Washington (State): Summary of 2009 Second Substitute Senate Bill 2106

Wed, 06/10/2009 - 15:00 | David's BLOG
For those of you that have been following the possible privatization of services in Washington State, House Bill 2106 and SB 5943 a summary of the bill that finally passed and is available below – “it addresses the composition and duties of a working committee that will put together the final recommendations for a pilot program.”
 
Families Like Ours has been tracking these Bills and will continue to monitor the committee work on what could become a major change in Washington State. Families Like Ours was able to provide law makers with a review of SB 5943 and suggestions, which we have been informed that “Some of the concerns and suggestions that you (Families Like Ours) highlighted were incorporated into the legislation. Your constructive approach was appreciated.”
 
We have been asked by some law makers to track the work of the committee, and provide our input on their recommendations. “We would also like to hear from you, your thoughts, ideas and suggestions as this committee and pilot unfolds.” Families Like Ours does not have an organizational stake in the results of this pilot.
 
David

 

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The Children's Administration (CA) in the Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) must convert all existing contracts with outside entities to performance based contracts by January 1, 2011.
 
The Child Welfare Transformation Design Committee (Committee) is created to select the demonstration sites and develop performance measures and contracting criteria to use when entering into performance based contracts with outside agencies for the provision child welfare case management services.
 
  • The 24 members of the Committee include large and small private agencies; the assistant secretary and two regional administrators from the children's administration; two national experts in performance-based contracting; four tribal representatives; two judges; a foster parent & a parent representative; and a member of the racial disproportionality committee.
  • The Committee will also include, in the transition plan, methods to address racial disproportionality; principles and requirements of the centennial accord, to ensure that contracted agencies comply with the Indian Child Welfare Act; expanded services offered by contracted agencies in underserved areas; and the contracted agencies' financial risk.
 
The first meeting will occur by June 15, 2009 and the committee must report to the Legislative Children's Oversight Committee (LCOC) and the Governor on a quarterly basis from June 2009 through June 2012, and semi-annually from June 2012 until the Committee's expiration in January 2015. The Committee's transition plan will achieve full implementation of the demonstration sites by June 30, 2012. 
 
Within the demonstration sites, all child welfare services, including case management services, must be provided by agencies who have entered into performance based contracts with CA.  Child welfare services may be provided to CA only if no eligible contractor is available, or in an emergency situation.
 
The Committee must develop two sets of performance outcomes: one to be used for ongoing cases transferred to contracted agencies and the second for new entrants to the child welfare system.
 
The performance based contracts must encompass enough children and families in the demonstration sites to allow for the assessment of whether there are meaningful differences between the outcomes achieved in the demonstration sites and the comparison sites or populations. This will result in 30 to 40% of child welfare cases in the state being included in the demonstration sites.
 
CA retains the tasks of investigating allegations of child abuse or neglect and licensing and monitoring foster homes and other residential services providers.
 
The Washington State Institute for Public Policy (WSIPP) must provide two reports, on June 30, 2011 and June 30, 2012, to the Legislature and the Governor regarding CA's conversion of its contracts to performance based contract.  Based upon the WSIPP report, no later than June 1, 2015, the Governor must decide whether to expand the work performed in the demonstration sites to the rest of the state.
 
DSHS, the Office of Financial Management and the Caseload Forecast Council must develop a proposal for the reinvestment of savings into evidence-based prevention and intervention programs to prevent the need for or reduce the duration of foster care placements.
 

 

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