This bill amends existing law and adds a new section to expand and clarify fatality and near fatality review procedures for children, youth, and other individuals placed in the care or custody of the Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF), including those served under chapter 13.40 RCW and those in juvenile rehabilitation managed facilities. It specifically amends RCW 43.06A.100 and RCW 74.13.640 to require DCYF to conduct reviews when a death or near fatality is suspected to result from abuse or neglect and to consult the Office of the Family and Children's Ombuds (ombuds) when causation is unclear. The bill makes procedural and access changes: it requires DCYF to permit the ombuds (or a designee) private communication with any person in DCYF custody or subject to a near fatality investigation, physical access to state and licensed facilities, and, upon request, inspection and copying of relevant DCYF records. It grants the ombuds unrestricted online access to child welfare, juvenile rehabilitation, and DCYF data systems. Fatality review teams must be composed of individuals without previous involvement in the case and with pertinent expertise. DCYF must issue a report within 180 days after a concluded review unless the governor grants an extension, post reports publicly with allowable redactions, promptly notify the ombuds of near fatalities, and adopt procedures to implement these requirements. Reviews must include access to records of contracted agencies, and review materials are discoverable but generally inadmissible in civil or administrative proceedings, with specified exceptions. The bill defines "near fatality" to include acts, including controlled substance overdoses, certified by a physician to place the person in serious or critical condition, and defines "abuse or neglect" to include sexual abuse, sexual exploitation, female genital mutilation as defined elsewhere, injurious conduct that harms health or safety, and negligent maltreatment by a caregiver. Affected entities include DCYF, the ombuds, juvenile rehabilitation facilities, state institutions and licensed facilities, contracted agencies, and relevant legislative committees. The excerpted text references other statutes and uses the phrase "this chapter"; the full statutory context and exact placement of the new section are not provided here, so some dependency on existing chapter language and numbering is unclear.

If enacted, the law would make the state review more deaths and near-deaths of people in DCYF care or who received DCYF services within the prior year, require DCYF to run those reviews on a set timeline and to involve teams with no prior case involvement, and give the Office of the Family and Children’s Ombuds broad access to speak privately with people in custody, visit facilities, and inspect records and case management systems. Near-fatal events would explicitly include drug overdoses certified by a physician, reviews would cover incidents in juvenile rehabilitation facilities, and DCYF must notify the ombuds promptly, consult the ombuds when cause is unclear, and post reports within 180 days (with limited redactions). The groups most affected are DCYF (more review work, new procedures to create and staff, training and potential operational costs), agencies under contract with DCYF (required to provide records and cooperate), juvenile rehabilitation facilities and state-licensed institutions (more oversight and reviews), and the ombuds office (expanded investigatory authority and access). Reports will be sent to legislative committees and posted publicly, and while review materials can be discoverable, they are generally not usable in court except in limited situations. Some practical details about how DCYF implements these duties and how "this chapter" interacts with existing law are not included in the extracted text, so exact operational impacts are partly uncertain.