The bill creates new procedural standards and training requirements and makes statutory changes to family law and professional conduct rules. It adds a new section authorizing the Administrative Office of the Courts to develop an ongoing education program for judges, magistrates, guardians ad litem, child and family court investigators, evaluators, and other court personnel on child abuse and domestic violence topics, requires at least 20 hours of initial training and 15 hours of ongoing training every five years, lists required topics, and requires conformity with federal grant requirements. It amends RCW 13.34.102 to require guardians ad litem to meet specified training before appointment, establishes rotational registries and appointment/substitution procedures (including three-judicial-day strike and substitution timelines) for compensated guardians ad litem, and directs courts to remove registry members who misrepresent qualifications; CASA programs are not subject to the rotational registry. The bill amends chapter 26.09 RCW to change allocation-of-parental-responsibilities procedures and evidentiary rules when allegations of child abuse or domestic violence are present. It provides that permanent parenting plans need not require mutual decision-making or noncourt dispute resolution when a parent has engaged in abandonment, child abuse, or certain domestic-violence or serious sexual-offense conduct, and it authorizes courts to limit or restrain residential time or contact for parents (or parents who reside with certain persons) convicted or adjudicated of listed sex offenses or found to be sexual predators, creating rebuttable presumptions that require written findings and specific conditions (including treatment progress and evaluator or child-counselor opinions) to overcome. The bill authorizes supervised residential time by a neutral, independent adult under court-approved plans, sets standards for when unsupervised contact may be considered (including at least two years of supervised time without new child-related sex-offense arrests and professional testimony, and psychosexual evaluation requirements if treatment was not court ordered), directs courts to apply civil rules of evidence and to consider qualified expert testimony about abuse and trauma, and restricts courts from ordering reunification treatment except under strict scientific and procedural criteria and not when it would cut off the child’s relationship with a protective parent. The bill also amends the professional conduct statute in chapter 18.130 RCW to add prohibited practices for license holders, including performing conversion therapy on patients under 18, implanting the license holder’s own reproductive material into a patient, and performing reunification therapy in certain abuse or domestic-violence circumstances where statutory prerequisites have not been satisfied. Affected entities include the Administrative Office of the Courts, superior courts, guardians ad litem programs, license holders subject to chapter 18.130, treatment providers, and courts making custody and contact decisions. Several definitions and cross-referenced provisions are incomplete in the provided text (notably the full definition of activation/mobilization, the factors listed in RCW 26.09.187 that the training must address, and the specific requirements referenced in RCW 7.105.405(4)(a)), so some implementation details and precise statutory cross-references cannot be confirmed from the extracted material.

If enacted, family courts and the Administrative Office of the Courts will have to build and run an ongoing training program and make it routine that judges, guardians ad litem, investigators, evaluators, and similar court staff complete substantial, recurring training on child abuse, trauma, bias, and related topics. Guardian ad litem programs will need to create rotational appointment registries and follow new short deadlines and substitution rules, while courts will routinely screen parties, rely more on qualified nonforensic experts, and apply stricter limits on shared decision-making and parental residential time when there are findings or credible allegations of abuse or certain sex offenses. Parents accused or convicted of sexual or violent conduct should expect more supervised contact requirements, longer evidentiary hurdles to regain unsupervised time (including psychosexual evaluations and documented treatment progress), and rebuttable presumptions that limit their options for custody or visitation. The practical effects will include added administrative and training costs for the courts and guardian ad litem programs, time and cost burdens on parents who must pay for evaluations and treatment to overcome presumptions, and increased risk of professional discipline for license holders who provide prohibited services (for example, conversion therapy for minors or certain reunification therapy). Courts and parties can expect more expert involvement and longer, more evidence-focused proceedings in abuse-related cases. Some key details needed to implement these changes—specific definitions referenced and certain statutory cross-references about what treatment or findings suffice—are missing from the provided text, so exact thresholds and timelines may remain unclear until those provisions are reviewed.