Given LCYC’s direct representation of young adults in Extended Foster Care, we keep a close eye on all services impacting this population of young people, including the need to develop a robust Independent Living Program, so that they feel prepared to transition to adulthood.

LCYC believes that at its best, Extended Foster Care can serve as a homelessness prevention program for young people leaving foster care, which fulfills the promises made to young people in Senate Bill 6560 (2018)—legislation that mandated that by December 31, 2020, young people shall not exit public systems of care into homelessness.

LCYC was involved in advocacy around Senate Bill 5290 (2019), which phases out the use of jail as a punishment for youth involved in non-criminal status offenses (such as running from a foster care placement or being truant from school). While the passage of 5290 was a huge victory for young people, it also requires Washington State to rethink how it engages with youth and their families so that both preventative and crisis response systems are available when youth and families need them.

To uphold our commitment to address the racist history and practices of the child welfare system, LCYC supported the passage of House Bill 1227 (2021), also known as Keeping Families Together. The bill aims to reduce the effects of implicit bias by appropriately increasing the burden of removal for Child Protective Services and shifting legal presumptions around relative placement. The goal is to reduce the overall number of families entering the system, thus reducing the number of families unnecessarily separated—especially families of color—who are disproportionately policed by the child welfare system.

After more than a decade of incremental legislative advocacy, House Bill 1219 passed in 2021, and will expand the provision of legal counsel to dependent children and youth across Washington State.

It is critical that dependent youth have access to an attorney so that their rights, safety, and access to family, education, services, and permanency are protected in the often years-long, complex dependency proceedings.

The bill will be implemented over the next several years, with the statewide Children’s Representation Program overseeing the program and implementation efforts.

This bill is a huge win for young people who are currently in or will opt into Extended Foster Care (EFC) upon turning 18! The existing EFC program offers support and services to young people ages 18-21, including a monthly stipend if they are living in a Supervised Independent Living placement.

Senate Bill 5908 expands access to EFC and removes previous requirements to participate—as of the effective date, the only “eligibility” requirement is that youth must be dependent on their 18th birthday and agree to voluntarily engage in the EFC program.

The Keeping Families Together (KFT) coalition, of which LCYC is a member, championed this bill with the goal of deepening the child welfare system’s data tracking—rather than focusing solely on child welfare case timelines and deadlines, KFT wants Washington State to also track and report how children, youth, and families in the dependency system are doing so that we can obtain a more accurate picture of the needs of families.

Senate Bill 6068 requires the Administrative Office of the Courts to submit a report to the Legislature by July 1, 2025, identifying measures of relational permanency and child well-being.

This bill is a follow up to a KFT priority bill from 2021—House Bill 1227 became effective in July 2023 and faced significant confusion “on the ground” and in the child welfare court system.

Senate Bill 6109 makes changes to HB 1227 by requiring that a court must give great weight to the lethality of high-potency synthetic opioids and public health guidance from the Department of Health related to high-potency synthetic opioids when considering whether the child may remain in the home of a parent. You can find more background on HB 1227 here and here.

SB 6109 also came with over $6.5 million in funding to support child welfare-involved families where there may be a risk of fentanyl or other child health and safety concerns present, including funding for a public health nurse pilot, a safety plan participants (3rd party) pilot, and legal liaisons to help the State with the preparation of court cases, among other investments.

Senate Bill 5604 passed in 2019, was amended in 2020, and implemented January 1, 2021. The UGA allows (among many other things) minors to file a petition so that courts can appoint a guardian to make decisions and take action for a youth who does not have a parent or legal guardian able to care for them—this provides youth a route to stability and safety with a guardian outside of the child welfare system.

House Bill 1406 (2023) makes it easier for youth under 18 to access shelter when they feel unsafe or unwelcome at home. The new law allows a minor to provide authorization to stay in a licensed overnight youth shelter if the shelter:

(1) is unable to make contact with a parent despite the shelter’s notification efforts required by law; or

(2) makes contact with a parent, but the parent does not request that the child return home (even if the parent does not explicitly consent for the minor remaining in the shelter).

The law also allows youth to stay in a HOPE Center for up to 90 days (an increase from the previous 30-day limit). Finally, through the bill, the Office of Homeless Youth (OHY) received funding to issue grants for “Community Support Teams,” which are intended to provide holistic, wraparound supports to youth focused on resolving family conflict and obtaining or maintaining long-term and stable housing.

Championed by Northstar Advocates and in response to Washington State’s commitment to not exit young people from systems of care into homelessness, House Bill 1929 will create the Post-Inpatient Housing Program for Young Adults within the Health Care Authority (HCA).

The program will provide supportive transitional housing with behavioral health supports to young people, ages 18-24, leaving inpatient treatment, with a focus on securing long-term housing. The Legislature allocated funding alongside the passage of HB 1929, which will allow the HCA to provide funding to at least one community-based organization, tribe, or tribal organization to operate residential programs with 6 to 10 beds to serve eligible persons for up to 90 days. At least two residential programs must be created with at least one on each side of the State.

A trans foster youth consistently asked the court and the parties in his dependency proceeding to use he/him pronouns and to allow him to cut his hair to allow him to better reflect his male identity. The dependency court permitted the youth to cut his hair but denied his request that the court and the parties use male pronouns.

The youth moved for reconsideration, which the dependency court denied. The youth then filed a motion for discretionary review in Division II Court of Appeals. The Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF) cross-moved for discretionary review. LCYC joined the Washington Defender Association, Lavender Rights Project, the ACLU-WA, and QLaw on an amicus brief, arguing that the dependency court failed to affirm the youth’s dignity, personal autonomy, and emotional well-being in failing to acknowledge the youth’s identity and, in doing so, committed probable error when it denied his motion regarding pronoun use.

The Court of Appeals (Division II) granted the youth’s motion and DCYF’s cross-motion for discretionary review, and “ordered that the juvenile court’s denial of [the youth’s] motion for the court and the parties to use male pronouns is reversed in part, and this matter is remanded for further dependency proceedings.” The Court further granted DCYF’s motion to change the caption of the case to reflect the youth’s male identity.

At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, court closures and restrictions highlighted barriers young people —particularly trans young adults experiencing housing instability —faced when filing name change petitions in District Courts. Changing their legal name not only psychologically benefits trans people by legitimizing their identity through the eyes of the law, but it is also often the last barrier they face towards accessing new opportunities and benefits.

Yet, many District Courts were refusing to accept fee waivers from young people who were working with a Qualified Legal Services Provider (QLSP), while others were requiring young people to pay a $203.50 recording fee before accepting their name change petition despite being eligible for a fee waiver. Given that trans young people are at high risk of homelessness, District Courts requiring fees to access the name change process presents a clear access to justice issue.

LCYC reached out to partners at QLaw and TeamChild, who confirmed that the same barriers existed in even more jurisdictions. LCYC led on writing advocacy letters to each District Court and the District and Municipal Court Judges' Association (DMCJA), highlighting the access to justice issues for Washington’s indigent LGBTQIA+ community in the name change process. We presented at a DMCJA Board Meeting and at the Access to Justice Board’s Delivery Systems Committee Meeting. LCYC also met with the Court Management Council Chairs, coordinated by Access to Justice Board. And partnered with the Gender and Justice Commission for future advocacy and training efforts.

Senate Bill 5028 (2023) makes the name change process more accessible. Our work on this bill has been inspired by the LGBTQIA+ young people we work with who seek a name change to reflect their identity. The new law allows people to file a name change petition in any district court, instead of only in the district court of the judicial district in which the person resides. It requires the petition to only note the person's desire for the name change, instead of requiring that a name change petition state the reasons for the requested name change.

Additionally, it expands the circumstances under which a name change petition may be filed in the superior court and requires the superior court to seal the file upon granting a name change. It also allows individuals or qualified legal service providers (like LCYC!) to petition the district court to waive all fees for filing, transmitting, and recording a name change.

To ensure equal access to justice, LCYC supported the passage of House Bill 1072 (2021), which removes the immigrant restriction on state funded civil legal aid dollars. The bill ensures that undocumented people can access civil legal aid—people who are already in a vulnerable position because of their legal status. Removing the restriction will mean that they will have the ability to resolve legal issues, including stabilizing their family situation, preventing eviction, saving their home from foreclosure, protecting themselves from debt collection, avoiding medical care costs in instances of intimate partner violence, and many others.