You are here

Home » Budget » State budgets » 2022 Governor's proposed supplemental budget » Agency recommendation summaries » Department of Children, Youth, and Families

Department of Children, Youth, and Families

  Average Annual FTEs Near General Fund State Other Funds Total Funds
  (Dollars in Thousands)
Current Budget 4,675.3 2,148,170 1,806,772 3,954,942
2021-23 Maintenance Level 4,610.9 2,233,141 1,799,942 4,033,083
Difference from 2021-23 Original (64.4) 84,971 (6,830) 78,141
% Change from 2021-23 Original (1.4%) 4.0% (0.4%) 2.0%

2022 Policy Other Changes

Equipment Replacement 0.0 191 0 191
BRS New Facility 0.0 1,513 0 1,513
Background Check Fee Assistance 0.0 1,267 0 1,267
County Criminal Justice Assistance 0.0 (662) 0 (662)
Caregiver Engagement Unit 7.5 1,505 353 1,858
COVID FMAP Increase 0.0 (6,796) 6,796 0
Combined In-Home 0.0 8,440 0 8,440
Child Support Foster Care 0.0 1,798 390 2,188
ECEAP Quality Support Rate 0.0 1,268 0 1,268
ECEAP Slot Conversions 0.0 9,327 0 9,327
EFC Transition Supports 0.0 200 10,626 10,826
JR Facility Maintenance 0.0 1,189 0 1,189
Mental Health Consultation 0.0 260 0 260
Family Time Rates 0.0 23,519 5,163 28,682
WCCC Co-Pay Waiver Adjustment 0.0 300 9,200 9,500
ICWA Updated Standards 46.8 9,791 2,302 12,093
Language Access Providers Agreement 0.0 6 2 8
Maintain Staffing Levels 16.9 2,100 0 2,100
BRS Placement Continuum 5.8 15,370 8,356 23,726
Parent Pay 0.0 1,650 (1,551) 99
Summer ECEAP 0.0 5,970 0 5,970
Workload Study 0.0 800 200 1,000
2022 Policy Other Changes Total 77.0 79,006 41,837 120,843

2022 Policy Comp Changes

SEIU Cost of Care Enhancement 0.0 27,508 21,000 48,508
State Employee Benefits 0.0 13 3 16
WFSE General Government 0.0 13,212 3,113 16,325
Rep Employee Health Benefits 0.0 74 17 91
Non-Rep General Wage Increase 0.0 1,765 442 2,207
SEIU 1199 General Government 0.0 158 0 158
PERS & TRS Plan 1 Benefit Increase 0.0 285 72 357
2022 Policy Comp Changes Total 0.0 43,015 24,647 67,662

2022 Policy Central Services Changes

Archives/Records Management 0.0 27 11 38
Audit Services 0.0 9 4 13
Legal Services 0.0 12,084 3,018 15,102
Administrative Hearings 0.0 37 16 53
CTS Central Services 0.0 600 161 761
DES Central Services 0.0 2,163 944 3,107
OFM Central Services 0.0 5,297 167 5,464
Self-Insurance Liability Premium 0.0 2,358 670 3,028
2022 Policy Central Services Changes Total 0.0 22,575 4,991 27,566
Total Policy Changes 77.0 144,596 71,475 216,071
2022 Policy Level 4,687.9 2,377,737 1,871,417 4,249,154
Difference from 2021-23 Original 12.6 229,567 64,645 294,212
% Change from 2021-23 Original 0.27% 10.7% 3.6% 7.4%

Policy Changes

Audit Services

Adjustments are made for each agency’s anticipated cost of audits performed by the State Auditor’s Office. (General Fund - Federal, General Fund - State)

Legal Services

Adjustments are made for each agency's anticipated cost of Attorney General's Office legal services based on a three-year average. Because legal services costs are based on usage, funding provided in the central service model is not all inclusive. (General Fund - State, General Fund - Federal)

Administrative Hearings

Adjustments are made for each agency’s anticipated cost of administrative hearings conducted by the Office of Administrative Hearings. (General Fund - State, General Fund - Federal)

CTS Central Services

Adjustments are made to reflect each agency's anticipated share of charges from Consolidated Technology Services (CTS) for the Office of the Chief Information Officer, Office of Cyber Security, state network, enterprise services, small agency IT services, security gateways, and geospatial imaging services. See the 2021-23 Budget Instructions for allocation methodologies. (General Fund - State, General Fund - Federal)

DES Central Services

Adjustments are made to reflect each agency’s anticipated share of charges from the Department of Enterprise Services for campus rent, parking, security and contracts; capital project surcharges; financing cost recovery; public and historic facilities; real estate services; risk management services; personnel service rates; the Perry Street and Capitol Campus child care centers; small agency services; and the department’s enterprise applications. See the 2021-23 Budget Instructions for allocation methodologies. (General Fund - State, General Fund - Federal)

OFM Central Services

Adjustments are made to reflect each agency’s anticipated share of charges for existing statewide applications, the One Washington program, and other central services provided by the Office of Financial Management. See the 2021-23 Budget Instructions for allocation methodologies. (General Fund - Federal, General Fund - State)

WFSE General Government

The collective bargaining agreement includes a general wage increase of 3.25% for fiscal year 2023 and a lump sum payment for employees who were employed continuously starting on or before July 1, 2021 through June 30, 2022. (General Fund - State, Home Visiting Services Account - State, General Fund - Federal, other funds)

Equipment Replacement

Funding is provided to purchase equipment to support daily operations and programs at Juvenile Rehabilitation residential facilities. (General Fund - State)

BRS New Facility

The enacted 2019-21 capital budget appropriated funding for a behavioral rehabilitation services (BRS) capacity grant, which resulted in an award that created a 30-bed BRS facility that will open in fiscal year 2023. Funding is provided for the department to pay for youth placements in the facility, including start-up costs, administrative and program positions, and basic equipment. (General Fund - State)

Background Check Fee Assistance

Per federal rule, completion of a background check is required for newly hired staff to begin working in a child care setting. The COVID-19 pandemic continues to impact employers' ability to recruit and retain an adequate child care workforce, and the federal rule imposes additional hiring challenges when employees cannot begin working until the background check is completed. Funding is provided for the department to pay the background check application fee and the fingerprint processing fee to reduce the time involved in completing the background check. This is estimated to reduce the timeline for newly hired child care workers to be cleared to begin working by about 3-5 days. (General Fund - State)

County Criminal Justice Assistance

Funding is reduced to move the appropriation for the County Criminal Justice Assistance Account from the DCYF Juvenile Rehabilitation section of the budget to the Special Appropriations section, where such appropriations are typically found. (General Fund - State)

Caregiver Engagement Unit

The department has been piloting a caregiver engagement unit for kinship caregivers in two regions with funding provided in the 2020 supplemental budget. This effort has improved processing times to complete home studies. Legislation passed in 2021 will require the department to conduct a home study within 90 days to provide a full license to a family. Funding is provided for statewide implementation of the kinship caregiver engagement unit, which includes 7.5 FTE staff beginning in fiscal year 2022. (General Fund - State, General Fund - Federal)

COVID FMAP Increase

The federal Families First Coronavirus Relief Act authorized additional federal matching funds (FMAP) for the duration of the public health emergency. State funds are reduced and Medicaid is increased to reflect an additional 6.2 percent federal Medicaid matching rate from January through June 30, 2022. (General Fund - Medicaid Federal, General Fund - Family Support/Child Welfare, General Fund - Local CRC Oregon, other funds)

Combined In-Home

DCYF has seen a reduction in the number of combined in-home services contractors and in the service capacity of active CIHS contractors. This delays the provision of services to parents and limits the projected service capacity needed for the implementation of the Family First Prevention Services Act. Funding is provided for a rate increase for combined in-home services, which will increase the availability of high-quality CIHS statewide in support of this act. (General Fund - State)

Child Support Foster Care

Poverty is a known risk factor for involvement with the child welfare system. Currently, a referral for child support collection to offset the cost of foster care is initiated for families whose children are placed in out-of-home care. This poses a financial burden that can destabilize the household and make reunification more difficult. Funding is provided for the department to make referrals for child support collection on a case-by-case basis for families whose children are placed in out-of-home care when the plan is reunification within 180 days. This includes one-time funding in fiscal year 2022 for IT system changes to turn off the automatic case referral to the Department of Social and Health Services' Division of Child Support, as well as ongoing funding for 2.0 FTE staff to conduct case evaluations. Funding for fiscal year 2023 adds funds to backfill the lost child support collections to offset the cost of care. (General Fund - Family Support/Child Welfare, General Fund - Federal, General Fund - State)

ECEAP Quality Support Rate

The department has historically used a grant to provide quality supports to ECEAP providers, including child and family assessments, research-based curriculum, professional development, and educational platforms. Because this grant is expiring in fiscal year 2022, funding is provided for a per-slot quality support rate that will increase at a rate of 1.5% annually to accommodate inflation, beginning in fiscal year 2024. (General Fund - State)

ECEAP Slot Conversions

The vast majority of ECEAP slots are part-day, which do not fully meet the needs of working families. Funding is provided to convert 2,077 part-day slots to school day (1,765) and working day (312). This will provide ECEAP slots that better meet the needs of working families and help the department prepare to provide preschool for all children by 2027. (General Fund - State)

EFC Transition Supports

Young adults exiting extended foster care (EFC) are vulnerable to the economic consequences of the pandemic. A federal moratorium preventing states from discharging young adults due to age was put in place early in the pandemic and expired on September 30, 2021. Upon expiration, the governor allocated limited emergency funds to the Department of Children, Youth, and Families to contract with a community organization to issue a one-month stipend to these young adults. However, the COVID-19 pandemic continues to pose challenges for the young adults once served by the moratorium and more young adults continue to age out in a pandemic economy. Funding is provided to contract with a community organization to issue monthly stipends to young adults exiting the EFC program through the end of the biennium. A higher payment is assumed for the first month for young adults originally served by the moratorium and young adults exiting prior to budget enactment. In addition, funding is provided to assess state and federally funded services and benefits for young adults enrolled in or exiting extended foster care to make recommendations to improve the continuum of supports for this population to support successful transitions to independent adulthood. (General Fund - State, Coronavirus St Fiscal Recovery Fund - Federal)

JR Facility Maintenance

Funding is provided for equipment and goods and services for needs that are smaller in scope than capital projects, but beyond the scope of ordinary maintenance, at Juvenile Rehabilitation residential facilities. These investments support the safety and security of the physical environment at the facilities. (General Fund - State)

Mental Health Consultation

The biennial budget provided funding for the department to contract with an entity to increase the number of mental health consultants available for infant and early childhood mental health consultation, as provided in Chapter 199, Laws of 2021 (E2SSB 5237). Funding is provided to contract with two Tribal mental health consultants because there is a need for consultants who specialize in providing culturally appropriate services to Tribal children and families. (General Fund - State)

Family Time Rates

DCYF is court-ordered to deliver visitation services, also known as "family time", for children placed in out-of-home care to support timely permanency. The hourly rate for family time providers has never been adjusted; visit-supporting functions such as report writing and the work associated with cancelled or no-show visits are not paid as separate items; mileage is not reimbursed until after the first 60 miles driven; and quality oversight and compliance with the Indian Child Welfare Act is not built into the contract structure. Funding is provided to increase the hourly reimbursement rate, allow for visit-supporting functions to be paid as separate items, reimburse all mileage, and create a quality oversight and ICWA compliance contracting structure. This funding will stabilize family time services, which serve as a critical infrastructure in supporting timely permanency. (General Fund - State, General Fund - Federal)

WCCC Co-Pay Waiver Adjustment

The department waived copays for families receiving Working Connections Child Care (WCCC) services from July through September 2021. Funding is provided to backfill for these foregone copays, which helped address implementation challenges with a new co-payment structure outlined in E2SSB 5237 and served as a COVID-19 financial relief strategy. (General Fund - State, General Fund - Tolls, General Fund - CRRSA Federal Act)

ICWA Updated Standards

The Indian Child Welfare Act is a federal law that sets minimum standards for state court child custody proceedings involving Indian children. Recent Washington State Supreme Court decisions expanded the definition for when the court has a reason to know, thereby expanding the scope of cases in which ICWA applies. They also clarified the efforts required by the department to prevent the break-up of the Indian family. Funding is provided for the department to comply with the updated standards set forth by the court decisions, including 75 FTE staff, training revisions, and IT system changes. (General Fund - State, General Fund - Family Support/Child Welfare)

Language Access Providers Agreement

Funding is adjusted for interpreter services based upon the language access providers collective bargaining agreement for fiscal year 2023. (General Fund - Federal, General Fund - State)

Maintain Staffing Levels

Funding and FTE staff are provided to maintain necessary staffing levels at Juvenile Rehabilitation facilities independent from fluctuating caseloads related to COVID-19 impacts. (General Fund - State)

BRS Placement Continuum

The department is losing capacity in behavioral rehabilitation services (BRS), limiting placement options for foster youth while there is a need for additional placement options for hard-to-place youth. Funding is provided to increase rates for BRS treatment facilities, foster homes, and case aides; add 10 FTE staff to conduct shared planning and family team decision-making, which are required per court order; pay Attorney General's Office litigation expenses; and establish a housing pilot. (General Fund - Family Support/Child Welfare, General Fund - State)

Parent Pay

Parents of juvenile residents are required to pay a portion of the cost of the juvenile's support, treatment, and confinement in DCYF's Juvenile Rehabilitation residential facilities. General Fund-State funding is provided to backfill the revenue loss to DCYF caused by repealing the statutes requiring these payments, as proposed in DCYF agency request legislation. (General Fund - Local, General Fund - State, General Fund - Private/Local)

Summer ECEAP

The COVID-19 pandemic has created learning loss impacts among our youngest learners that will take time to overcome. One-time funding is provided for nearly nine weeks of ECEAP programming in summer 2022, which will leverage 2,212 school day slots on two tracks: 2,011 slots of in-person learning and 201 slots of wrap-around services only. This allows for parental choice, flexibility in program delivery among providers, less isolation, and continued connections to children and families. (General Fund - State)

Workload Study

A workload study for child welfare has not been conducted since 2007. Changes to federal and state laws, as well as recent court decisions, impacting how the Indian Child Welfare Act must be applied provides an opportunity to look closely at how these changes impact the workloads of case-carrying child welfare workers. Funding is provided for a workload study of the department's child welfare division. (General Fund - State, General Fund - Family Support/Child Welfare)

SEIU Cost of Care Enhancement

Funding is provided for a one-time cost of care enhancement for family childcare providers in response to the negotiated collective bargaining agreement re-opener for fiscal year 2023. This funding will reduce economic insecurity among licensed providers so that they can remain operational and improve needed childcare supports for low-income and working families. (Coronavirus St Fiscal Recovery Fund - Federal, General Fund - State)

State Employee Benefits

Health insurance funding is provided for state employees who are not covered by the healthcare coalition. The insurance funding rate is $936 per employee per month for fiscal year 2022 and $1,130 per employee per month for fiscal year 2023. (General Fund - Federal, General Fund - State)

Rep Employee Health Benefits

Health insurance funding is provided as part of the master agreements for employees who bargain for health benefits as part of a coalition of unions. The insurance funding rate is $936 per employee per month for fiscal year 2022 and $1,130 per employee per month for fiscal year 2023. (General Fund - State, General Fund - Federal)

Non-Rep General Wage Increase

A general wage increase of 3.25%, effective July 1, 2022, is provided for state employees who are not represented by a union or who are covered by a bargaining agreement that is not subject to financial feasibility determination. (Home Visiting Services Account - State, General Fund - State, General Fund - Federal, other funds)

SEIU 1199 General Government

The collective bargaining agreement includes a general wage increase of 3.25% for fiscal year 2023 and a retention bonus payable in two equal installments. (General Fund - State)

PERS & TRS Plan 1 Benefit Increase

For eligible Public Employees' and Teachers' Retirement Systems Plan 1 members, this item provides an increase of 3%, up to a maximum of $110 per month. (General Fund - State, Home Visiting Services Account - State, General Fund - Federal)

Archives/Records Management

Adjustments are made for each agency's anticipated share of charges for archives and records management services provided by the Secretary of State's Office. (General Fund - Federal, General Fund - State)

Self-Insurance Liability Premium

Adjustments are made to reflect each agency's share of the actuarially projected costs of the self-insurance liability premium. (General Fund - Federal, General Fund - State)