This bill adds a new section to chapter 43.216 RCW and amends RCW 74.13.060 to change how the Department of Children, Youth, and Families handles public benefits and money for persons in its care. Starting January 1, 2026, the department may not apply benefits, payments, funds, or accruals paid to or on behalf of a person in care (under chapters 13.34 or 13.40 RCW) as reimbursement for cost of care. The bill requires the department to assess and continuously screen children and youth in out-of-home placement for Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and Social Security retirement, survivors, and disability insurance (RSDI), to apply for those benefits on behalf of eligible persons, to request consent to release information for applicants older than 12, and to notify specified parties when applications are submitted. The bill establishes procedures for representative-payee handling and custodial management of funds when the department serves as representative payee: it must place funds into accounts, use funds for unmet personal needs not covered by other state or federal funding, and place excess funds into savings or investment accounts that do not count against SSI/RSDI eligibility (with an exception for funds needed to access certain Medicaid waiver services). Acceptable account types named include Washington ABLE accounts, special needs or pooled trusts, and savings accounts. The department must provide annual account statements to the person and notified parties, work to transfer representative-payee responsibility when placement ends, and assist persons turning 18 to become payees unless a guardian is required. The department must also develop and provide financial literacy training with public benefits information to eligible youth exiting care. The amendment to RCW 74.13.060 directs the secretary to conserve funds in a savings or investment account subject to the new 43.216 section, raises the single-person threshold for creating a separate savings/investment account from $500 to $2,000, and retains existing custody, accounting, delivery, and termination-on-guardian-appointment provisions. Affected entities named include the Department of Children, Youth, and Families, the Social Security Administration, the Department of Commerce (for Washington ABLE accounts), and the Developmental Disabilities Administration. The text does not define who "the secretary" or "representative payee" refers to in this bill, and operational details (timing, format, staffing, recordkeeping), enforcement mechanisms, penalties, appropriations, and rulemaking authority are not specified in the provided extracts.

If enacted, children and youth in out-of-home care will keep SSI or RSDI benefits from being used to reimburse the department for their care starting January 1, 2026, and the Department of Children, Youth, and Families will be required to screen and apply for those benefits on eligible children. The department will take on more front-line administrative work: asking consent for information release for youth over 12, coordinating with the Social Security Administration about representative payees, and, when it acts as payee, placing money into specified savings or special-needs accounts, spending only on unmet personal needs not covered elsewhere, and giving annual account statements. The department can delay becoming payee if reunification is the permanency plan for a youth already receiving benefits, and it must help youth transitioning out of care learn to manage public benefits and, when appropriate, become their own payee. The people most affected are youth in dependency or juvenile rehabilitation placements (and their parents or guardians), DCYF staff who will need to add benefit screening, application, account management, and training tasks, and agencies the department must work with such as the Social Security Administration and the Department of Commerce (for ABLE accounts). Practically, this will likely reduce the department’s ability to recoup care costs from those benefits, increase administrative responsibilities and account-handling duties (including a higher savings threshold of $2,000 before separate deposit), and shift more money into protected accounts for the youth. The bill text leaves out operational details (who exactly “the secretary” is, how screenings and account transfers will be carried out, and whether additional funding or enforcement mechanisms will be provided), so implementation logistics and net fiscal impact on the department are uncertain.