CERTIFICATION OF ENROLLMENT
SENATE BILL 5419
Chapter 156, Laws of 2024
68th Legislature
2024 Regular Session
WASHINGTON STATE INSTITUTE FOR PUBLIC POLICY—FOSTER FAMILIES OUTCOME
EVALUATION
EFFECTIVE DATE: June 6, 2024
Passed by the Senate February 2, 2024 CERTIFICATE
Yeas 49 Nays 0
I, Sarah Bannister, Secretary of
the Senate of the State of
DENNY HECK Washington, do hereby certify that
President of the Senate the attached is SENATE BILL 5419 as
passed by the Senate and the House
of Representatives on the dates
hereon set forth.
Passed by the House March 1, 2024
Yeas 96 Nays 0
SARAH BANNISTER
LAURIE JINKINS Secretary
Speaker of the House of
Representatives
Approved March 18, 2024 3:23 PM FILED
March 19, 2024
Secretary of State
JAY INSLEE State of Washington
Governor of the State of Washington
 SENATE BILL 5419
Passed Legislature - 2024 Regular Session
State of Washington 68th Legislature 2023 Regular Session
By Senators Gildon, Billig, Liias, Mullet, and C. Wilson
Read first time 01/17/23. Referred to Committee on Human Services.
1 AN ACT Relating to removing the requirement that the Washington
2 state institute of public policy conduct an outcome evaluation of
3 case aides who provide short-term relief for certain foster families;
4 and amending RCW 74.13.270.
5 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
6 Sec. 1. RCW 74.13.270 and 2019 c 470 s 29 are each amended to
7 read as follows:
8 (1) The legislature recognizes the need for temporary short-term
9 relief for foster parents who care for children with emotional,
10 mental, or physical disabilities. For purposes of this section,
11 respite care means appropriate, temporary, short-term care for these
12 foster children placed with licensed foster parents. The purpose of
13 this care is to give the foster parents temporary relief from the
14 stresses associated with the care of these foster children. The
15 department shall design a program of respite care that will minimize
16 disruptions to the child and will serve foster parents within these
17 priorities, based on input from foster parents, foster parent
18 associations, and reliable research if available.
19 (2)(a) For the purposes of this section, and subject to funding
20 appropriated specifically for this purpose, short-term support shall
21 include case aides who provide temporary assistance to foster parents
p. 1 SB 5419.SL
 1 as needed with the overall goal of supporting the parental efforts of
2 the foster parents except that this assistance shall not include
3 overnight assistance. The department shall contract with nonprofit
4 community-based organizations in each region to establish a statewide
5 pool of individuals to provide the support described in this
6 subsection. These individuals shall be employees or volunteers with
7 the nonprofit community-based organization and shall have the
8 appropriate training, background checks, and qualifications as
9 determined by the department. Short-term support as described in this
10 subsection shall be available to all licensed foster parents in the
11 state as funding is available and shall be phased in by geographic
12 region. To obtain the assistance of a case aide for this purpose, the
13 foster parent may request the services from the nonprofit community-
14 based organization and the nonprofit community-based organization may
15 offer assistance to licensed foster families. If the requests for the
16 short-term support provided in this subsection exceed the funding
17 available, the nonprofit community-based organization shall have
18 discretion to determine the assignment of case aides. The nonprofit
19 community-based organization shall report all short-term support
20 provided under this subsection to the department.
21 (b) ((Subject to funding appropriated specifically for this
22 purpose, the Washington state institute for public policy shall
23 prepare an outcome evaluation of the short-term support described in
24 this subsection. The evaluation will, to the maximum extent possible,
25 assess the impact of the short-term support services described in
26 this subsection on the retention of foster homes and the number of
27 placements a foster child receives while in out-of-home care as well
28 as the return on investment to the state. The institute shall submit
29 a preliminary report to the appropriate committees of the legislature
30 and the governor by December 1, 2018, that describes the initial
31 implementation of these services and descriptive statistics of the
32 families utilizing these services. A final report shall be submitted
33 to the appropriate committees of the legislature by June 30, 2021. At
34 no cost to the institute, the department shall provide all data
35 necessary to discharge this duty.
36 (c))) Costs associated with case aides as described in this
37 subsection shall not be included in the forecast.
38 (((d))) (c) Pursuant to RCW 41.06.142(((3))), performance-based
39 contracting under (a) of this subsection is expressly mandated by the
p. 2 SB 5419.SL
1 legislature and is not subject to the processes set forth in RCW
2 41.06.142 (((1), (4), and (5))).
Passed by the Senate February 2, 2024.
Passed by the House March 1, 2024.
Approved by the Governor March 18, 2024.
Filed in Office of Secretary of State March 19, 2024.
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Statutes affected:
Original Bill: 74.13.270
Bill as Passed Legislature: 74.13.270
Session Law: 74.13.270