Section 26.44.260. Family assessment response.

(1) No later than December 1, 2013, the department shall implement the family assessment response. The department may implement the family assessment response on a phased-in basis, by geographical area.

(2) The department shall develop an implementation plan in consultation with stakeholders, including tribes. The department shall submit a report of the implementation plan to the appropriate committees of the legislature by December 31, 2012. At a minimum, the following must be developed before implementation and included in the report to the legislature:

(a) Description of the family assessment response practice model;

(b) Identification of possible additional noninvestigative responses or pathways;

(c) Development of an intake screening tool and a family assessment tool specifically to be used in the family assessment response. The family assessment tool must, at minimum, evaluate the safety of the child and determine services needed by the family to improve or restore family well-being;

(d) Delineation of staff training requirements;

(e) Development of strategies to reduce disproportionality;

(f) Development of strategies to assist and connect families with the appropriate private or public housing support agencies, for those parents whose inability to obtain or maintain safe housing creates a risk of harm to the child, risk of out-of-home placement of the child, or a barrier to reunification;

(g) Identification of methods to involve local community partners in the development of community-based resources to meet families' needs. Local community partners may include, but are not limited to: Alumni of the foster care system and veteran parents, local private service delivery agencies, schools, local health departments and other health care providers, juvenile court, law enforcement, office of public defense social workers or local defense attorneys, domestic violence victims advocates, and other available community-based entities;

(h) Delineation of procedures to assure continuous quality assurance;

(i) Identification of current departmental expenditures for services appropriate for the family assessment response, to the greatest practicable extent;

(j) Identification of philanthropic funding and other private funding available to supplement public resources in response to identified family needs;

(k) Mechanisms to involve the child's Washington state tribe, if any, in any family assessment response, when the child subject to the family assessment response is an Indian child, as defined in RCW 13.38.040;

(l) A potential phase-in schedule if proposed; and

(m) Recommendations for legislative action required to implement the plan.

[ 2012 c 259 § 2.]

NOTES:

Family assessment response evaluation—2012 c 259: "The Washington state institute for public policy shall conduct an evaluation of the implementation of the family assessment response. The institute shall define the data to be gathered and maintained. At a minimum, the evaluations must address child safety measures, out-of-home placement rates, re-referral rates, and caseload sizes and demographics. The institute shall deliver its first report no later than December 1, 2014, and its final report by December 1, 2016." [ 2012 c 259 § 9.]

Family assessment response survey—2012 c 259: "The department of social and health services shall conduct two client satisfaction surveys of families that have been placed in the family assessment response. The first survey results shall be reported no later than December 1, 2014. The second survey results shall be reported no later than December 1, 2016." [ 2012 c 259 § 10.]

2012 c 259 § 2.