WASHINGTON STATE

Washington State House Democrats

HOUSE DEMOCRATS

Legislature passes Roger Freeman Act to help reunite children and parents

OLYMPIA — A fallen state legislator who prioritized the needs of children and families during his brief tenure in Olympia has been memorialized with the Roger Freeman Act.  Fittingly, the Act makes permanent a rule the Democrat from Federal Way had sponsored in 2013 that was designed to help reunite children and parents who had been separated by the Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS).

Rep. Roger Freeman D-30 Aaron Barna
Rep. Roger Freeman

HB 2140, sponsored by Rep. Ruth Kagi (D-32nd, Seattle), completed its journey through the House and Senate today (Tue., Apr. 21) and could be signed into law by Gov. Jay Inslee within a few days.  It takes the sunset clause off of Freeman’s 2013 bill (HB 1821) that gives problem parents who are working hard to reunite their families a little extra time before the state begins the process of terminating their parental rights.

Rep. Carol Gregory (D-30th, Federal Way), who was appointed to replace Freeman after his death from cancer shortly before last fall’s election (which he nevertheless won), said the gesture was a small but welcome tribute to her friend and predecessor.

“This is the kind of technical bill that won’t make headlines,” she said, “but it will have a deep and lasting impact on children and on their parents who have suffered through hard times but are determined to do better and reunite their families.  These are the people Roger cared about most, and this new bill, the Roger Freeman Act, recognizes that he had a very good idea two years ago.  Without this additional action, the provision would have expired at the end of June.  Now it becomes a permanent part of Washington family law.”

Here are the specifics of the Roger Freeman Act, as described by non-partisan legislative staff:

“The bill removes the expiration on June 30, 2015, of the following good cause exceptions for the court not to order the DSHS to file a petition seeking the termination of parental rights if a child has been in out-of-home care for 15 of the last 22 months since the date the dependency petition was filed:

  • Where a parent has been accepted into a dependency treatment court program or long-germ substance abuse or dual diagnoses treatment program and is demonstrating compliance with treatment goals; and
  • Where a parent who has been court ordered to complete services necessary for the child’s safe return home files a declaration under penalty of perjury stating the parent’s financial inability to pay for the services and that the DSHS was unwilling or unable to pay for those services.”