Child malnutrition guide mandated

OLYMPIA – A bill designed to help state child protection workers identify the signs of child malnutrition was signed into law by Gov. Jay Inslee last week.

“It was a good bill,” said Rep. Tom Dent, R-Moses Lake, a secondary sponsor of the bill.

Dent said he is a big proponent of keeping children safe and creating opportunities for children to be successful. A bill Dent introduced to the legislature this session to amend the membership and subcommittees of the oversight board for the Washington Department of Children, Youth and Families, HB 1590, passed the legislature unanimously and was delivered to the governor on April 14.

House Bill 1274, which passed both the House and Senate unanimously, creates a child malnutrition field guide for DCYF. The bill was signed by Inslee April 13 and requires the guide be produced by DCYF, in consultation with the Department of Health, by Sept. 1, 2023.

According to the bill, the child malnutrition field guide must be concise, but provide references to additional comprehensive and trauma-informed resources for department staff to access if needed. It must be easily accessible by department staff, describe how to identify signs of child malnutrition and include appropriate questions to ask the child and others close to the child when malnutrition is suspected. The guide also must include the appropriate next steps department staff may take when malnutrition is suspected and Include any additional information the department deems relevant.

Hunger is a serious concern in Washington state, according to data from Northwest Harvest, a nonprofit that works to fight hunger in the state. According to their data, about one million Washingtonians visited a food bank in the past year, about 10% of the state consistently struggles with hunger and one in six children live in a household that has difficulty putting food on the table. About an eighth of the state’s population relies on the Supplemental Nutritiion Assistance Program – or SNAP – to buy food, half of whom are children in homes that receive SNAP benefits.

According to a release by prime sponsor Rep. Travis Couture, R-Allyn, the bill is intended to prevent future tragedies.

In Nov. 27, 2020, Karreon Franks, a 15-year-old boy in Vancouver with developmental disabilities, died of starvation six days after he and his malnourished siblings were visited by a state Child Protective Services agent, the release said. There were multiple reports stemming from as early as 2017 that were dismissed by state authorities. At the time of his death, Franks weighed 70 pounds.

“I appreciate my colleagues in the House and Senate for their unanimous support of this important measure,” said Couture. “The state failed Karreon Franks. What happened to him must never be allowed to happen to any child in the state of Washington ever again. While a child malnutrition field guide may seem like a small step, it will ensure that agents of the state no longer have the excuse that they don't know what child malnutrition looks like.”

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