Laura Schrager - July 2008

This report presents preliminary information on the implementation of the Foster Care to College (FCTC) mentoring program in Washington State. This pilot program, modeled on King County's Treehouse mentoring program for foster youth, expands the availability of education-focused mentoring to foster youth in all regions of the state.

This preliminary report reviews the background of the program, describes the program, discusses implementation issues experienced in the first 18 months of the program, and suggests potential program modifications.

Tali Klima, Roxanne Lieb - June 2008

This paper reviews policies and practices regarding assessment of sex offenders for risk of reoffense among public agencies and private treatment providers in Washington State. Specifically, we reviewed the use of risk assessment instruments, which gauge the likelihood that individual sex offenders will reoffend.

We found that a diverse set of instruments are employed by public and private entities in making decisions about sex offenders. These decisions include sentencing, facility assignment, treatment, release, public notification, and community supervision. As expected, there was greater variability in risk assessment practices among private treatment providers than public agencies.

Marna Miller - June 2008

The 2007 Legislature created the Racial Disproportionality Advisory Committee to study disproportion in Washington’s child welfare system, and directed the Institute to conduct analyses for the Committee. The initial analysis found that Indian, Black, and Hispanic children referred to Child Protective Services (CPS) in the 2004 study year were present in the system at rates greater than White children, and that Asian children were under-represented in the child welfare system. Further analysis determined that most of the disproportionality occurred at point of referral to CPS alleging abuse or neglect. Controlling for poverty, geography, age of the child, and other factors using regression analysis still indicated disproportionality at many points in the child welfare system.

Robert Barnoski - May 2008

The Juvenile Rehabilitation Administration (JRA) within the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services contracted with the Institute to determine if an empirically valid risk assessment for sexual reoffending could be developed using data from the Intensive Parole Supervision Assessment (IPSA). This report summarizes our findings.

Wade Cole - May 2008

This report updates our effort to identify schools whose students performed above or below expectations on the WASL. To the spring 2006 WASL results we add another set of results, from spring 2007, to determine whether any schools beat the odds for two consecutive years. We also include 4th- and 7th-grade results to identify elementary and middle schools that beat the odds.

Mason Burley - May 2008

The 2001 Washington State Legislature directed the Institute to, “conduct a longitudinal study of long-term [mental health] client outcomes to assess any changes in client status at two, five, and ten years.” Every year, the state’s public mental health system serves about 120,000 individuals. To follow changes over time, this paper focuses on a cohort of 39,039 adults who received public mental health services in January 2004. At the end of four years, mental health consumers were classified into those that 1) received services continually (every month), 2) regularly utilized mental health services (every quarter), 3) had intermittent use of mental health services (breaks longer than three months), and 4) clients who received services and did not return (“leavers”). Using administrative data, we looked at utilization patterns by demographics (age, region, and sex), previous utilization of mental health services, diagnoses, Medicaid eligibility, and functioning and impairment. After highlighting factors associated with service utilization, we outline future reports in this series that will address outcomes for public mental health consumers.

Stephanie Lee, Steve Aos, Marna Miller - May 2008

The 2007 Washington State Legislature directed the Washington State Institute for Public Policy to study evidence-based, cost-effective programs and policies to reduce the likelihood of children entering and remaining in the child welfare system, including both prevention and intervention programs.
The “bottom line” goal of the study is to provide the legislature with reliable estimates of the costs and benefits of prevention and intervention programs that are designed to reduce involvement in the child welfare system.

Roxanne Lieb, Corey Nunlist - March 2008

The 1990 Legislature directed the Institute to evaluate the effectiveness of the Community Protection Act. As part of this evaluation, the Institute contracted in 1997 with the Social and Economic Sciences Research Center (SESRC) at Washington State University to conduct telephone interviews with a sample of Washington State residents regarding the community notification provisions of the Community Protection Act.

In 2007, the Institute again contracted with SESRC to conduct a nearly identical survey and learn how responses may have changed. The results from both surveys indicate that the vast majority of Washington State residents are familiar with Washington’s community notification law and consider the law very important.

Mason Burley - March 2008

A 2001 report by the Washington State Institute for Public Policy (Institute) reported the gap in standardized test scores between Washington State foster youth and non-foster youth. The analysis conducted in 2001 was based on statewide, norm-referenced assessment tests. In 2005, however, the state no longer required school districts to administer these tests, shifting instead to the criterion-based Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL). The Children’s Administration (DSHS) has asked to Institute to analyze WASL results for foster youth in 4th, 7th, and 10th grades. This report builds on previous work by the Institute analyzing the educational attainment of foster youth. In addition to comparing WASL results for foster and non-foster youth, we 1) analyze factors that influence the WASL test scores of foster youth, 2) describe the background of youth in foster care and analyze how these characteristics are related to their educational status, and 3) review relevant research findings and policy changes.

Jim Mayfield, David Lovell - February 2008

In 1999, legislation was passed to better identify and provide additional mental health treatment for mentally ill offenders who were released from prison, who pose a threat to public safety, and agree to participate in the program. A “Dangerous Mentally Ill Offender” (DMIO) is defined by the legislation as a person with a mental disorder who has been determined to be dangerous to self or others.

As part of its legislative mandate, the Institute has published a series of reports that evaluate the DMIO program. Reports published in 2005 and 2007 demonstrated that the DMIO program significantly reduced felony recidivism, and this 2008 follow-up report finds that reductions in felony recidivism were sustained at the 3-year mark. The benefit-cost analysis in this report indicates that the reductions in DMIO recidivism generated greater financial benefits than program costs.