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Testimony on HB 3048, House of Representatives Judiciary Committee

January 25, 2008

Good Morning. For the record my name is Jim Theofelis and I am the founder and Executive Director of The Mockingbird Society. We are an advocacy based organization with a mission of building a world class foster care system through collaboration, innovation and advocacy.

First, I would like to thank you Madame Chair and Representative Goodman for sponsoring HB 3048 and to all the members of the committee for hearing this important bill.

HB 3048 is clearly a bill whose time has come. As I mentioned earlier our mission statement is to build a world class foster care system for the nearly 10,000 children and adolescents in Washington's system. One of the ways in which we define "world class" is the standard that kids in foster care receive the same level of care and support that kids from intact families receive. I can tell you as a parent I would not and assume most parents would never allow a child to set foot into a court room without adequate legal representation. It is my contention that once the state has gone into a family's home and removed the children the state then assumes a major responsibility as the parent. We have been very fortunate in that the Washington Legislature has viewed the responsibility of caring for kids in foster care as a bi-partisan issue. The Dependency Hearing is a very critical hearing in which major life decisions are made and we believe it is inappropriate and counter-therapeutic to put kids in this type of position without adequate legal support.

You can see from the bill that we have worked hard to introduce this concept in a measured fashion. HB 3048 would begin with as a pilot project that includes training, a cap on the number of clients an attorney can have and a study to determine the benefits of this proposal. We further scaled the proposal back to only include youngsters age 12 and older. We believe we will see improved outcomes for the adolescents who participate in this program including ensuring that court ordered services are indeed provided to kids and families, better educational outcomes, and increased placement stability.

In the words of James Baldwin: "For these are all of our children; and we will profit by Or pay for whatever they become." I believe this bill is the right thing for our kids in foster care and if given the opportunity HB 3048 will clearly demonstrate its effectiveness. Again, I thank you for hearing HB 3048 and I encourage a "Do Pass" vote out of committee. Thank you.