House focuses attention on foster kids

On any given day, there are 11,000 children in foster care in Washington State. Many of these children have parents who are working very hard to reunite with them, but thousands are awaiting adoption and thousands more are in foster care awaiting a permanent home.

With these numbers on their minds, the House of Representatives have passed a group of bills intended to protect and nurture our state’s most vulnerable residents – its foster children.

· Rep. Mary Helen Roberts’ HB 1961 extends a pilot program that will allow up to 50 foster youth per year to remain in foster care after the turn age 18. Current law considers foster kids to be adults and cuts them off the day of their 18th birthday, even if they are still in high school or enrolled in a higher ed program.

· Rep. Ruth Kagi’s HB 2106 launches a new strategy for using performance-based contracts to deliver child-welfare services. Experience in other states has proven that performance-based contracting can help keep children safely out of foster care and hasten reunification with their families when they are removed from home.

· Rep. Roberts HB 1938 encourages continued post-adoption contact among siblings who are not adopted together out of foster care.

· Rep. Eric Pettigrew’s HB 2164 continues past legislative efforts to find solutions to racial disproportionality in Washington’s child welfare system. A recent study showed that African American, Native American and Hispanic children are more likely to be referred to Child Protective Services than white children.

· Rep. Tina Orwall’s HB 1769, which passed the House on Friday, helps reunite families who have had children in the state’s foster care program by offering referrals to appropriate agencies or organizations and assistance with forms that will aid these families in attaining adequate, safe housing.