WATCH: 2016 King County Bar Association MLK Luncheon Key Note Speaker

The KCBA hosted its annual MLK Luncheon on January 19, 2016 featuring legendary civil rights advisor C.T. Vivian, who was a close friend of the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. during the American Civil Rights Movement.  He spoke at the anniversary of the Selma to Montgomery marches in March 2007 and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2013.  Many King County Superior Court employees, including those from the CASA program, attended this inspirational luncheon.

Welcome CASA Specialist Rie Takeuchi to the Kent team

We are pleased to announce that Rie Takeuchi started working for the program as a CASA Specialist on January 22, 2016. Her primary work location is the MRJC in Kent.

Rie has been a social worker for King County Superior Court Family Court Services (FCS) since 2007.  She had a brief break of service from 2011 to 2012 when she relocated to Ohio and worked as a therapist. She also previously worked for the Department of Social and Health Services as a Child Welfare Services social worker in their Bellevue office.

Rie has a wealth of knowledge about parenting evaluations, mediation, domestic violence, evidence based practice and the dependency case process.  Please welcome her to the program when you see her!

Question Corner:

What is the law regarding the court ordering the Department to file a termination of parental rights petition and how do you calculate the number of months for out-of-home care?

RCW 13.34.145(5) states that the court "shall order the department or supervising agency to file a petition seeking termination of parental rights if the child has been in out-of-home care for fifteen of the last twenty-two months since the date the dependency petition was filed unless the court makes a good cause exception as to why the filing of a termination of parental rights petition is not appropriate."

To calculate the number of months for out-of-home care, start counting from date of legal removal.  If a child was living with relatives or friends prior to the petition being filed, that time period does not “count” for the time frames under RCW 13.34.   Some examples of legal removals are:

a.       protective custody by police, a hospital hold or a pick up order before 72 hour hearing starts the clock;

b.       if child is removed at 72 hour hearing— the date of hearing/removal ordered - starts the clock;

c.       if child is removed post-72 hour hearing (by motion/at dispositional hearing, etc), the date of the removal order starts the clock;

d.      if a child is removed, returned, removed, returned, and removed again, the "total amount" of out-of-home care counts for the total time, not just the amount from the most recent removal.