Opinion ID: 2627657
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: ARY Statutes

Text: ¶ 7 As we recognized in A.K., the legislature designed the ARY statutes, under chapter 13.32A RCW, the Family Reconciliation Act (FRA), to provide parents of at-risk youth with tools and services to assist them in raising and keeping their children safe. A.K., 162 Wash.2d at 649, 174 P.3d 11; RCW 13.32A.010. ARY services were intended to provide legal processes by which parents who are experiencing problems with at-risk youth can request and receive assistance from juvenile courts in providing appropriate care, treatment, and supervision of the youth. RCW 13.32A.015. The legislature intends services under the FRA to be offered on a voluntary basis whenever possible to children and their families and that the courts [are to] be used as a last resort. RCW 13.32A.010. As we stated in A.K., when discussing the ARY statutory purposes, ARY services are also partially aimed at providing interventions to keep children out of detention. A.K., 162 Wash.2d at 649, 174 P.3d 11. In these ways, ARY services are consistent with the remedial nature of the juvenile court system, which focuses on rehabilitating and treating youth, rather than simply punishing children. See State v. Schaaf, 109 Wash.2d 1, 22, 743 P.2d 240 (1987). ¶ 8 As demonstrated by the language of the ARY statutes and our case law interpreting and applying them, the legislature enacted these provisions to help children. ARY statutes were intended to provide counseling, treatment, and available state resources to aid and protect at-risk youth, not to punish and jail them. Unfortunately, some children do not benefit from these available resources and will continue behavior that places them at risk. However, where statutory provisions are intended to treat and rehabilitate children, the last option a judge should consider is jail, where few, if any, legislatively created programs do exist to help at-risk youth. As the remaining analysis demonstrates, only in the rarest of situations should incarceration as punishment be considered an option. Further, when such a punitive sanction is ordered, a court must provide full due process protections.