The Washington Department of Children, Youth, and Families’ mission is to protect children and strengthen families so they flourish. Established in 2017, the agency comprises three previously separate agencies, uniting child care, juvenile rehabilitation, and child welfare into an integrated department offering a continuum of support to Washington families. The Roadmap Report summarizes a six-month “Discovery Process” — a collaboration between DCYF and Foster America, funded by the Ballmer Group. Together, we’ve explored opportunities for systems transformation, identifying how DCYF can continue and accelerate efforts already underway to safely reduce the use of traditional child welfare interventions while bolstering approaches that promote child and family well-being within communities. Our shared goal is to enhance the prevention services and supports available to children, youth, and families — specifically, preventing child abuse and neglect as well as unnecessary formal child welfare systems involvement. We’ve developed this report in support of Washington DCYF’s ultimate commitment to ensuring that comprehensive, responsive, and equitable prevention services reach children, youth, and families statewide. DCYF was founded around the vision of developing a holistic, sustainable continuum of prevention supports — addressing the varied and sometimes complex needs of families and communities early, in the least restrictive manner. Since that time, the federal Family First Prevention Services Act (and Washington State’s planning and early implementation of the law has opened further options and funding sources to meet families’ needs without family separation and child welfare placement. Further, the state’s Keeping Families Together Act, which took effect in 2023, tightened the statutory requirements for child removals. With the Keeping Families Together Act’s passage, DCYF sharpened its focus on safely reducing the number of children placed into foster care, reducing racial disproportionality in the child welfare system, and supporting relatives who care for children who must be removed from their home of origin to ameliorate safety concerns. Against this backdrop and throughout the Discovery Process, the Foster America team has been inspired by the DCYF team and their community and inter - governmental partners’ commitment to and preparedness for change. They seek a coordinated cross-system, community-centered approach. Within DCYF, each team we met was responsive, engaged, and focused on improving how families and children in Washington are served.
| 7
Made with FlippingBook - professional solution for displaying marketing and sales documents online