Blue Ribbon Commission on Children and Families

Final Report

The Commission produced its final report on November 8, 2016:

• Final Report: Improving the Well-Being of Washington State's Children, Youth and Families

About the Blue Ribbon Commission

On Feb. 18, 2016, Gov. Inslee issued an executive order establishing the Washington State Blue Ribbon Commission on Delivery of Services to Children and Families. His executive order directs the Commission to recommend the organizational structure for a new department focused solely on children and families.

For many years the state has had a Children’s Administration, and Economic Services Administration, a Juvenile Rehabilitation Administration, a Behavioral Health Administration and other divisions within the state’s largest agency: the Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS). DSHS has approximately 17,500 staff, a budget of $14 billion dollars per biennium and is responsible for managing everything from state psychiatric hospitals to long-term care.  The state also funds programs for children and families in a number of other agencies across state government and in a wide-range of community-based programs. 

The purpose of creating this new agency is to have a cabinet-level department that will align state policies across agencies and have accountability for better using the state’s resources to improve the lives of children and families. This new agency will ensure there is a focus on the well-being of children and reduce barriers to improving services so that better outcomes can be achieved. Governor Inslee has tasked the Commission with creating a blueprint for the new agency, including a clear mission and vision, the design of the agency structure, and a funding and implementation plan.

A separate department of children and families has been successfully implemented across the country in other states including Indiana, New Jersey, New York City, Tennessee, Georgia, and Wisconsin. It has been studied extensively in Washington, and introduced legislatively multiple times. The time has come to move forward with a new department to better meet the needs of our state’s children and families.

The commission's work resulted in the creation of the Washington State Department of Children, Youth, and Families. 

Guiding principles for the new department

In considering the mission, vision and structure for this new agency, the Commission began its work by developing guiding principles for the new department. Among the priorities for the new department must be supporting and strengthening families before crises occur, and leveraging every contact as an opportunity to improve the course of a child’s life and help to minimize further system-involvement or harm.

• Services should be centered on children meeting key milestones of healthy development, with an emphasis on early brain development and school success.
• Children and families furthest from opportunity, and those at greatest risk of negative outcomes should be prioritized to help them address the additional barriers they face.
• Services must be provided in a way that best serve the needs of the family and child, centered on the “whole person” approach of health and well-being, and not be fragmented or disjointed, leaving it up to the family to navigate complicated systems with different rules and multiple bureaucracies.
• The services must be science-based, regularly evaluated to make sure they are achieving outcomes, and use shared data across programs in order to assure that children and families are supported with most effective interventions available.
• The agency’s work will recognize that improved well-being relies on stronger connections between families and communities, and must be based on equitable access, support and outcomes for children and families of all races, ethnicities and cultures.

The opportunity

The Commission’s work offers a unique opportunity to focus on improving the well-being of Washington’s children and families, especially our most vulnerable.  Thousands of families across the state struggle with poverty, mental health and substance abuse issues, child abuse and neglect, domestic violence, homelessness, historic or cultural inequity as well as other challenges. Children exposed to these circumstances often experience severe trauma and hardship, impacting their ability to succeed in school and beyond. 

Helping more children succeed in school and in life is our goal. Strategies to provide early intervention and support and reduce the chances of harm or further harm, as well as to effectively treat children who have experienced adversity; this will be the work of the new Department of Children, Youth, and Families. 

Members

See list of members

• Member list and biographies (PDF)
• Judge Anne Levinson, (Ret.), Co-chair
• Rep. Ruth Kagi, Co-Chair
• Rep. Maureen Walsh
• Sen. Jeannie Darneille
• Sen. Judy Warnick
• Pat Lashway, Department of Social and Health Services
• Ross Hunter, Department of Early Learning
• Jennifer Strus, Children's Administration
• Patrick Dowd, Office of the Family and Children's Ombuds
• Judge Kitty-Ann van Doornick, Superior Court Judge
• Barbara Carr, Juvenile Court Administrator
• Liz Mueller, Tribal Representative
• Mel Tonasket, Tribal Representative
• Bryan Samuels, Child Welfare Expert
• Lawrence Berger, Economic Issues Expert
• Micah Kurtz, Washington Federation of State Employees

Articles and reports on better outcomes for children

• Essentials for Childhood: Steps to Create Safe, Stable, Nurturing Relationships and Environments (CDC)
• Children in the States (Children's Defense Fund)
• Preventing Child Maltreatment Through the Promotion of Safe, Stable, and Nurturing Relationships Between Children and Caregivers (CDC)
• Preventing Child Abuse and Neglect: A Technical Package for Policy, Norm, and Programmatic Activities (CDC)
• Supporting Strong Families and Communities in New Jersey: Preventing Child Abuse & Neglect, 2014 - 2017 (New Jersey Task Force on Child Abuse and Neglect)
• Cross System Innovations: Getting From Where You Are to Where You Want to Be (Noyes/Corbett2005)
• The Challenge of Institutional “milieu” to Cross Systems Integration (Corbett et al) - A report answering the question “why is human services integration so hard to achieve?"
• An Examination of Organizational Structure & Programmatic Reform in Public Child Protective Services: A Report by the Washington State Institute for Public Policy (WSIPP report)
• 2005 Report to the Legislature from the Joint Task Force on the Administration & Delivery of Services to Children and Families: Recommendations from SB 5872
• 2007 Final Report on the Joint Task Force on Administration & Delivery of Services to Children and Families

Commission meetings

The links below contain 2016 meeting agendas and materials as well as presentations offered by content experts.

November 8

• Agenda
• Draft final report
• Overview presentation of the final report
• Mission and Vision Statements
• Guiding Principles
• Criteria and Considerations
• Audio Recording

October 11

• Agenda
• Data/IT Workgroup update
• Criteria & considerations for assessing which programs should be in the Department of Children, Youth and Families
• Optimization Workgroup Status Report 2
• Initial Proposal - Report/Recommendations Outline
• Alignment and Integration Framework
• Family Impact Network
• Washington Voices: Preliminary Findings from the Stakeholder Input Process [PDF]
• Washington Voices: Preliminary Findings from the Stakeholder Input Process [PowerPoint presentation]

September 13

• Agenda
• Audio Recording
• BRC Fiscal Workgroup Powerpoint
• ​Fiscal Workgroup Status Report
• BRC Organizing Principles
• BRC Data System Inventory
• Optimization Workgroup Report
• IT Subgroup Plan
• Mission and Vision Statement
•  

August 9

• Agenda
• Audio Recording

July 12

• Agenda
• Audio Recording
• “Outcomes for At-Risk Children and Families” - Data Presentation by Dr. David Mancuso, Director, Division of Research and Data, Department of Social and Health Services.
• “Child Welfare Overview in Washington State” - Presentation by Jennifer Strus, Assistant Secretary, Children’s Administration, DSHS

June 14

• Agenda
• Public Health Perspectives on At-Risk Kids and Families
  • Presentation by Betty Bekemeier, Northwest Center for Public Health Practice, University of Washington
  • Presentation by Patty Hayes, Director, King County Public Health Department
  • Panel Presentation by Dr. Bekemeier, Patty Hayes, Dr. Azita Emami, Dean, School of Nursing, University of Washington, & Janna Bardi, Assistant Secretary, Prevention & Community Health, Washington State Department of Health 
• "Early Intervention Strategies"- Presentation by Mimi Siegel, Executive Director, Kindering Center
• “Prevention Models for Child Welfare” - Presentation by Bryan Samuels, Executive Director, Chapin Hall, University of Chicago
• “Prevention Strategies for Young Children” - Presentation by Vicki Ybarra, Director of Research & Analysis, Department of Early Learning

May 10

• Audio Recording
• “Overview of Children’s Services in Washington” - Presentation by Dr. Barb Lucenko, Research and Data Analysis Division, DSHS
• ​Fiscal Overview of Services to Children and Families - Presentation by Rayanna Williams, Budget Assistant, Office of Financial Management
• “Children’s Services in Washington” - Presentation by Ben DeHaan, Partners for Our Children, University of Washington