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In the interim, the ICW eLearning is still available. As a reminder, this course is required for Social Service Specialists 1-5, Program Consultants, Program Managers, and Area Administrators, and is a pre-requisite for the in-person trainings. The deadline to complete the eLearning has been extended to allow everyone the opportunity to view it.
How to Access the eLearning:
- For DCYF staff, please access the Washington State Learning Center to register.
- For tribal partners, please sign-in to The Alliance website and search for “DCYF Indian Child Welfare (ICW) Policy Roll Out (eLearning)” to take the course. We recommend using Chrome to access this online training.
Fingerprint-based Background Check Update for Licensed Providers
Gov. Jay Inslee has rescinded Proclamation 20-31.12, which suspended and waived the fingerprint requirement for background checks for child care and early learning providers. Effective Jan. 1, 2024, all child care and early learning workers, or eligible household members, pursuant to WACs 110-06, 110-300, 110-301, and 110-302, will need to comply with the fingerprint requirements to continue to be on site at a Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF)-licensed facility.
Effective Jan. 1, 2024, all child care and early learning providers, including those not working directly with children or youth, who were previously allowed to work supervised after submitting their background application, must complete fingerprints and have a “Cleared” status in the Managed Education and Registry Tool (MERIT) to continue work at the child care facility.
Any application received by DCYF on or after Jan. 1, 2024, for child care and early learning providers, must have an approved background check clearance for each applicant, staff member, or eligible household member, which includes fingerprints, before the background check applicant can be hired or be on the child care or early learning premises, even if the applicant may not work directly with children or youth.
DCYF has started compiling questions and answers to background check questions. We will update these Q&A’s monthly and post to the DCYF website.
Question: What is the date that providers will be expected to comply with the federal requirements and when will it be enforced?
Answer: Jan. 1, 2024.
Question: Can my employee start immediately, and work supervised until their background check clears?
Answer: Effective Jan. 1, 2024, fingerprints must be completed and cleared prior to the date of hire.
Question: How do I prevent DCYF background unit emails from going to my spam or junk folder?
Answer: Since the recipients are external, we don't have any control of emails once they leave our server. Whatever service provider the recipient is using for their email is controlling what is considered junk and what isn't. The users should be able to add the email address that these messages are coming from to their address book beforehand, which should allow them through.
If you have any questions, contact your licensor, or email backgroundchecks@dcyf.wa.gov.
Welcome Kaaren Heikes, New Region 6 Administrator
Greetings to you from Olympia, the ancestral and unceded territory of the Nisqually Tribe. I would like to introduce myself as DCYF's new Region 6 Administrator. I appreciate the opportunities I have already had to-date to meet with and hear from some of our region’s Tribal People and look forward to learning from all 12 of the Tribes in this region.
My background includes 25 years of leadership experience in public agencies and nonprofit organizations, largely with ethnically responsive educational initiatives and policies – spanning the gamut from early learning to K-12 to post-secondary transitions – particularly for children and youth marginalized by our public systems. I have advocated within the Oregon and Washington State Legislatures for antiracist educational and social service policies. My commitment to advance racial, cultural, and economical equity within our governmental systems has taken me to grassroots, roll-up-my-sleeves spaces as well as formal, public, state capitol buildings and hearing rooms.
In many of these experiences, I had the good fortune to collaborate with several tribal nations and tribal entities, encompassing projects such as state statutes on WA State high school graduation requirements, WA State rules for Tribal Compact Schools, bringing Government-to-Government Training to the WA State Board of Education, advising on establishing new public/tribal schools with and on Tribal lands of the Umatilla and Klamath, and co-founding two schools for Black, Indigenous, and other Children of Color in Multnomah County, OR.
As a predominantly white woman, I know that I will never understand you or your People’s lived experiences. The roots of child welfare as it relates to Indigenous people are wretched. While I am grateful that the US Supreme Court recently upheld ICWA, I am painfully, and surely only partially, aware of how much work the federal and state governments must do to ameliorate the destruction caused to Indigenous People by state child welfare historical practices and policies. I hope to partner closely with you and your Tribe in a sovereign-to-sovereign relationship to keep all of our children safe and flourishing in their culture.
I look forward to working with you. Please contact me at any time for assistance in holding our agency accountable for protecting our children, youth, and families involved in child welfare: Kaaren.Heikes@dcyf.wa.gov, (360) 790-1851.
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Welcome Rayne Espinosa, Tribal Early Learning Fund (TELF) Specialist
ʔə́y̕ skʷáči! Good day friends! My name is Rayna Espinosa-Ives. I am a Port Gamble S’klallam Tribal member, and a mother to a precious 2-year-old boy.
Over the last year as a Parent Ambassador with the Washington State Association of Head Start and ECEAP and as a Family Service worker in early childhood with PGST, I worked in partnership with tribal directors around the state to create and advocate for the Tribal Early Learning Fund (TELF).
As someone who knows how important it is to continue the teachings of our elders, I am working on my own certification in my Native language to help revitalize the language for future generations.
I look forward to getting to know all of you in this role and continuing to elevate the needs of tribes around Washington and early learning to reconnect our children with their ancestors' teachings, languages, songs, dances, and more with the implementation of TELF.
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Welcome Apolonio ("Polo") Hernandez, Student Intern from the University of Washington (UW)
My name is Apolonio Pablo Hernandez, but I go by Polo. I was born in Moses Lake, Washington in 1975 to Apolonio (Paul) Hernandez and E(Stella) Arousa-Hernandez-Harer. My family migrated here by way of Texas, from El Carmen, Tamaulipas, and Morelos, Coahuila. They traveled from these northern states in Mexico as part of the ‘Bracero Program’ and other means. They were field workers and ‘Vaquero’s’ (the first cowboys). I am grateful for my family in El Carmen, whom I still visit but not frequently enough, and more recently was gifted a ‘Metate’ my great grandmother once used, and told I need to learn to make corn tortillas.
My maternal great grandfather served in the United States Infantry during WWI. Much like him, I’m a Combat Veteran who served in Iraq in 2008-2009 and spent nine years with the Washington Army National Guard.
My life and work experience are complicated by my family's histories with colonization in Mexico and in the United States, which largely forms who I am. As a high school dropout, I have spent much of my life working with young people from varying backgrounds with complex histories and life stories themselves. More recently, and over the past decade, I have been working in education.
I have worked as a project director under a Federal Demonstration Grant, serving the Spokane Tribe and the Wellpinit School District, as well as a Head Start education manager and consultant for a handful of years managing various grant projects. Currently, I am a team member of the Learning in Places and LEADERS grant projects as Senior Personnel and Core Partner respectively. I am also a 4th year PhD candidate at the UW College of Education, ‘Teaching, Learning, and Instruction’.
Over the past few years, I have been fortunate to support co-design models that focus on centering tribal ways of knowing and doing. And supporting community collaboration that determines practices that best center local tribal knowledge. I also have a focus on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Cultural Competency. I am excited to be a part of the OTR team and to have the opportunity to assist with the Tribal Early Learning Funds (TELF).
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Community Relations and Innovation Fund
Opens Sept. 13, 2023 | Closes Oct. 31, 2023, at 11:59 p.m.
Unrestricted funding up to $10,000.
The Community Relations and Innovation Fund will continue to focus on the people “on the ground” in Native communities who know best what their communities need, and that they can be trusted to meet those needs when given adequate support. Granting opportunities will be available as unrestricted funds, will support activities surrounding youth, community building, arts/culture, language and education/advocacy and is open to individuals or organizations that meet eligibility criteria.
Submit an application online; available Sept. 13, 2023 at www.potlatchfund.org/grants/.
The Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA) Farm to School Purchasing Grant is a competitive reimbursement grant available to schools and childcare centers for the purchase and use of Washington-grown foods in child nutrition programs.
Who Can Apply:
- Active program operators of the National School Lunch Program (NSLP), the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP - childcare), and school districts who operate the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) or Seamless Summer Option (SSO).
- Tribal Schools and Tribal Early Learning Centers.
The application deadline has been extended to Oct. 16, 2023.
For more information, visit the WSDA Farm to School Purchasing Grant webpage or contact Claire at (360) 974-9752 or farmtoschool@agr.wa.gov.
Indigenous Children, Youth & Families (ICYF) Conference
Save the date for the 4th annual Indigenous Children, Youth & Families (ICYF) Conference on Nov. 1-2, 2023, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. This year's theme is Honoring Our Past, Celebrating Our Future: Healing through Native Traditions and Culture.
The two-day virtual conference supports workers and the community with information about practice and policy. Caregivers, judicial personnel, social workers, and tribal workers are welcome to attend!
Register for this free, virtual event by visiting www.dcyf.wa.gov/ICYF-2023.
The full conference program with a list of presenters will be shared over the coming weeks!
Now looking for speakers! If you or someone you know is interested in speaking at the ICYF virtual conference, please contact us at dcyf.tribalrelations@dcyf.wa.gov.
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Supporting Gender Diverse Indigenous Youth Webinar Series
The Capacity Building Center for Tribes and Arc Telos Saint Amour invite you to join their webinar series about Decolonizing the History of the Gender Binary in Service of Supporting Gender Diverse Indigenous Youth. This webinar series will build knowledge and identify strategies for tribal child welfare professionals to increase their understanding, acceptance, and support of 2SLGBTQIA+ youth and families. Each webinar is scheduled for 90 minutes and will allow for opportunities for participant engagement.
- Part 1: Foundations of Gender Diversity – Understanding the Individual Components of Gender Identity and Expression | Thursday, Sept. 28 at 11 a.m.
- Part 2: Origins of the Gender Binary – Understanding What the Gender Binary Is, Where It Came From, and Why It’s So Destructive | Thursday, Oct. 19 at 11 a.m.
- Part 3: Celebrating Global Gender Diversity – Exploring the History and Joy of Gender Expansiveness Throughout the World | Thursday, Nov. 9 at 11 a.m.
Register for this series by visiting Supporting Gender Diverse Indigenous Youth Webinar Series - Zoom Registration.
Active Efforts Social Service Specialist (SSS3) - Spokane Valley/DCYF
Position closes: 9/26/2023, 11:59 p.m.
Apply online: Active Efforts Social Service Specialist (SSS3) - Spokane Valley (governmentjobs.com)
Orange Shirt Day | Fort Spokane Boarding School Awareness Event
Raise awareness about the history of Native American boarding schools on Sept. 29, 2023 from 11 to 1 p.m. at the Fort Spokane Visitor Center in Davenport, Wash.
Lunch will be provided, with Elders and survivors given priority. While the event is open to the public, please know that the topic may be triggering for some, and it is recommended that those 14 years of age and older attend.
For questions, please contact Sarah McNew at sarahmcnew23@gmail.com.
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Tribal Early Childhood Listening Session
Leaders from the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) will hold a listening session on Oct. 12, 2023, from 2:30 to 5 p.m. (Central Daylight Time [CDT]), in Ada, Oklahoma, to hear feedback on a range of topics related to early childhood development in Native communities. The intended audience for this listening session will include Tribal leaders, Tribal CCDF administrators, Head Start program directors, Tribal Home Visiting program directors, providers, families, elders, community members, and other interested parties. To register, visit Meeting Registration - Zoom (zoomgov.com).
Safe Haven 24-hour Hotline Updates
All Safe Haven locations in Washington requested to update signs.
Washington State Department of Health (DOH), DCYF, and Washington State Hospital Association want to share the correct 24-hour Safe Haven Hotline.
Correct Hotline (call or text): 1-888-510-BABY(2229)
All designated drop-off locations in the state are requested to update or replace any signs posted at their facility or website. Mounting a Safe Haven sign with accurate information, including the phone number, could save the life of a vulnerable newborn. You can order new signs through the National Safe Haven Alliance.
There is limited availability for free Safe Haven signs for locations with financial need.
We are committed to better supporting the health of all Washingtonians. If replacing the sign is a financial hardship for your organization, DOH has limited funding to purchase and mail the signs to you. Organizations with a financial need can complete the Safe Haven Signage Request Form.
Please share this information with partners!
Please share this critical change with your community partners.
Under Safe Haven law, parents in Washington may anonymously transfer their unharmed infant within 72 hours of birth to a qualified person at a designated drop-off location without being subject to criminal liability. The parent is not required to provide any identifying information to transfer the newborn.
Designated drop-off locations
Parents must leave their infant with an on-duty staff member (also known as a qualified person) during a designated location’s hours of operation or when it is open. They can transfer their unharmed baby to a qualified person at three types of locations where they won’t be held criminally liable.
- Any hospital in the state of Washington -- the emergency department of a hospital is open 24 hours a day and is the safest drop-off location.
- A staffed fire station when open.
- A staffed rural health clinic when open.
Order Safe Haven Signage and Supplies
For questions or requests for more information, please email WASafeHaven@doh.wa.gov or DCYF at dcyf.communications@dcyf.wa.gov.
Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program
The Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program is available for Tribal government employees. With PSLF, your employees can have their federal student loan debts forgiven after making payments for 10 years while working for you or another qualifying public sector employer. If you or your employees would like to learn more about this program, a join the webinar on October 10 at 12:30 p.m. Register here.
A letter template is provided below for your use to inform your employees about the PSLF program. This reflects the newest federal rule changes effective July 1, 2023, and comes with a short description of the certification process and how to fill out the PSLF form.
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PSLF Notice for New Employees. Share with employees when hiring and onboarding. (web or print version)
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PSLF Annual Notice. Use annually and any time the PSLF regulations change.
(web or print version)
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PSLF Notice for Separated Employees. Share during an employee’s separation from employment (web or print version)
If you have any questions about the process for employers, please send them to PSLF@ofm.wa.gov.
DCYF Joins Instagram and Threads
DCYF has officially joined Instagram and Threads @wadcyf. Stay connected by following for resources, stories, and updates.
Follow us @wadcyf!
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