State child-welfare agency outlines prevention-first model, home visiting and caseflow data

Julie Watts, senior policy adviser at the Washington Department of Children, Youth and Families, told the House Human Services, Youth & Early Learning Committee that the agency organizes child-welfare work around prevention and a stepped response to family need.

Watts said DCYF’s prevention framework has three tiers: universal supports (for example, early learning access), targeted secondary prevention such as home‑visiting for high‑risk families, and tertiary prevention that consists of a child-protective services response when there are safety concerns. “Prevention is really what we aim for when it comes to providing child‑welfare services,” Watts said.

The department provides voluntary home‑visiting services delivered by community providers, Watts said, and serves about 3,000 families statewide; roughly 14% of caregivers in the program are under age 20. Watts described the plan of safe care pathway for pregnant people using substances and for substance‑exposed infants, saying the program aims to connect…