Summer is always a busy season for systemic advocacy, as it is the time of year when many bills that passed during the previous legislative session officially become law! July 1st is also the start of a new state fiscal year, which means re-allocated or new funding from the Legislature goes to state agencies to then get out the door to support children, youth, families, and community providers.
The 2024 legislative session was a fast and furious 60 days (a “short” legislative session, compared to 105 days during odd-numbered years). LCYC collaborated with young people and other advocacy partners on several bills this session, with a focus on the legal rights and interests of youth. LCYC’s work during session included bill strategy and drafting, public testimony, and sending emails and making phone calls to legislators.
Here are just a handful of bills from the 2024 session that will impact the young people that LCYC represents and the systems we interact with:
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Engrossed Second Substitute Senate Bill 5908 (effective June 6, 2024)
This bill is a huge win for young people who are currently in or will opt into Extended Foster Care (EFC) upon turning 18! The existing EFC program offers support and services to young people ages 18-21, including a monthly stipend if they are living in a Supervised Independent Living placement. SB 5908 expands access to EFC and removes previous requirements to participate—as of the effective date, the only “eligibility” requirement is that youth must be dependent on their 18th birthday and agree to voluntarily engage in the EFC program.
Here are some resources regarding the updates, including an overview of the EFC program and an EFC brochure. You can also check out this chart on EFC housing options that LCYC developed in partnership with the Y Social Impact Center.
Many thanks to our partners at The Mockingbird Society for their leadership on EFC!
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Engrossed Second Substitute Senate Bill 6068 (effective June 6, 2024).
The Keeping Families Together (KFT) coalition, of which LCYC is a member, championed this bill with the goal of deepening the child welfare system’s data tracking—rather than focusing solely on child welfare case timelines and deadlines, KFT wants Washington State to also track and report how children, youth, and families in the dependency system are doing so that we can obtain a more accurate picture of the needs of families.
SB 6068 requires the Administrative Office of the Courts to submit a report to the Legislature by July 1, 2025, identifying measures of relational permanency and child well-being.
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Engrossed Second Substitute Senate Bill 6109 (effective June 6, 2024).
This bill is a follow up to a KFT priority bill from 2021—House Bill 1227 became effective in July 2023 and faced significant confusion “on the ground” and in the child welfare court system.
SB 6109 makes changes to HB 1227 by requiring that a court must give great weight to the lethality of high-potency synthetic opioids and public health guidance from the Department of Health related to high-potency synthetic opioids when considering whether the child may remain in the home of a parent. You can find more background on HB 1227 here and here.
SB 6109 also came with over $6.5 million in funding to support child welfare-involved families where there may be a risk of fentanyl or other child health and safety concerns present, including funding for a public health nurse pilot, a safety plan participants (3rd party) pilot, and legal liaisons to help the State with the preparation of court cases, among other investments.
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Second Substitute House Bill 1929.
Championed by Northstar Advocates and in response to Washington State’s commitment to not exit young people from systems of care into homelessness, HB 1929 will create the Post-Inpatient Housing Program for Young Adults within the Health Care Authority (HCA).
The program will provide supportive transitional housing with behavioral health supports to young people, ages 18-24, leaving inpatient treatment, with a focus on securing long-term housing. The Legislature allocated funding alongside the passage of HB 1929, which will allow the HCA to provide funding to at least one community-based organization, tribe, or tribal organization to operate residential programs with 6 to 10 beds to serve eligible persons for up to 90 days. At least two residential programs must be created with at least one on each side of the State.
LCYC is eager to see the HCA build out this program, as our agency has been tracking the issue of youth leaving public systems of care into homelessness for several years and published a Progress Report regarding this issue in April 2023, in partnership with the Center for Children & Justice and TeamChild.
LCYC will track implementation of these, and many other bills passed and budget investments made in 2024.
We are also excited to continue our work alongside the Housing Justice Collective (HJC) to address barriers that youth under 18 face in accessing shelter/housing and related services if they are experiencing homelessness on their own. In the coming weeks, the Office of Homeless Youth will release a report regarding the number of unsheltered homeless youth under age 18 and recommendations for supporting these youth, which HJC led and LCYC supported the development of. LCYC is furthering this work by hosting virtual workshops with young people, shelter, housing, and other service providers, and state agency representatives to develop model policy language regarding youth consent/self-authorization to housing, which we hope will be pursued in the 2025 legislative session!
We are grateful to the young people, community partners, advocacy coalitions, and lawmakers who made progress on issues in the 2024 session, and we look forward to the systemic work ahead!