5 days ago
Murders of Wenatchee girls sparks outcry over WA child welfare laws
The Brief
The murders of three young sisters in Wenatchee have sparked debate over Washington's Keeping Families Together Act, which aims to reduce foster care placements.
Critics argue the law may compromise child safety by allowing unsupervised visits for risky parents, while DCYF attributes child fatalities to factors like fentanyl availability.
The incident underscores tensions between family preservation and child safety, prompting calls to reassess visitation rights practices.
WENATCHEE, Wash. - The recent deaths of three young sisters—Paityn, 9, Evelyn, 8, and Olivia, 5—have resurfaced a fierce debate over child welfare policies in Washington state. The girls were found near a campground in Wenatchee after a scheduled visit with their father, Travis Decker, who is now a fugitive wanted on charges of kidnapping and first-degree murder.
The tragedy has drawn attention to the state's child welfare laws, particularly the Keeping Families Together Act (HB 1227), which was enacted in 2021 to reduce the number of children placed into foster care and support family preservation.
However, some lawmakers argue that the law's provisions may have inadvertently compromised child safety.
What they're saying
Rep. Travis Couture, a Republican representing the 35th Legislative District, has been vocal in his criticism of the law. He emphasized that while he supports parental rights, the safety of children must be the paramount concern.
"We've got to start using common sense and find out that if a parent is homeless and/or mentally ill and dangerous that they shouldn't be having unsupervised access to three young children," Couture said. "I think that's a recipe for disaster and just because nothing may have happened in previous visits, it's really a ticking time bomb for some of these folks."
Couture also criticized what he perceives as judicial leniency in granting unsupervised visitation rights to parents with known risks.
"Oftentimes, what we're seeing here in Washington, is the courts kind of doing some gymnastics and bending over backwards to make sure dangerous parents still have access, unsupervised, to their kids," said Couture. "Just speaking generally about child welfare, we've had a stunning skyrocketing amount of needless deaths of small children in our state over the last handful of years because of the Keeping Families Together Act."
The other side
The Washington State Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF) has defended the law, stating that data does not support claims that it has led to an increase in child fatalities.
According to DCYF, the rise in child deaths is primarily due to the increased availability of fentanyl and a lack of substance-use disorder treatment in communities, rather than changes in removal standards.
The Source
Information in this story comes from original reporting from FOX 13 Seattle reporter Lauren Donovan.
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