Washington Courts: Press Release Detail

Washington State’s Center for Court Research Helps Monitor Dependent Youth Outcomes with Release of New Dashboard 

Since the Legislature first mandated its creation in 2007, the Washington State Center for Court Research (WSCCR) has been producing an annual report assessing how Washington courts adhere to statutory guidelines in achieving permanency for dependent children.

Significant advancements in WSCCR’s ability to collect, analyze, and disseminate dependency data since then has led to the development of the Dependency Dashboard. A comprehensive online tool that is updated with new data on a monthly, quarterly and annual basis.

"The Dependency Dashboard provides the public and the courts vital information into how our court system is performing in finding permanent outcomes for dependent children,” WSCCR manager Carl McCurley said. “We’re excited to upgrade from the annual report to the dashboard, so we’re able to consistently provide up-to-date data in a more accessible, easier-to-use manner."

Starting in 2023, WSCCR has made the decision to discontinue the production of printed annual reports. Instead, WSCCR encourages stakeholders to utilize the more comprehensive and user-friendly dashboard as the primary source for obtaining information on dependency court performance and outcome measures.

The dashboard provides the public data in five main areas:

1. Current year dependency timeliness measures and fillings, updated on a monthly and quarterly basis.
2. Measures and filings over time, allowing users to track changes in dependency data, providing insights into trends and patterns.
3. Filings and filing rates, along with previous years dependency measures. This section presents rates of dependency per 1000 youths, offering a comprehensive understanding of the overall landscape.
4. Race/ethnicity data for previous years' filings and measures, including county-level information on dependency filings and outcomes categorized by race and ethnicity. This data enables stakeholders to analyze disparities and make informed decisions to address them.
5. Permanency outcomes by demographics over time, including point-in-time median length of stay and placement discharge type. This section provides an up-to-date snapshot of the current number of dependent children in open out-of-home placement episodes, broken down by demographics.

WSCCR is committed to continuously improving the dashboard's content and functionality with new features, such as the recently added outcomes and demographic data pages.

These additions address previously unexplored areas, including critical data on race and ethnicity. By including this information, the dashboard enables courts and communities to identify and address any disparities within the dependency system that disproportionately impact specific populations.

"The dashboard is easy to access, easy to navigate and contains information on important topics that were not previously included, such as critical data on race and ethnicity,” Retired Thurston County Judge and AOC Jurist-in-Residence Anne Hirsch said.

“This new information can help courts and communities make needed improvements in how the dependency system disproportionally negatively impacts certain populations and families in our communities," Hirsch said.

The dashboard also serves as a useful tool for facilitating groups that are multidisciplinary or come from different areas of the state.

“Attorneys who practice in multiple counties can use the data from the dashboard to help their colleagues understand that other counties are having different outcomes, which can lead to further discussion about differences and potential changes that could result in better outcomes for families,” Managing Attorney for Parents Representation Program at Washington State Office of Public Defense Jacob D'Annunzio said.

It's important to note that data on different sections of the dashboard are regularly updated on a monthly, quarterly, and yearly basis, which may result in changes to historical figures.

WSCCR is the research arm of the Administrative Office of the Courts. It was established in 2004 by order of the Washington State Supreme Court. The center serves judges, clerks, victims, offenders, legal advocates, and all other participants in the judicial process. WSCCR’s empirical research is intended to improve understanding of the courts, help guide judicial policy, and improve the functioning of our judicial system.