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Committee considers foster-youth safety bill that would authorize rapid response teams and alerts
Summary
HB 2171 would require the Washington State Patrol and DCYF to implement endangered foster youth alerts, create county rapid response team protocols, establish a foster youth empowerment account and an oversight board, and expand training for foster parents and workers; advocates urged trauma-informed guardrails for alerts.
Committee counsel described House Bill 2171 as a package meant to strengthen protections for foster youth who go missing. The bill would require the Washington State Patrol, in partnership with DCYF, to implement an endangered foster youth alert system that issues alerts within 24 hours of a missing report; require counties to develop rapid response team protocols; create a foster youth empowerment account to fund services for survivors; and establish a survivor and advocacy oversight board.
Rep. Brian Burnett, presenting for the sponsor, said the bill grew from lived-experience input and would require endangered foster child alerts, rapid response teams, guaranteed therapy and trauma support for survivors, and independent reporting and investigations.
DCYF chief public affairs officer Barbara Serrano said the department supports the bill's intent but raised legal concerns about publishing youth names without court orders or guardian permission and noted uncertainty about implementation costs. "We do not currently have the legal authority to publish the names of missing youth without a court order or permission of the parent or legal guardian," Serrano told the committee.
Legal-advocacy witnesses and youth-serving organizations generally supported rapid response protocols and survivor services but urged removal or careful limitation of broad public-broadcast provisions. Roxanna Gomez of Legal Counsel for Youth and Children told the committee that broadcasting a youth's private information on public forums "will only make youth try harder to not be found, putting them at even greater risk of being trafficked." Charles Smith of the Mockingbird Society recommended trauma-informed, tiered responses and limits on publicly shared information.
The committee closed public testimony after receiving both technical questions from staff and a mix of supportive and cautionary public comments. No vote was taken at the hearing.
