The Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF) works closely with the Office of the Family and Children’s Ombuds (OFCO) and I have great respect for their work. The Ombuds’ responsibilities are largely focused on responding to complaints about DCYF service provision.

The Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF) operates eight community facilities for young adults across Washington State. Community facilities are less restrictive options where youth can serve the remainder of their sentence in a therapeutic setting while strengthening community connections.

For the past year, parents, child care providers, early learning advocates, pediatricians, staff from state agencies and many others have worked together to develop goals and strategies to inform the future of Washington State’s early learning system for children prenatal through 3rd grade and the adults who care for them.

In response to the ongoing national discussion about out-of-state placements, specifically within Sequel Youth and Family Services facilities, DCYF has prepared the attached update. For reasons outlined in the update, DCYF has made the decision to end new placement referrals to Sequel facilities as of September 2020.