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Home » Budget » State budgets » 2021-23 Gov. Inslee's proposed budgets » Agency recommendation summaries » Department of Children, Youth, and Families

Department of Children, Youth, and Families

  Annual FTEs General Fund State Other Funds Total Funds
  (Dollars in Thousands)
Estimated Expenditures 4,399.6 1,920,236 1,128,891 3,049,127
2021-23 Maintenance Level 4,531.9 2,120,286 1,083,085 3,203,371
Difference from 2019-21 132.3 200,050 (45,806) 154,244
% Change from 2019-21 3.0% 10.4% (4.1%) 5.1%

2021-23 Policy Other Changes

Family Child Care CBA 0.0 6,390 0 6,390
JR Behavioral Health 23.0 6,940 0 6,940
General Fund Balance Reduction 0.0 (20,489) 20,489 0
Child Care Broadband Access 0.50 8,930 0 8,930
WCCC Increase Income Limit 0.0 23,868 0 23,868
Health Care Sponsorship Pilot 2.0 26,920 0 26,920
Concrete Goods & Services 0.0 2,530 0 2,530
Online Purchasing Savings 0.0 (276) 0 (276)
Continue Prevention Pilot 0.0 1,742 0 1,742
Community Reentry for All JR Youth 52.4 13,947 0 13,947
Seasonal Child Care Underspend 0.0 (1,563) 0 (1,563)
OIAA Data Support 0.0 (200) 200 0
Virtual Early Achievers Platform 0.0 (5,140) 0 (5,140)
ECEAP Entitlement Date 0.0 (41,466) 0 (41,466)
ECEAP Expansion 0.0 9,605 0 9,605
ECEAP Rate Increase 0.0 9,675 0 9,675
EL Engagement Navigators 0.0 3,929 0 3,929
Co-pay Relief 1.0 23,689 15,984 39,673
Staff Goods and Services 0.0 (578) (28) (606)
Staff Travel Reduction 0.0 (280) (134) (414)
Child Welfare Caseload Reduction 104.4 13,197 2,313 15,510
Wendy's Wonderful Kids 0.0 1,200 0 1,200
CBA Language Access Providers 0.0 2 2 4
Pandemic Home Visiting Increase 1.0 0 5,540 5,540
FFPSA Plan Implementation 13.0 0 4,289 4,289
ECEAP Entitlement & Integration 2.3 1,010 0 1,010
Reach Out and Read 0.0 300 0 300
Reduced IT Costs 0.0 (2,750) 0 (2,750)
Reduction Practice Improvement (2.0) (680) 0 (680)
Facilitated Play Groups 0.0 400 0 400
Maintain ECLIPSE 0.0 2,152 0 2,152
Delay Travel Reimbursement 0.0 (1,000) 0 (1,000)
Virtual Training Platform 0.0 (1,000) (1,538) (2,538)
2021-23 Policy Other Changes Total 197.6 81,004 47,117 128,121

2021-23 Policy Comp Changes

Pension Adjustments, nonrate 0.0 465 124 589
State Employee Benefits 0.0 (194) (48) (242)
WFSE General Government 0.0 (21,638) (5,553) (27,191)
Temporary Layoffs and Other Savings 0.0 (4,976) (1,247) (6,223)
Rep Employee Health Benefits 0.0 (1,094) (257) (1,351)
Non-Rep General Wage Increase 0.0 (4,648) (38) (4,686)
SEIU 1199 General Government 0.0 (301) 0 (301)
2021-23 Policy Comp Changes Total 0.0 (32,386) (7,019) (39,405)

2021-23 Policy Central Services Changes

Archives/Records Management 0.0 40 15 55
Audit Services 0.0 (21) (10) (31)
Legal Services 0.0 (4,741) (1,185) (5,926)
Administrative Hearings 0.0 (28) (13) (41)
CTS Central Services 0.0 721 287 1,008
DES Central Services 0.0 62 24 86
OFM Central Services 0.0 5,695 (7) 5,688
Self-Insurance Liability Premium 0.0 37,473 10,637 48,110
2021-23 Policy Central Services Changes Total 0.0 39,201 9,748 48,949
Total Policy Changes 197.6 87,819 49,846 137,665
2021-23 Policy Level 4,729.5 2,208,105 1,132,931 3,341,036
Difference from 2019-21 329.9 287,869 4,040 291,909
% Change from 2019-21 7.5% 15.0% 0.36% 9.6%

Policy Changes

Family Child Care CBA

Consistent with the 2020 collective bargaining agreement, funding is provided for a 17.6% increase in the licensed family home provider non-standard hour bonus rate, a 2% tiered reimbursement increase for level 3.5, and a .35 per hour/per child rate increase for Family, Friend and Neighbor providers. (General Fund - State)

JR Behavioral Health

The vast majority of youth in the juvenile rehabilitation program have behavioral health and/or substance use disorder needs. Current funding levels do not provide the department with sufficient resources to fully assess all youth or provide sufficient treatment to meet their needs. Funding is provided for substance use dependence professionals and dialectical behavioral therapy specialists to fully implement the dialectical behavioral therapy and substance use treatment components of the department's Integrated Treatment Model. (General Fund - State)

General Fund Balance Reduction

A one-time reduction of General Fund-State fund balance is offset by using available federal Child Care Development Funds. (General Fund - Federal, Home Visiting Services Account - State, General Fund - State)

Child Care Broadband Access

Many school-age child care providers lack a sufficient wireless internet signal for students to participate in online learning during the school day. Funding is provided to support broadband access for approximately 4,400 licensed child care providers serving over 20,500 school-aged children. (General Fund - State)

WCCC Increase Income Limit

Effective July 1, 2022, the Working Connections Child Care income limit is increased by 10 percent for applicants, thereby creating a new application income threshold of 210 percent of the federal poverty level. This will allow more than 4,900 additional children to access high-quality child care. (General Fund - State)

Health Care Sponsorship Pilot

Funding is provided for the department to contract with the Health Care Authority and Health Benefit Exchange to pilot a health care insurance premium assistance sponsorship pilot for verified employees of licensed child care centers. The four-year pilot will help child care employees afford a qualified health plan through the Health Benefit Exchange. Monthly premium costs to the enrollee will be reduced by $100 per month after the individual’s advance premium tax credit is applied. The pilot will serve approximately 10,000 workers per year. (General Fund - State)

Concrete Goods & Services

One-time grants are provided to the department to contract with one or more nongovernmental organization(s) to purchase and deliver concrete goods to approximately 8,280 low-income families in 23 geographic areas around the state with historically high rates of child abuse and neglect investigations. (General Fund - State)

Online Purchasing Savings

In January 2021, the department will transition to online purchases for concrete goods for child welfare involved children. This change eliminates the five percent administration rate to providers and results in more competitive prices. (General Fund - State, General Fund - Federal)

Continue Prevention Pilot

Funding is provided for the department to contract with a nonprofit organization with early childhood expertise to extend the pilot project with the purpose of preventing child abuse and neglect in Pierce County. (Home Visiting Services Account - State, General Fund - State)

Community Reentry for All JR Youth

Funding is provided for implementation of proposed legislation (Z-0084.4) establishing a community services transition program utilizing less restrictive settings, as well as investments in case management and community support services to facilitate successful reentry. (General Fund - State)

Seasonal Child Care Underspend

The Seasonal Child Care program appropriation is updated to account for the average underspend from the last two fiscal years in 2022 and half the average underspend in 2023. (General Fund - Federal, General Fund - State)

OIAA Data Support

The Office of Innovation, Alignment and Accountability (OIAA) will receive compensation for data, consultation and analytic support from non-state agencies, resulting in savings. (General Fund - State, General Fund - Private/Local, General Fund - Local)

Virtual Early Achievers Platform

The department is integrating the licensing and quality rating systems and making modifications to support the delivery of the Early Achievers program through virtual trainings and online data collection. This results in savings for travel and staff time for in-person trainings and conferences. (General Fund - State)

ECEAP Entitlement Date

Since 2013, over 6,000 ECEAP slots have been added with the goal of making the program an entitlement by the 2022-23 school year. The COVID-19 pandemic has delayed progress to sufficiently meet ECEAP entitlement by 2023. To address this setback, funding is provided in the program support budget to develop a roadmap to meet statewide ECEAP entitlement. This includes identifying capital investments to build enough classrooms to meet demand and strategies to recruit, retain, and educate the workforce. This change removes funding in the maintenance level that was based on the November 2020 ECEAP forecast costs to meet entitlement in the 2022-23 school year. (General Fund - State)

ECEAP Expansion

Funding is provided for 750 Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program (ECEAP) slots in 2023. Ninety percent of the slots are funded for six hours, and 10 percent of the slots are funded for 10 hours. (General Fund - State)

ECEAP Rate Increase

Funding is provided for an across-the-board seven percent slot rate increase in the ECEAP program, effective July 1, 2022. (General Fund - State)

EL Engagement Navigators

A new program for Early Learning Engagement Navigators is established. The purpose of the ELEN program is to assist child welfare-involved families engage in early learning services in 23 geographic areas around the state with historically high rates of child abuse and neglect investigations. The navigators will identify at-risk families, assess their early learning needs, match families with a service in their community, and help families to enroll. (General Fund - State)

Co-pay Relief

Funding is provided to temporarily change the family co-payment structure for the Working Connections Child Care program to reduce the monthly family co-payment by approximately 50 percent for families with income between 144 and 220 percent of the federal poverty level. The department will provide a report with options to change the monthly family co-payment to a monthly per child co-payment and make recommendations for a new co-payment structure that is based on household income. (General Fund - State, General Fund - Federal)

Staff Goods and Services

The department will decrease supplies, printing and employee services by ten percent. (General Fund - State, General Fund - Federal)

Staff Travel Reduction

This item reduces funding to capture savings due to decreased travel for staff who are not case-carrying social workers or licensing staff. (General Fund - State, General Fund - Federal)

Child Welfare Caseload Reduction

Additional staff and funding are provided to lower caseload ratios to 18 families per Child and Family Welfare Services worker and to eight families per Child Protective Services worker. The 1:18 caseload ratio for CFWS is the Braam settlement standard. The 1:8 caseload ratio for CPS is the Child Welfare League of America recommendation. These caseload ratios will improve the quality of case management and lead to more expedited permanency outcomes for children and families. More appropriate caseloads will also improve recruitment and retention of staff, maintain a stable workforce, and decrease burnout. (General Fund - soc Svc Fed Blk Grants, General Fund - State, General Fund - Family Support/Child Welfare, other funds)

Wendy's Wonderful Kids

Funding is maintained for the program of the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption that provides adoption professionals to find permanent adoptive homes for high needs children in foster care. (General Fund - State)

CBA Language Access Providers

Funding is adjusted for interpreter services based upon the language access providers collective bargaining agreement for the 2021-23 biennium. (General Fund - State, General Fund - Federal)

Pandemic Home Visiting Increase

One-time funding is provided for increased home visiting services for approximately 530 families during the pandemic in 23 geographic hot spots around the state with historically high rates of child abuse and neglect investigations. (Home Visiting Services Account - Federal, General Fund - Federal, Home Visiting Services Account - State)

FFPSA Plan Implementation

Family First Transition federal funding was awarded to the department to implement requirements of the Family First Prevention Services Act. The federal FFPSA legislation provides an opportunity for states to expand voluntary prevention services using Title IV-E Foster Care and Adoption Assistance funding. (General Fund - Federal, General Fund - State)

ECEAP Entitlement & Integration

Funding is provided to develop a statewide ECEAP entitlement roadmap and to continue collaboration with the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction to complete a report with options and recommendations for administrative efficiencies and long-term strategies that align all high-quality early learning programs administered by both agencies for the purpose of integrated classes. The report will include recommendations for supporting ECEAP entitlement including identifying capital investments to build enough classrooms to meet demand and strategies to recruit, retain, and educate the workforce. Funding includes contract costs for fiscal modeling and project management. The report is due September, 1 2022. (General Fund - State)

Reach Out and Read

Funding is provided for the department to maintain the Reach Out and Read contract. Reach Out and Read supports pediatricians promoting literacy readiness at each well-child visit from birth to five years old. Pediatricians counsel parents about the importance of reading aloud with young children, model age-appropriate ways to engage and encourage young children to read, and provide free books to low-income families. (General Fund - State)

Reduced IT Costs

The department will reduce expenditures on information technology licenses and non-mission critical equipment purchases. (General Fund - State)

Reduction Practice Improvement

The consolidation of work associated with two full-time employees and a variety of practice improvement functions will result in ongoing savings. (General Fund - State)

Facilitated Play Groups

Funding is provided for facilitated play groups offered statewide to Family, Friend, and Neighbor child care providers to support early brain development, social-emotional skills and kindergarten readiness. These groups meet weekly, are led by trained early learning facilitators, and are offered in multiple languages. (General Fund - State)

Maintain ECLIPSE

Additional state funding is provided to continue delivering the Early Childhood Intervention Prevention Services program (formerly known as the Medicaid Treatment Child Care Program). Use of federal Medicaid dollars to support this program was disallowed in 2014. The use of funding from the Early Services for Infants and Toddlers program assumed in the enacted budget could not be realized. The ECLIPSE program provides early intervention and treatment for children exposed to environmental, familial and biological risk factors that impact development, behavior and mental health. The department will seek to obtain funding from other programs or sources to support the ECLIPSE program on an ongoing basis. (General Fund - State)

Delay Travel Reimbursement

The enacted budget funded a travel reimbursement rate increase for in-home services. This step delays the rate increase until July 2022. (General Fund - State)

Virtual Training Platform

The training for new social workers is a three-week, in-person training. Many of these trainings have been developed to accommodate virtual learning. This results in savings from reduced travel, lodging and per diem costs. (General Fund - soc Svc Fed Blk Grants, General Fund - Family Support/Child Welfare, General Fund - Social Service Federal Block Grants, other funds)

Pension Adjustments, nonrate

This funds the potential impact of Department of Retirement Systems request legislation on pension service credit and benefit calculation. It will prevent budget reductions such as temporary layoffs from negatively affecting employee retirement benefits. (General Fund - State, Home Visiting Services Account - State, General Fund - Federal)

State Employee Benefits

Health insurance funding is provided for state employees who are not represented by a union, who are covered by a bargaining agreement that is not subject to financial feasibility determination, or who are not part of the coalition of unions for health benefits. The insurance funding rate is $988 per employee per month for fiscal year 2022 and $1,018 per employee per month for fiscal year 2023. (General Fund - Federal, General Fund - State, Home Visiting Services Account - State)

WFSE General Government

This adjustment reflects the impact of the 2021-23 collective bargaining agreement. (General Fund - Local, General Fund - Private/Local, Education Legacy Trust Account - State, other funds)

Temporary Layoffs and Other Savings

This item reflects savings achieved from temporary layoffs or similar actions. (Home Visiting Services Account - State, General Fund - Private/Local, General Fund - Local, other funds)

Rep Employee Health Benefits

This provides health insurance funding for the master agreement for employee benefits as part of a coalition of unions. The insurance funding rate is $988 per employee per month for fiscal year 2022 and $1,018 per employee per month for fiscal year 2023. (Home Visiting Services Account - State, General Fund - Federal, Education Legacy Trust Account - State, other funds)

Non-Rep General Wage Increase

This reflects savings from the cancellation of the July 1, 2020 general wage increase for some non-represented, non-classified employees. (Home Visiting Services Account - Federal, General Fund - Federal, Home Visiting Services Account - State, other funds)

SEIU 1199 General Government

This adjustment reflects the impact of the 2021-23 collective bargaining agreement. (General Fund - State)

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)

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 legal services provided by the Attorney General’s Office. Because legal services expenditures are based on consumption, 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 from 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 for Microsoft 365 G5 licenses contracted for state agencies by the Consolidated Technology Services agency. This contract allows the state to achieve economies of scale and administrative efficiencies in the management of licenses. (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 (DES) for campus rent, utilities, parking, and contracts; capital project surcharges; financing cost recovery; public and historic facilities; real estate services; risk management services; personnel service rates; the Perry Street child care center; small agency services; and the department’s enterprise applications. (General Fund - State, General Fund - Federal)

OFM Central Services

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

Self-Insurance Liability Premium

Adjustments are made to reflect each agency's share of actuarily projected costs of the Self-Insurance Liability Account. This includes adjustments to existing funding levels as well as enhancements for anticipated liabilities in the 2021-23 biennium. (General Fund - State, General Fund - Federal)