TeamChild has been busy this summer preparing our goals and priorities for the next legislative session. We continue to align our policy priorities with our broad impact goals, including: Decriminalization, decarceration, and abolition; Expanding and investing in community-led and community-based alternatives and resources; Increasing equitable...
TeamChild’s work is to uphold the rights of young people, secure the support they need, and transform punitive systems into more effective methods of addressing root causes and providing meaningful and appropriate support, opportunities, and healing to youth across Washington State. Our direct legal services...
TeamChild continues to support Washington State Supreme Court’s rule changes that protect youth from a lifetime of exposure to their juvenile legal cases. These new rules passed in March and were scheduled to take effect in May. Unfortunately, the Supreme Court voted to delay implementation...
UPDATE: On May 5, the Washington State Supreme Court delayed implementation of these new rules and referred them back to the Supreme Court Rules Committee to recommend next steps. We urge the Rules Committee to reaffirm these rule changes and set a definite implementation date....
As TeamChild moves into our second year of supporting a policy team, we have given a lot of thought to how we make policy decisions. We work to center our anti-racism principals in all of our decisions, especially policy decisions that are intended to improve...
The 2022 Washington State Legislative Session ended on March 10th. The Legislature passed bills and funded initiatives that will provide help and support to Washington’s young people. But the Legislature also did not act to move efforts forward in areas that TeamChild clients and communities...
The Uniform Guardianship Act passed in 2019. It addresses many supports for people who need guardians, including children. The new section that addressed the needs of children went into effect on January 1, 2021. For TeamChild attorneys, this new law has a positive impact on the options we...
The Washington State Legislature has been in session for three busy weeks. Because the session is so short (60 days) everything moves very quickly with no breaks for holidays or even weekends, sometimes. TeamChild has been reviewing many bills and working especially hard to support...
In 2019, the Legislature changed the course of truancy intervention in Washington state. Senate Bill 5290 discontinued the use of detention as a response to students who are having attendance struggles. The new law went into effect this school year (2021/2022 school year). From now on, when schools and courts are addressing the needs of students...
We know from our work with young people across the state, juvenile court involvement does not produce good educational outcomes. The 2017 Washington State Center for Court Research report Students Before and After Juvenile Court Dispositions makes clear that juvenile justice involvement does not improve...
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