Department of Children, Youth, and Families

Building Tribal Relations at DCYF

Building Tribal Relations at DCYF

Our new agency’s work with the federally recognized tribes in Washington is some of the most important we do. Our relationship has both legal and moral structure and is based on the sovereignty of the tribal…

Turning a Mandate Into a Movement:

Taking an uncommon approach to performance-based contracting

The Department of Children, Youth, and Families is proud to partner with hundreds of contracted service providers around the state to provide vital services to children and their…

Check Out this Video — OIAA Update

Wondering what the Office of Innovation, Alignment and Accountability is up to? Here’s a quick…

The Beginning of a New Role

On Aug. 1, 2017 I officially stepped into my new role as Secretary of the Department of Children, Youth, and Families. I can’t fully describe how excited, nervous, and hopeful I am about taking on this work. In the short time since the bill establishing the new agency passed, I…

Thinking About Racial Equity at DCYF

In doing big projects like the DCYF creation there are tasks that have crazy deadlines (getting a payment system in place, payroll, filing new rules on time, etc.) and tasks that are often more important, but don’t have the same emergent time deadlines. It’s easy…

More DCYF Leadership Announcements

As you can see, decisions and announcements are coming out more frequently as we get nearer to July 1 and are closer to having all of our ducks in a row. Today I am making some announcements about more high-level management appointments — others will follow in the…

Nearing the Finish Line

We are excited to announce additional leadership hires for DCYF. As we get closer to our July 1 merger, we are pleased to be able to round out our leadership team with dedicated and experienced professionals, each of whom will contribute meaningfully to our vision to ensure that…

Submitting Our First Budget Request

I am very excited to have submitted the Department of Children, Youth, and Families’ very first budget request to the Governor’s office this week. Even though we’re working towards only a supplemental budget, it feels like a milestone in “realness” for the new agency.