Family, friend and neighbor (FFN) providers are those who receive child care subsidy payments through the Working Connections Child Care program and are:
- Eligible relatives who provide child care in the home of the child on in their personal homes.
- Individuals, who are not related to the child, who provide child care in a child’s home.
FFN providers are instrumental in the healthy development of children. When FFN providers learn more about healthy child development and early learning, plan activities ahead of time, and ask for help and support of other providers, they affect children's development in positive ways.
DCYF is committed to protecting children and supporting FFN providers in order to prevent as many injuries and fatalities as possible. Learn more about the numbers in this chart by reading below.
Child Fatality & Serious Injury Occurances
| Type of Occurrence | Number of Occurrences Oct. 1, 2019 - Sept. 30, 2020 | Number of Occurrences Oct. 1, 2022 - Sept. 30, 2023 | Number of Occurrences Oct. 1, 2023 - Sept. 30, 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Deaths | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Serious injuries | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Substantiated child abuse incidents | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Total Maximum Possible Capacity an FFN provider can care for is six children at any one time including the provider’s own children.
Total number of FFN providers varies; however, on 10/29/2024 there were 2272 FFN providers in WA State.
Serious Injuries and Fatalities in Child Care
Serious injury has been defined by Washington State DCYF as any of the following:
- Injury resulting in overnight hospital stay
- Severe neck or head injury
- Choking/unexpected breathing problems
- Severe bleeding
- Shock or acute confused state
- Unconsciousness
- Chemicals in eyes, on skin, or ingested in the mouth
- Near-drowning
- Broken bone
- Severe burn requiring professional medical care
- Poisoning
- Medication overdose
Substantiated Child Abuse Incidents
DCYF conducts background checks for prospective and current FFN providers. The number of substantiated child abuse incidents listed in the chart represents the number of providers whose background check certification was changed to disqualified because they were found to have abused or neglected a child during the course of their unsupervised access to children in in their care during that review period.
“Substantiated child abuse” has the same meaning as “founded” in RCW 26.44.020: “The determination following an investigation by the department that, based on available information, it is more likely than not that child abuse or neglect did occur.” Founded findings of child
abuse or neglect are considered substantiated findings if the finding was made on or after October 1, 1998, and the subject was afforded an opportunity to appeal such finding per the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (P.L. 115-271).