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Leaders discuss Keeping Families Together bill, DCYF data and a WSU funding request
Summary
House leadership described efforts to address DCYF-identified child welfare issues, cited a more-than-60% drop in critical incidents in the last quarter, and said they will review a Washington State University request for $4.7 million for student-worker bargaining funding.
Leaders addressed child-welfare legislation and university funding requests during the media availability. A questioner noted Rep. Couture’s bill to amend the Keeping Families Together Act to change the removal standard to "imminent or serious physical harm." Laurie Jenkins described follow-up measures and earlier bills intended to give courts clearer guidance, and cited DCYF data showing a greater-than-60% reduction in critical incidents in the most recent quarter.
"What we saw in the last quarter of DCYF data is that their number of critical incidents has fallen by over 60 percent," Jenkins said, adding that leaders want to review fourth-quarter data to determine whether that decline is durable.
On higher-education funding, a questioner said Washington State University last week unveiled a request for $4,700,000 to help fund collective-bargaining agreements with student workers; leaders said funding negotiated agreements has been a historical priority for budgeting processes but they could not commit to this specific WSU request without reviewing details and timing.
Leaders said they share concern about protecting children and continue to work on targeted statutory changes and court-authority clarifications; they emphasized further data and committee hearings will guide next steps.
