Our Strategic and Racial Equity Plan calls on us to eliminate racial disproportionalities, improve the quality and intention of our practice and availability of provider services, and prevent harm to children and youth – as far upstream as possible.
Thriving Families is made up of multiple projects and initiatives in the child welfare space that focus on prevention, supporting families and staff, and strengthening our practice.
The Thriving Families Initiative will improve outcomes for families by:
- Safely reducing the number of children in out-of-home placements
- Supporting families so children/youth remain safely at home
- Placing children with kin/relatives, if they cannot remain safely at home
- Ensuring all placements are safe, stable, and support permanency
Projects
The vision for this project is to develop a comprehensive child welfare assessment system that is fully integrated with the Family Practice Model and meets the needs of our caseworkers and the children, youth, and families we serve.
The vision of the Caregiver Supports Project is to implement a continuum of placement resources that enable safe, stable, and supported placements for children in the care of DCYF. The continuum will increase access to caregiver supports and align supports to the diverse needs of youth and children in out-of-home placement.
For more information, email dcyf.caregiversupports@dcyf.wa.gov.
The goal for the D.S. settlement is to increase placement stability and achieve a youth and family-centered, culturally and trauma-informed system of placements and supports for children and youth with behavioral health and developmental disabilities.
FFPSA’s goal is to keep children safely with their families and prevent the traumatic experience of entering foster care. This includes developing pathways that expand access to community-based services to avoid child welfare involvement. This work continues to be at the center of everything the agency does. Future progress updates can be found on the FFPSA webpages.
If funded, this project will deliver a Community-Based Family Reconciliation Services (FRS) model. DCYF will implement and evaluate three early implementation sites in King, Pierce, and Yakima counties, with community-based (contracted) FRS providers.
This project will revise the Indian Child Welfare (ICW) Policies and Procedures Manual and applicable DCYF ICW forms and ICW trainings to strengthen practice in alignment with the federal and state Indian Child Welfare Act to achieve better outcomes for Native American children and families.
In July 2025, DCYF completed the Kinship Licensing Standards project. It made it easier and quicker for children and youth placed with kinship caregivers (relatives and non-related kin) to get financial help. The new process helps make sure these homes are safe, stable, and support permanency. It also allows some flexibility to meet each child’s unique needs, following the rules under WAC 110-149.
The project also updated the Kinship Caregiver webpage to explain the legal rights and rules for licensed kinship caregivers. These same rules now apply to unlicensed caregivers too, so everything is clearer and more consistent for everyone.
In September 2025, the Family First Prevention Services Act (FFPSA) moved Motivational Interviewing (MI) for DCYF staff to the Alliance. This shift helps make sure staff across the agency are consistent in their language and practice when working with clients. They are also supported by ongoing training.
This project supports increased service delivery across the state, a centralized and standardized system of provider availability and access that is robust, supportive, and culturally responsive.
