(The Center Square) – Some Washington state lawmakers are pressing the Department of Children, Youth & Families for updated information on critical incidents involving children under state supervision.
The Senate Human Services Committee’s Tuesday work session featured a briefing by DCYF Public Information Officer Allison Krutsinger on the impact of House Bill 1227, also known as the Keeping Families Together Act.
Passed in 2021 and effective as of July 1, 2023, the law aims to safely reduce the number of children entering foster care by fundamentally changing how courts make decisions regarding removal. The law requires courts to weigh the potential short-term and long-term harms of removal against the risk of imminent physical harm to a child, and it prohibits poverty, homelessness, or disability alone from being the sole reason for removing a child from their home. The act also supports relatives in caring for children who have been placed outside the home.
Critics blame the law for an increasing number of critical incidents involving children who have died or nearly died after being left in the care of their parents, despite reports of potential abuse or neglect – often involving drug abuse – to DCYF.
The law is meant to keep children with their biological parents. It’s also intended to reduce racial disproportionality in the child welfare system and support relatives in taking care of children when they are placed outside the home.
As reported by The Center Square, there were 27 fatal and near-fatal child incidents in the first three months of 2025, compared to 9 incidents in the first quarter of 2024. Of those incidents, 16 involved children from birth to age 3.
DCYF has since amended that number down to 22, reporting that five of the cases were determined not to be parental abuse or neglect.
During Tuesday’s work session, committee members were briefed on child removal statistics and other data points since the implementation of 1227.
“This is work the department is extremely proud of over the last three to four years,” Krutsinger said, referencing the increase in children being placed with relatives. “Now nearly 60% of children are placed in kin, or relative suitable, placement.”
Dr. Vickie Ybarra, assistant secretary of Partnership, Prevention, and Services at DCYF, told committee members that the first quarter 2025 numbers were alarming.
“I’m happy to report that the numbers have moderated somewhat since then,” she said.
The department will not release updated numbers for another month or so, Ybarra continued, despite acknowledging that the numbers don’t look good.
“We are still on track to set a record in 2025,” she said.
Sen. Leonard Christian, R-Spokane, pushed for an explanation as to why more current data was not being released.
“We expect to post them the first week of November,” responded Krutsinger, who indicated DCYF will release both second and third quarter numbers at that time. “So, you [will] have the most up-to-date information.”
On Wednesday, The Center Square spoke with Christian about the lack of new data.
“My biggest concern is why would you not release the data as soon as you have it? What are you trying to hide from the citizens of Washington?” he asked.
He indicated that a growing number of lawmakers realize the Keeping Families Together Act has failed.
“This policy has got to get reversed,” Christian said. “It is time to realize it’s a failed experiment. The data is not supporting keeping kids together when they’re in imminent danger in the house and giving them [the parents] a free lockbox to lock their drugs, and hoping that when they’re in a drug stupor, they are going to have the fortitude and mental ability to lock their drugs up and take care of a child.”
Rep. Travis Couture, R-Allyn, has tried for years to get legislation passed to address the increase in child fatalities within DCYF.
“If you’re not willing to transparently publish the fatalities and near fatalities of babies and toddlers in our state that are locked in homes with hard drug abuse because of the Keeping Families Together Act, then you’re just hiding the outcomes of that bill … the devastating outcomes of that bill, and you’re delaying the ability for policy makers and legislators to analyze those numbers and come up with solutions,” he said.
He told The Center Square he will once again attempt to find support for House Bill 1092, which he sees as a fix to the Keeping Families Together Act.
“It’s not just me, it’s social workers, law enforcement, judges, pediatricians, and it’s foster families who are all in support of House Bill 1092,” Couture said. “We already know this is going to be a record, tragic record, year for child deaths in our state, and to not simply publish those numbers so that lawmakers can do their jobs is not how government should work.”
The Center Square reached out to DCYF about the delayed reporting.
“We do intend to share data once it is final. With Q1 data we had to update data after sharing, so the goal is to release Q2 data once it is final, following review by medical examiners,” Nancy Gutierrez, director of external communications at DCYF, said in an email.
Sen. Judy Warnick, R-Spokane, asked Krutsinger if foster family members are consulted in court cases that determine if a child is returned home.
“I think it’s important to note that foster parents are not a party to the case,” Krutsinger replied. “Foster families can submit written material to the court, but they are not a party to the court, but they are not a party in a sense of this is really a conversation between the department and the parents.”
Many foster families complain they are being left out of life and death decisions when it comes to returning children to their biological parents, who may still be experiencing active drug addiction.
“There isn’t really anything more important, and if we’re a society that has decayed so much and has rotted so much that it does not value its babies and its children, then it’s a society that is swirling down the toilet bowl of our world,” Couture said.
