Commission on Children in Foster Care

Mission: Provide all children in foster care with safe, permanent families in which their physical, emotional, intellectual, and social needs are met.

Value statement: All children need safe, permanent families that love, nurture, protect and guide them.

Tactical goals: Improve collaboration between the courts, child welfare partners and the education system to achieve the mission.

Strategic goals:

• The Commission will monitor and report on the extent to which child welfare programs and courts are responsive to the needs of the children in their joint care.
• The Commission will broaden public awareness of and support for meeting the needs of children and families in foster care.
• The Commission will institutionalize collaboration beyond the terms of office of individual agency directors and elected officials.

The Commission can achieve its goals through initiating policy decisions and needed legislative and court rule changes.

The Commission will demonstrate its leadership through the implementation of sound foster care practices within the Commission members’ respective agencies and further its commitment through self-evaluation. Existing Groups with Similar Interests:

• Court Improvement Program (CIP) Steering Committee
• DSHS Children’s Administration Legislative Committees
• Unified Family Court Workgroup
• Minority and Justice Commission
• Gender and Justice Commission
• Children’s Home Society of Washington
• Catalyst for Kids
• Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction
• Office of the Attorney General
• Foster Parents Association of Washington State (FPAWS)
• Casey Family Programs
• Washington State Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA)
• Superior Court Judges’ Association Committees: Family and Juvenile Law and Best Practices and Education
• Board for Court Education
• Department of Health
• Office of Public Defense
• Northwest Intertribal Court System
• Judicial Information System Committee

Potential Subcommittee Subject Areas

• Court Improvement Program (CIP)
• Court Performance Standards
• Best Practices
• Children’s Protective Services and Domestic Violence
• Development of Self-evaluation
• Legislative Review
• Technology (efficiency and information sharing)
• Funding
• Permanency Planning
• Public Awareness
• Judicial Education
• Clearinghouse/Resource Center (Public and Dependency "System")
• Children's Representation Project 

Guest Editorials

• "View Foster Care Through Their Eyes" by Justice Bobbe J. Bridge 

Members
Justice Bobbe Bridge (ret.), Co-Chair	Jennifer Strus, Co-Chair
Washington State Supreme Court	Acting Assistant Secretary DSHS/Children’s Administration
Bob Ferguson	Carrie Wayno
Washington State Attorney General	AAG, Washington State Attorney General Designee for Bob Ferguson
Superintendent Randy Dorn	Ken Emmil
Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction	Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction Designee for Randy Dorn
Judge Craig Matheson	Judge Kitty-Ann van Doorninck
President Superior Court Judges’ Association (SCJA)	Designee for SCJA President-Judge Craig Matheson
Andrew Sachs	Chorisia Folkman
Board President Washington State CASA	Northwest Intertribal Court System Representative
Beth Canfield	Mike Canfield
Co-Chair, Board of Directors - Foster Parents Association of Washington State	Co-Chair, Board of Directors - Foster Parents Association of Washington State
Representative Ruth Kagi	Representative Mary Helen Roberts
Chair, House Children and Family Services Committee	House Children and Family Services Committee Designee for Rep. Ruth Kagi
Senator Mike Carrell	Joanne Moore
Chair, Senate Human Services and Corrections Committee	Washington State Office of Public Defense
Jim Bamberger	Ryan Cummings
Office of Civil Legal Aid	Representing Youth in Foster Care
Jeannie Kee
Foster Youth Alumni Representative
Staff
Michael Curtis	Susan Peterson
Executive Director, CCFC	Administrative Office of the Courts
Alyson McLean
UW/Evans School Intern, CCFC