising and other private agencies can expand services in underserved areas of the state;

(k) The appropriate amounts and procedures for the reimbursement of supervising agencies given the proposed services restructuring;

(l) A method by which to access and enhance existing data systems to include contract performance information;

(m) A financing arrangement for the contracts that examines:

(i) The use of case rates or performance-based fee-for-service contracts that include incentive payments or payment schedules that link reimbursement to outcomes; and

(ii) Ways to reduce a contractor's financial risk that could jeopardize the solvency of the contractor, including consideration of the use of a risk-reward corridor that limits risk of loss and potential profits or the establishment of a statewide risk pool;

(n) A description of how the transition will impact the state's ability to obtain federal funding and examine options to further maximize federal funding opportunities and increased flexibility;

(o) A review of whether current administrative staffing levels in the regions should be continued when the majority of child welfare services are being provided by supervising agencies;

(p) A description of the costs of the transition, the initial start-up costs and the mechanisms to periodically assess the overall adequacy of funds and the fiscal impact of the changes, and the feasibility of the plan and the impact of the plan on department employees during the transition; and

(q) Identification of any statutory and regulatory revisions necessary to accomplish the transition.

(4)(a) The committee, with the assistance of the department, shall select two demonstration sites within which to implement chapter 520, Laws of 2009. One site must be located on the eastern side of the state. The other site must be located on the western side of the state. Neither site must be wholly located in any of the department's administrative regions.

(b) The committee shall develop two sets of performance outcomes to be included in the performance-based contracts the department enters into with supervising agencies. The first set of outcomes shall be used for those cases transferred to a supervising agency over time. The second set of outcomes shall be used for new entrants to the child welfare system.

(c) The committee shall also identify methods for ensuring that comparison of performance between supervising agencies and the existing service delivery system takes into account the variation in the characteristics of the populations being served as well as historical trends in outcomes for those populations.

(5) The committee shall determine the appropriate size of the child and family populations to be provided services under performance-based contracts with supervising agencies. The committee shall also identify the time frame within which cases will be transferred to supervising agencies. The performance-based contracts entered into with supervising agencies shall encompass the provision of child welfare services to enough children and families in each demonstration site to allow for the assessment of whether there are meaningful differences, to be defined by the committee, between the outcomes achieved in the demonstration sites and the comparison sites or populations. To ensure adequate statistical power to assess these differences, the populations served shall be large enough to provide a probability greater than seventy percent that meaningful difference will be detected and a ninety-five percent probability that observed differences are not due to chance alone.

(6) The committee shall also prepare as part of the plan a recommendation as to how to implement chapter 520, Laws of 2009 so that full implementation of chapter 520, Laws of 2009 is achieved no later than December 30, 2012.

(7) The committee shall prepare the plan to manage the delivery of child welfare services in a manner that achieves coordination of the services and programs that deliver primary prevention services.

(8) Beginning June 30, 2009, the committee shall report quarterly to the governor and the legislative children's oversight committee established in RCW 44.04.220. From June 30, 2012, until January 1, 2015, the committee need only report twice a year. The committee shall report on its progress in meeting its duties under subsections (2) and (3) of this section and on any other matters the committee or the legislative children's oversight committee or the governor deems appropriate. The portion of the plan required in subsection (6) of this section shall be due to the legislative children's oversight committee on or before June 1, 2010. The reports shall be in written form.

(9) The committee, by majority vote, may establish advisory committees as it deems necessary.

(10) All state executive branch agencies and the agencies with whom the department contracts for child welfare services shall cooperate with the committee and provide timely information as the chair or cochairs may request. Cooperation by the children's administration must include developing and scheduling training for supervising agencies to access data and information necessary to implement and monitor the contracts.

(11) It is expected that the administrative costs for the committee will be supported through private funds.

(12) Staff support for the committee shall be provided jointly by partners for our children and legislative staff.

(13) The committee is subject to chapters 42.30 (open public meetings act) and 42.52 (ethics in public service) RCW.

(14) This section expires July 1, 2015.

CREDIT(S)

[2010 c 291 § 2, eff. June 10, 2010; 2009 c 520 § 8, eff. May 18, 2009.]

HISTORICAL AND STATUTORY NOTES

Findings--2010 c 291: "The legislature finds that, based upon the work of the child welfare transformation design committee established pursuant to 2SHB 2106 during the 2009 legislative session, several narrowly based amendments to that legislation need to be made, mainly for clarifying purposes. The legislature further finds that two deadlines need to be extended by six months, the first to allow the department of social and health services additional time to complete the conversion of its contracts to performance-based contracts and the second to allow the department additional time to gradually transfer existing cases to supervising agencies in the demonstration sites. The legislature finds that the addition of a foster youth on the child welfare transformation design committee will greatly assist the committee in its work.

The legislature recognizes that clarifying language regarding Indian tribes should be added regarding the government-to-government relationship the tribes have with the state. The legislature further recognizes that language is needed regarding the department's ability to receive federal funding based upon the recommendations made by the child welfare transformation design committee." [2010 c 291 § 1.]

Effective date--2009 c 520 § 8: "Section 8 of this act is necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety, or support of the state government and its existing public institutions, and takes effect immediately [May 18, 2009]." [2009 c 520 § 98.]

Laws 2010, ch. 291, § 2, inserted subsec. (1)(a)(xv) and made conforming changes; in subsec. (6), substituted "December" for "June".

RCWA 74.13.368, WA ST 74.13.368

Current with 2011 Legislation effective through May 31, 2011