Bill requires review when some children nearly die

Washington would be required to review cases in which a child nearly died if the child had experienced any contact with welfare services within a year under a bill approved this week by state lawmakers.

State law now requires such reviews only if a child dies.

Senate Bill 6206, which was passed unanimously by the House and Senate, also requires the Department of Social and Health Services to tell a child’s court-appointed guardian, or guardian ad litem, when a child under state care is reported to have been abused or neglected.

That is an important policy change, said Mary Meinig, director of the Office of the Family and Children’s Ombudsman.

“The (guardians ad litem) need to know,” she said. “They are responsible for the child. It’s too bad we have to have it legislated.”

The bill also directs Meinig’s office to report annually on how DSHS is implementing recommendations from the child death and near-death reviews and requires the ombudsman’s office to analyze reports of child abuse and neglect made by “mandatory reporters.”

Mandatory reporters include teachers, health care providers, police officers or other professionals who come in contact with children and are required by law to report their suspicions of child abuse or neglect.

The ombudsman’s office will look at a random sampling of mandatory reporting to study the “screening decisions” – whether the reports were referred for further investigation – made by child welfare professionals.

“DSHS kept having incidents of mandated reporter referrals that had been screened and not investigated,” Meinig said.

The bill, which now goes to the governor for her signature, requires DSHS to convene a review of “an unexpected near-fatality” of a child who had had contact with DSHS within a year. To ensure impartiality, if the fatality or near fatality appears to be the result of abuse by a parent or caregiver, the review team must comprise professionals who have not been involved in the child’s case.