Overview
The Office of Civil Legal Aid’s (OCLA) Children’s Representation Program (CRP) underwrites and oversees the delivery of standards-based, trauma-informed, and culturally competent attorney representation for children and youth subject to dependency and termination proceedings in Washington State.
Dependency proceedings have a profound impact on many critical aspects of a child’s rights and future. Standards-based legal representation has been shown to result in more timely permanence, stability, and contact with parents and siblings for youth involved in the child welfare system. The Washington State legislature formally recognized these facts in 2021 when it enacted RCW 13.34.212(3) expanding the right to standards-based legal representation to dependent children and youth across the state. The Legislature also found “that Black and Indigenous children and youth and other youth of color are much more likely to be removed from their parents' care, placed into foster care, and remain in the child welfare system longer than White children” and that the “expansion of legal representation actively combats this disproportionality.”1
OCLA does not directly provide legal services. Instead, subject to both the availability of funds and a phase-in schedule, OCLA contracts with a panel of attorneys to represent children and youth in dependency and termination cases where the child is eight years old or, at any age, upon the filing of a termination of parental rights petition. The CRP must achieve statewide implementation by January 2032. Until the CRP achieves full, statewide implementation of RCW 13.34.212(3), the CRP also contracts with a panel of attorneys to represent children whose parents’ rights have been terminated and who remain dependent six months post-termination, commonly called “legally free” children.
1. S.S.H.B 1219, 67th Leg. §1 (2021)
Impact
Since 2014, contracted attorneys with OCLA’s Children’s Representation Program have improved the court’s comprehensive decision making by centering dependency and termination proceedings on the legal rights and needs of those most impacted by state intervention in the family unit: children. OCLA's contracted attorneys currently protect and promote the myriad legal rights and interests of children across Washington State. Standards-based representation has been shown to result in more timely permanence, stability, and contact with parents and siblings for youth involved in the child welfare system:
Implementation Schedule
The implementation schedule for the CRP's expanded right to counsel program is set by RCW 13.34.212(3)(c). The expanded program will be fully operational in the following counties by the dates listed below:
- July 1, 2022: Cowlitz, Grant, & Lewis.
- Jan. 1, 2023: Benton, Franklin, Kittitas, Walla Walla, & Yakima.
- Jan. 1, 2024: Adams, Grays Harbor, Klickitat, Mason, Pacific, Skamania, & Thurston.
- Jan. 1, 2025: Ferry, Pend Oreille, Pierce, Stevens, & Wahkiakum.
- Jan. 1, 2030: Asotin, Chelan, Clark, Columbia, Douglas, Garfield, Lincoln, Okanogan, Spokane, & Whitman.
- Jan. 1, 2031: Clallam, Jefferson, Kitsap, Skagit, Snohomish, & Whatcom.
- Jan. 1, 2032: Island, King, & San Juan.
Attorney Feedback
If you have any feedback regarding an attorney under contract with the Children's Representation Program, please complete the appropriate form below and email to Bailey Zydek, Program Director, at bailey.zydek@ocla.wa.gov.