Opinion ID: 6227009
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Relatives’ Efforts To Satisfy the Department

Text: Desperate to bring K.W. home to the love, stability, and familiarity of his family, several relatives immediately began working to satisfy the Department’s concerns about placing K.W. with them.
Since the Department refused to place K.W. with Aunt H. before she completed a home study, Aunt H. began the home study process immediately. She submitted applications for a new background check and home study the same day of the December 24 hearing. Pursuant to the court’s order, Aunt H. met with the Department social worker on January 6, 2020, to discuss the Department’s concerns regarding placement with her. The Department’s concerns seemed to be focused on Aunt H.’s prior contact with the Department while caring for other children. First, the Department raised concerns about the time when her grandniece was in her care in 2007. Aunt H. had begun a home study for her grandniece with the Department but did not complete it when she opted to do a home study through a private agency instead. The Department was concerned that Aunt H. had allowed Department denied the request, citing their inability to supervise his attendance and concerns about “tensions” with K.W.’s mother and extended family. Id. at 894. 9 In re Dependency of K.W. No. 99301-7 her grandniece to have unsupervised visits with her biological mother. Aunt H. clarified that she permitted only supervised visits. The Department was also concerned about a man they alleged was Aunt H.’s live-in boyfriend, who had a criminal history and whose children were also dependent. Aunt H. explained that the man was a family friend, not her boyfriend, and he did not live with her; he received mail at her house for a time when he was experiencing housing instability. Second, the Department was concerned by a couple of Child Protective Services investigations in the intervening years. In 2008, there was an investigation regarding allegations of sexual abuse of a child in Aunt H.’s care. The allegations were determined to be unfounded. In 2015, there was an investigation when her grandson was living with her. The child was found outside the home unattended while Aunt H. was at work and she had left the child in his uncle’s care for an hour. Drugs and a loaded gun were found in the uncle’s bedroom, and the uncle had a criminal history. The uncle was only temporarily staying with Aunt H., and Aunt H. kicked him out of the house immediately after this incident. She denied knowing about the drugs, guns, and criminal history, and stated she would not have allowed the drugs or guns in her home if she had known about them. In 2018, there was an investigation with no specific allegations of abuse, negligence, or risk. Her grandson was on the phone with his birth mother, who thought she heard a man count to three, a thud, and then a child screaming. Aunt H. explained to the Department that the 10 In re Dependency of K.W. No. 99301-7 child’s mother suffered from mental illness and that there was no man in the home; she also located a police report confirming that the police found no man in the house and had no concerns for the child’s safety. More recently, another family member had reported that Aunt H.’s grandson displayed sexualized behaviors toward other children in the family, and the Department was concerned K.W. would potentially share a bedroom with the grandson. Aunt H. said she had never seen any such behavior and said she would never permit any inappropriate behavior. She also pointed out that she had completed a home study to gain custody of her grandson. Third, the Department was concerned about Aunt H.’s hopes for K.W. to reunify with his parents. In May 2019, when she informed the Department that she could not be a permanent placement for K.W. at that time, she noted that his parents were progressing well, and she hoped that the Department would consider placing K.W. with them. The Department informed her that K.W.’s mother’s and father’s parental rights had been terminated, so they would not be a placement option. Aunt H. had not known that their parental rights had been terminated until then, and she clarified that she would allow K.W. to return to them only if court ordered. She also stated that she would be willing to adopt K.W. if his mother’s and father’s parental rights were not reinstated. At the conclusion of the January 2020 meeting, Aunt H. asked if K.W. could be placed with her, in light of the court order that authorized placement with her 11 In re Dependency of K.W. No. 99301-7 before a home study was completed. The social worker responded that they would not move K.W. before she completed a home study. After this meeting, the Department received notice that Aunt H. had passed the background check. Aunt H. met with the home study evaluator on January 31, 2020, and they began the home study process. Aunt H. also began training to become a licensed foster care parent.
In late January, Grandma B. informed the Department she could also be a permanent placement option for K.W. and requested a home study. The Department told her that it had a policy of doing only one home study at a time and that because it was engaged in the home study process for Aunt H., it would not begin a home study for Grandma B. until Aunt H.’s was complete. Therefore, Grandma B. began the process to obtain a private home study and began training to become a licensed foster care parent. The Department had concerns about Grandma B.’s history as a victim of domestic violence about 10 years earlier. In 2011, Grandma B.’s son (Mr. W.) obtained a protection order against Grandma B.’s husband, Mr. R. Grandma B. and Mr. R. separated at that time, and they began a dissolution of marriage that was never finalized. Grandma B. informed the Department that Mr. R. was her estranged husband and had not lived with her in since 2011. Mr. R. submitted letters and receipts for rent indicating his separate residence dating back to 2012. Grandma B. 12 In re Dependency of K.W. No. 99301-7 also explained that Mr. R. came to the home only to see their daughter, who lived with Grandma B., and Grandma B. was willing to get a divorce. The Department also believed that Grandma B. would not be a suitable placement for K.W. because she might allow unsupervised visits with his biological parents. The Department was concerned that Grandma B. allegedly permitted K.W. to have contact with his parents and left him in their care on December 6, 2019, even though their rights were terminated. Grandma B. stated that K.W. had not had contact with his father since a social worker informed her that his parental rights had been terminated. She also clarified that she allowed K.W. to speak to his mother only under her supervision and reiterated that the plan for December 6, 2019, had always been for K.W. to stay with her son, Mr. W., for the afternoon, not with K.W.’s parents.
In December 2019, Mr. W. also contacted the Department to express his desire to be a permanent placement and adopt K.W. A social worker and the CASA observed appropriate interactions between K.W. and Mr. W. and found Mr. W.’s home clean and appropriate. But when a department social worker interviewed Mr. W., he felt that the social worker was discouraging him from continuing the process because they believed he would not be able to pass a home study. The Department completed a background check on Mr. W. and learned that a previously dismissed 13 In re Dependency of K.W. No. 99301-7 DUI (driving under the influence) charge from a year earlier had recently been refiled. The Department was also concerned about other criminal allegations from 2011 and 2012, and his report that someone had stolen his firearm in 2015. The Department concluded that it would not consider placing K.W. with Mr. W. until the DUI charge was fully resolved. It also determined that his background check would require an additional review before deciding whether a home study could even occur and, therefore, he could not be an immediate placement option. 4. K.W.’s Second Request To Return to Relative Care On February 13, 2020, K.W. filed another motion to be returned to either Grandma B. or Aunt H. as well as another declaration, again expressing his desire to return to his relatives. Twenty relatives and family friends filed declarations in support of his motion, describing the extended family’s close bonds. K.W. also included a report by a clinical psychologist about placement best practices and the psychological and developmental impact of relative placement. Grandma B. and Aunt H. both filed declarations meticulously responding to the Department’s concerns about permanent placement with them and detailing their efforts to complete home studies. Grandma B. also provided a copy of the completed private home study recommending her as a suitable placement for K.W. The social worker who prepared it filed a declaration explaining that it met all the statutory requirements for a preplacement adoption home study report. 14 In re Dependency of K.W. No. 99301-7 The CASA filed a motion requesting to modify the December order to delay placing K.W. with a relative “until they have been fully vetted and passed the home study process” and requesting that K.W. remain in foster care. 5 CP at 1018. The CASA reported that K.W. continued to struggle in school since his parents’ rights were terminated and since his removal from Grandma B.’s care. But she provided the court with Grandma B.’s, Aunt H.’s, and Mr. R.’s civil court histories and argued it was in K.W.’s best interests to stay with the prospective adoptive family. The Department also opposed placing K.W. with a relative until that relative passed a home study. The Department argued that there is no statutory preference for relative placement once a dependent child becomes legally free and that permanence is the highest priority for a legally free child. Since the relatives had previously not been able to adopt K.W. and had only recently offered to be permanent placements for him after K.W. was removed from Grandma B.’s care, the Department did not want to place K.W. with a relative until they decided that would be his final placement, which could be determined only after a home study. The Department and the CASA also opposed Grandma B.’s private home study, stating that it did not meet Department standards. Specifically, the Department was concerned that the private home study did not include Grandma B.’s estranged husband as a co-applicant. It argued that Mr. R. was a safety concern because of his domestic violence history in 2011 and because of statements that 15 In re Dependency of K.W. No. 99301-7 K.W. had made about him and subsequently retracted. The Department would require both Grandma B. and Mr. R. to complete a department home study, which it would not begin before completing Aunt H.’s. In a March 12, 2020, hearing, the court acknowledged that “it is clear . . . that [K.W.] has a number of people who really care about him” but said that it was “particularly concerned about stability” and concluded that “stability is equally and sometimes more important” than living with relatives. RP (Mar. 12, 2020) at 86. The court ultimately decided it was in K.W.’s “best interest” to remain in his current potential adoptive foster placement. Id. at 88. Therefore, the court denied K.W.’s motion and granted the CASA’s motion to delay relative placement until Grandma B. or Aunt H. was “fully vetted with a Department approved home study.” 6 CP at 1364. K.W.’s counsel reminded the court that Grandma B. had completed an adoptive home study through the independent social worker. However, the court said, “The information that was provided was not completely accurate.” RP (Mar. 12, 2020) at 90. When K.W.’s counsel asked what information was inaccurate, the court simply said it would not argue with him. The court did not explain why it found the private home study inadequate. 16 In re Dependency of K.W. No. 99301-7