DCYF Earns RAIN’s Outstanding Agency Award
Olympia, WA – The Washington State Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF) earned the prestigious Rainbow Alliance and Inclusion Network’s (RAIN) Outstanding Agency Award for its commitment to create a work culture where “people can bring their true selves.”
RAIN’s Oct. 21 award ceremony highlighted Washington State agencies leading the way in developing and implementing practices that provide for a safe and inclusive workplace for LGBTQIA+ employees.
DCYF was selected for the award based on employee feedback collected by RAIN, including nominations that spoke to the following innovative practices and qualities:
- A culture that encourages people to bring their true selves by working towards a welcoming workplace that is free of judgment
- An office dedicated to racial equity and social justice (the Office of Racial Equity and Social Justice)
- An agency that offers foundational LGBTQIA+ training, which highlights youth specific data collection and outcomes and steps to best practices on creating open and affirming spaces for LGBTQIA+ children, youth, young adults, families, and staff
DCYF Secretary Ross Hunter accepted the award on behalf of staff who have worked to foster a supportive workplace that fuels the agency's mission.
“Our agency strives to ensure that staff can bring their authentic selves to work,” said Hunter. “We must all do our part as DCYF staff, parents, foster parents, and kinship caregivers to create an inclusive environment for LGBTQIA+ children, youth, young adults, and the people we work with.”
Hunter noted large proportions of young people in out-of-home placements and foster care identify as LGBTQIA+, emphasizing the importance of staff who bring LGBTQIA+ lived experience to their jobs.
The Developmental Disabilities Administration at the Department of Social and Health Services and the Employment Security Department also received Outstanding Agency Awards alongside DCYF for efforts that weave LGBTQIA+ inclusion into fulfillment of their agency’s daily work.
For more on DCYF’s work on racial equity, diversity, and inclusion, visit: https://www.dcyf.wa.gov/practice/racial-equity-diversity-inclusion
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Contact:
Jason Wettstein, Director of Communications | 360-464-0294 | jason.wettstein@dcyf.wa.gov
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