Washington State Supreme Court

Commission on Children in Foster Care

February 11, 2008

Meeting Minutes

 

Members Present:

Justice Bobbe Bridge (ret.), Washington State Supreme Court, Commission Co-Chair

Cheryl Stephani, Assistant Secretary, DSHS Children’s Administration, Commission Co-Chair

Ms. Gabby Adnal (for Senator James Hargrove, Chair, Senate Human Services and Corrections Committee)

Ms. Daniele Baxter, Co-President, Foster Parents Association of Washington State

Mr. Steve Baxter, Co-President, Foster Parents Association of Washington State

Ms. Lyset Cadena (for Representative Ruth Kagi, Chair, House Children and Family Services Committee)

Attorney General Rob McKenna, Washington State Attorney General

Ms. Sassi Jarvela, Foster Youth Representative

Ms. Joanne Moore, Director, Office of Public Defense

Ms. Kelly Stockman Reid, Executive Director, Washington State CASA

Judge Kitty-Ann van Doorninck (for Judge Vickie Churchill, President, Superior Court Judges’ Association)

 

Guests:

Mr. Tim Jaasko-Fisher, Director, Court Improvement Program Training Academy

Mr. Rick Coplen, Court Services, Administrative Office of the Courts

Mr. Carl McCurley, Center for Court Research, Administrative Office of the Courts

Ms. Deborah Reed, Department of Social and Health Services

Ms. Mary Herrick, College Success Foundation

 

Staff Present:

Mr. Michael Curtis, Executive Director

Ms. Anita Gausepohl, Administrative Office of the Courts

 

 

There were no comments or updates in regards to the October meeting.

 

 

 

Deborah Reed from DSHS gave a presentation on the CFSR process for Washington State. The CFSR is a mandated review established by the Children’s Bureau to monitor child welfare programs. The process promotes principles that are centered on families, strengthening parental capacities, individualized services, and building collaboration and partnerships. The review has two phases, the first is a statewide assessment including data profiling and collaboration with stakeholders. This includes a week long view of random cases from three counties; Because it is the largest county in the state, King County will be one of those reviewed. A steering committee will be created to ensure all areas are included. The second phase consists of an on-site review including case reviews and stakeholder interviews. States not meeting the CFSR outcomes or systematic factors are required to complete a Program Improvement Plan (PIP). Ms. Reed also informed that as was the case for the first CFSR, no state is expected to pass the second CFSR. If a state fails to complete its PIP, it can be financially penalized. The CFSR process has seven outcomes in the areas of safety, permanency, and child and family well-being, with multiple measures that must be met in each outcome. The systematic factors include information systems review, quality assurance, training, agency responsiveness, and foster/adoptive parent licensing, recruitment, and retention. In the last review, Washington State successfully met the systematic factors for information system, quality assurance, agency responsiveness, and foster/adoptive parent licensing, recruitment, and retention. However, it was noted that the process for this evaluation is so different from the last review, that it will be almost impossible to compare the two. For each outcome, the new process combines measures in multiple areas. If states don’t reach a certain level in all areas, they may achieve the required outcome. The differences in the second review include an increased expectation for collaboration with the courts, youth and tribes; an increased number of cases reviewed; higher standards to achieve compliance; and a change in how permanency is measured. 

 

The timeline for the process begins this year with Phase I, undergoing a statewide assessment. The data profile dates are April 2007 through March 31, 2008. Phase II will begin next year with the on-site review. The case review for foster care sampling will be April 1, 2008 – September 30, 2008, and the in-home services period is April 1, 2008 – November 30, 2008. Ninety days after the on-site review, the state must submit their proposed improvement plan for any areas not meeting outcomes.

 

For the first CFSR, Children’s Administration convened an advisory group to provide process oversight. For this second CFSR, Cheryl Stephani requested that the Commission on Children take serve in this capacity. Related activities could include providing oversight for the process, making changes and providing guidance on concerns, reviewing quarterly reports, advising in areas needing improvement, and working with cross system issues.

 

Daniele Baxter gave an update on the statewide quarterly consultation session between the Children’s Administration, Foster Parents, and FPAWS. HB 1624 formalized the process of consultations with foster, kinship, and adoptive parents. Daniele informed that for the quarterly state-wide meeting region has two foster parents, two FPAWS, and one union representative. One consistent them coming from the regional meetings is foster parents’ feeling of disrespect in their interactions with the Department.

 

There was a discussion regarding the notification and inclusion of kinship parents. Justice Bridge stated a concern brought to her attention is that kinship parents are not being notified of meetings and not included because they are not labeled foster parents. Daniele stated that the biggest barrier with including kinship parents is the inability to obtain their contact information and get notices out to them. Each region sends out information inviting all foster, kinship, and adoptive parents to participate. Meetings are open and all are welcome to attend. It is difficult to contact all parents and some private foster care agencies don’t always pass on the information to their foster parents. Given its size, region six faces geographic struggles when attempting to convene a regional meeting. To address this issue it’s considering holding pre-quarterly meetings at local offices. Debra Ellsworth (Sassi Jarvella’s foster mother) informed that she runs the foster parent support group in Region 3 and that kinship caregivers do not feel like they are a part of that group.

 

Overall, Daniele believes that the process is working and it seems to be making positive steps towards seeing some outcomes. Daniele will send the quarterly meeting minutes from all regions to the Commission members along with dates of the upcoming meetings.

 

Justice Bridge stated that the bill cutoff dates are approaching for Senate Ways and Means, which is meeting today. Representative Kagi’s court improvement bill, HB 2822, is scheduled to be heard in House Appropriations; the bill provides grants to local courts that agree to comply with certain requirements, based on UFC best practice. One of these requirements is designation of a chief UFC judge for a two-year rotation. The fiscal note for the bill is $1.5 million. HB 3048 as currently amended, provides for a one county (possibly Kitsap) dependent children’s representation pilot project. Representative Dickerson introduced HB 2760, providing dependent children 12 or older with the right to receive notice of their dependency hearings. Those opposing the legislation identified potential unintended consequences of dependent children attending hearings at which they are a party, without legal representation.

 

Joanne Moore informed that in the house budget there are two appropriations for expanding the parent representation program to Whatcom and King Counties.

 

Cheryl Stephani reported that the Children’s Administration had two pieces of request legislation proposals. Based on consultation with the FBI, one bill clarifies that in an emergency placement situation, clarifying that a child will be removed from an emergency placement is all adult residents of the home in which the child is place, do not submit fingerprints and permission to perform a background check.

There other request legislation revises the timeline for re-licensing a foster home when a family moves, extending the deadline from two weeks to 30 days.

 

Other legislation discussed included:

·       HB 2679 – introduced by Rep. Roberts, improving educational outcomes for foster youth

·       HB 3187 – introduced by Rep. Pettigrew, providing post-adoption support and annual contact for families who adopt foster children, conducting an evaluation of how they’re doing

·       HB 3145 – introduced by Rep. Kagi, establishing a specialized foster care pilot program

·       HB 3061 – introduced by Rep. Schual-Berke, providing a 2 year legislative study, forming a design panel to reform Children’s Administration

 

Cheryl Stephani gave a brief update on the committee. Dr. Marion Harris from the University of Washington/Tacoma co-chairs the committee along with King County Superior Court Judge Patricia Clark and Ms. Liz Mueller, vice-chair of the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe, representing tribal interests. The committee will analyze and make recommendations on the disproportion issue in the child welfare system. They will look at the data and propose remediation plans for legislative consideration during the 2010 session. Upon its completion, Cheryl will ask that a presentation on the data report/analysis, being prepared by WSIPP, be made to the Commission.

Sassi Jarvela provided an update on the survey of youth teens in foster care. She stated that the Passion To Action group reviewed the survey and provided feedback to the key researcher on the questions, incentive, and distribution. She stated that some questions were worded so that youth could not easily relate them to their lives, and some words were changed to sound more teen oriented for easier comprehension. They also discussed providing a $50 gift card to those who participated and possible ways to distribute the survey so that youth who are in difficult situations would feel comfortable about being honest and not intimidated when completing the survey. Once the survey instrument is approved by the Braam Panel, it will be administered (possibly in April). The Commission supported the idea of having John Tarnai, the lead researcher for the survey, attend the April 14 meeting, to provide information on this as well as the foster parents survey.  Justice Bridge suggested that some of the foster youth regional groups might be able to help with the process.

Justice Bridge reminded that at the last Commission meeting there was discussion of possible legislation based on the recommendations of the Unified Family Court Work Group. Commission Members were asked to review the Work Group’s report and be prepared to vote on whether to adopt the recommendations of the workgroup.

 

Rick Coplen distributed and discussed a document provided an overview of the progress of the court improvement program. The program has several activities that are in progress, including:

 

·       King County Superior Court Model Court Project which has been contracted with the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges (NCJFCJ), the court has already made some modifications to judicial rotations.

·       Workload measure intended to account for resources needed to improve the handling of dependency cases (a project also be conducted under a contract with NCJFCJ).

·       Data exchange program with between Children’s Administration, the Attorney General’s Office, and the Administrative Office of the Courts.

·       Reasonable Efforts Symposia conducted annually to provide opportunities for system improvement in the court communities through joint training.

·       Parent to parent program pairing parents that were successful at reuniting their family with a parent just starting the process.

·       The Foster Youth Summit, partnering with Casey Family Programs to help fund meeting expenses.

·        

 

Carl McCurley provided an overview of the court performance measures and shared copies of the report, “Timeliness of Dependency Case Processing in Washington, 2004 – 2007, prepared for the legislature by the Washington State Center for Court Research (WSCCR) pursuant to RCW 1334.820.

 

Tim Jaasko-Fisher distributed and discussed a document providing an update on the Court Improvement Training Academy.

 

Justice Bridge provided an update on the Summit. A total of 83 foster youth and alumni attended, with 22 of the participants having attended the 06 Summit. As was the case for the ’06 Summit, the Commission meeting received the highest rating from those who submitted evaluations. One area of improvement is to better engage media around the event. She also indicated the possibility of moving the summit out of the Seattle area. Other plans are to have summit participants arrive on Friday evening, providing time for a “share your experience” session, establish a bond between the youth so that the next day’s sessions would go more smoothly. Justice Bridge also informed that Mockingbird Society has been awarded a grant from the Casey Family Foundation to provide support to the regional foster youth groups. The ’08 Summit dates will be either October 17-19 or 24-26.

 

Mary Herrick provided an overview of the Summit, providing further detail to the executive summary document included in the Commission’s materials. Four major topic areas discussed included: information sharing; education and enrollment continuity; achievement/accountability (how foster youth are progressing through the education system) and transition/post-secondary success. Many commitments were made for advancing the next steps/actions resulting from the Summit. It is planned for the Commission to have an oversight/monitoring for Summit follow-up activities.

Cheryl Stephanie informed that the 2008 Indian Child Welfare Summit, at the Little Creek Resort, is taking place on March 24-26 at the Little Creek Lodge (between Olympia and Shelton). The Summit is being held in conjunction with the 30th anniversary of the Federal Indian Child Welfare legislation, of which Tribal elders in Washington State were key drivers in its passage.

 

Cheryl informed that Children’s Administration has been in conversation with the Braam Panel developing a revision to the implementation plan, suggesting a different direction for achieving the overall outcomes.

 

Steve Hassett reported that a follow-up study has been conducted, in response to the number of non-responsive foster home phone numbers encountered during the foster parent survey. A copy of the resulting report will be provided to the Commission.

 

Cheryl also informed that Ross Dawson has retired, moving to Florida to be closer to his children. Bernice Moorhead is temporarily filling the vacancy.

 

The Commission agreed on the following dates for the remaining 2008 meetings: April 14; June 9; October 13; and December 15.

 

Meeting Adjourned