Washington home‑visiting program sees state budget cuts, contract adjustments and 139‑slot net loss

The Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF) reported reductions to state funding for home‑visiting programs and a set of contract changes at the Home Visiting Advisory Committee meeting in July.

DCYF staff said the agency closed state fiscal year 2025 and opened fiscal year 2026 under tighter budget authority. Laura (DCYF staff) said there was a $1,250,000 reduction in the agency’s authority in the prior fiscal year and a $1,500,000 reduction in general‑fund state dollars for fiscal year 2026. She also described a decline in the dedicated cannabis account funding and said the federal maternal, infant and early childhood home‑visiting grant (referred to in the meeting as “MCV”) increased “about 6%.”

DCYF staff told committee members they sought to minimize service disruption to families and stabilize local implementing agencies (LIAs). To absorb changes, agency leaders said they used available McV funding increases to boost some LIA contracts and shifted general‑fund dollars to backfill shortfalls in other funding streams.

“We worked with LIAs to try to right‑size a few of them and offer budget increases through MCV that were informed by our rates planning process,” Renee (DCYF staff) said. She said staff looked at enrollment performance, model fidelity and deliverables when reallocating dollars.

Despite the reallocation, DCYF presented a net loss of 139 slots statewide. The agency attributed much of that decrease to three programs that chose not to renew contracts (one named Bridget Collins and two programs within a shared organization) and to slot reductions tied to TANF and DCA funding adjustments. DCYF said many of the removed slots were not filled prior to the changes.

DCYF also described changes to contract terms and program reporting. Staff said they clarified definitions so that “encounters” counted for contract performance must be substantive two‑way interactions with enrolled families, and that a family must be enrolled for encounters or visits to count. DCYF said it expects at least one in‑person visit yearly for each enrolled participant and that over the course of a cohort 75% of visits should be in person.

Fiscal policy changes noted in the meeting include the suspension of performance award dollars going forward (staff said this removed approximately $660,000 per year that previously supported performance incentives), a prohibition on using DCYF contract dollars for meals at in‑state meetings or parent engagement events, and unresolved implementation of a federal 15% indirect rate (DCYF said the department is working on how to apply that option).

System‑level partners said the budget shifts also affected their capacity. Liv (Start Early) said her organization reduced the maximum billable range for technical assistance and shifted some staff allocations to protect direct training and technical assistance work. Martha (Department of Health) said DOH will curtail some one‑on‑one supports, reduce a training position and reduce partial epidemiology and IT support, and will rely more on group formats and vendors for data work.

DCYF staff said it used recent McV increases to move many McV‑funded programs at least to the 75th percentile of regional rates, but that overall funding constraints and program opt‑outs produced the seat reductions. The agency said it will keep the advisory committee informed of significant changes and will return for advice if contract practice or scope requires further modification.

Ending: DCYF staff encouraged members to ask questions during office hours and promised follow‑up materials. Committee members asked for program‑level explanations of allocations and said they would share the details with their local teams.