(The Center Square) – A Republican lawmaker who has spent years trying to protect children in homes where the Department of Children, Youth & Families is involved, says a bill offered by majority Democrats to address the tragedy is “like putting lipstick on a pig.”
Rep. Travis Couture, R-Allyn, has been sounding the alarm in the wake of the passage of the Keeping Families Together Act in 2021, which made active drug use alone was not enough for courts to remove children from parents.
Couture offered several amendments to strengthen Substitute House Bill 2660, a bill Couture says worries more about protecting drug using parents than saving the lives of babies and toddlers. During a Monday House Appropriations Committee hearing, the only an amendment approved by the Democratic majority was that if substance use contributed to the risk for the child, then the court can require sobriety or proof of treatment compliance before a decision is made to allow a child to remain in the home.
SHB 2660 “authorizes the court to order a parent to comply with the least restrictive conditions necessary to maintain the safety of a child who is under age 5 in the home if the court finds that there is reasonable cause to believe that these conditions are necessary to maintain the safety of the child when the child is released to the care of a parent following a shelter care hearing,” according to the bill summary.
Couture’s issue with the bill is the child can only be taken out of the home if the court finds that reasonable efforts have been made to prevent or eliminate the need for removal and removal of the child is necessary to prevent imminent physical harm due to child abuse or neglect.
Bill sponsor Rep. Lillian Ortiz-Self, D-Mukilteo, told members of the House Early Learning Committee during a Jan 27 hearing, that the Keeping Families Together Act is not to blame for an increase in critical incidents involving children.
“Are there critical incidents? Yes,” she said. “And even one is one too many and so we must address critical incidents that continue to occur. That have occurred before the law, during the law and after the law.”
Ortiz-Self said the critical incident data shows that 82% are in the newborn to age three category and her bill extends special focus on families with children up to age five.
The legislation does give judges more flexibility in ordering the parents into treatment and services, but according to Couture, it still doesn’t do enough to ensure children are not left languishing in homes with drug-addicted caregivers.
One of his amendments would move away from the imminent harm standard.
“When you use the word imminent, that is a measure of time,” Couture said. “And what this amendment would do is change the standard at which the court determines whether to remove a child from the home to require that the court remove the child when necessary to prevent substantial risk of serious harm instead of imminent physical harm in the current law.
“When you can’t care for, clothe, bathe, feed, and shelter yourself, how can you do that for a child?” he asked. “You can’t do it for a child and that’s why we’ve seen an incredible rise in critical incidents, including child death as a result, especially as it relates to fentanyl.”
The Center Square has written extensively on the devastating increase in critical incidents involving children.
During a Tuesday media availability, Rep. April Connors, R-Kennewick, who sits on the House Appropriations Committee, recalled Couture’s emotional pleading with the majority.
“I was sitting next to Rep. Couture yesterday and he was visibly shaking,” Connors said. “He has put his heart and soul into trying to get this law fixed. And one of the things he said yesterday is he said, two years ago, he warned the majority that another 100 kids are going to have to die before we have done anything. And that’s exactly what has happened.”
Rep. Chris Corry, R-Yakima, said his caucus is not giving up on this critically important issue of life and death.
“We have to make this change,” Corry said. “And when you see his [Rep. Couture’s] emotion, I think we’re all in that boat. We’re all feeling that right now. We have more time. We are not giving up on this.”
Another bill related to the reporting of critical incidents, sponsored by Sen. Nikki Torres, R-Pasco, passed on the Senate floor Tuesday afternoon.
SB 5977 directs the Department of Children, Youth, and Families to issue a report when a child near fatality review is conducted and to post that report on the same webpage as fatality review reports.
