Help Me Grow Washington Network News

Navigating the New Year's Changes Together

Our collective work toward a Washington where every family has what they need to thrive is more important than ever. We acknowledge the turbulence many of us have been feeling as we navigate a changing landscape. During times like these, we draw our strength from community and move forward together. Let’s make sure to take care of ourselves and support one another along the way.

We are excited to share recent progress made on several of the strategic initiatives in the Help Me Grow Washington (HMG) Strategic Plan.

Establish a Governance Model

The HMG Stewardship Council, one of HMG’s three governance bodies, is progressively taking shape! Following recommendations from both the Coordinating Team and the Community Partner Board, invitations have been extended to candidates to serve as official liaisons for their respective organizations. We’re excited to announce that the following organizations now have representatives on the Council:

Washington Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics (WCAAP)
Washington Communities for Children (WCFC)
Child Care Aware of Washington, WithinReach (HMG State Affiliate)
Washington Family Support Network (WFSN)
The Department of Children, Youth and Families (DCYF)

We’ve also invited additional candidates and we’re currently awaiting their responses. We expect our first Stewardship Council meeting to take place in late March.

Develop Specialized Referral Pathways

The efforts to support the community-based pathway for the Washington state Plan of Safe Care are well underway. By the end of December 2024, 51 of the 54 birthing hospitals had received at least one onboarding session and toolkit. Additionally, in December we hosted two “open trainings” which were open to any providers who had not yet been trained and those who wanted a refresher. These sessions were a success with over 80 participants present. We also plan to offer live quarterly training sessions. Additionally, client engagement has increased, especially due to a “Welcome Baby Bags” project which launched in October. WithinReach hosted a Microsoft funded volunteer event with Microsoft employees who packed 50 kits to support pregnant and postpartum people affected by substance use. The small offering of a tangible bag of essential items impacted the success of our outreach attempts and intake numbers during this time. Clients were more likely to call back, stay on the phone for the complete intake, and expressed their excitement and gratitude for receiving the items. Given the client response, we have secured additional kits and are looking forward to distributing them.

Coordinate Funding and

Advocacy Efforts

The legislature convened for the 2025 legislative session on Monday, January 13. This year’s session is considered a “long-session” when legislators convene for 105 days and do the hard work of writing the two-year (biennial) budgets. They also consider policy bills that are put forward. Session is scheduled to end on April 27 this year, so this is the marathon year rather than the sprint of short session.

There is a lot of ‘new’ going into the 2025 session, including (but not limited to!): A new Governor, 23 newly elected (or appointed) freshman legislators, 9 House members who have moved over to the Senate. With so much new, there is a lot of opportunity to work with members in their new positions.

For Help Me Grow, our top priorities are related to protecting and continuing our current state funding.

Protect Ongoing HMG Funding: The state is facing a significant budget shortfall of at least $12 billion over the four-year outlook. This means we are in a difficult landscape where the legislature is considering budget cuts, and also potential new revenue. Our top priority is to make sure that our ongoing funding for Help Me Grow isn’t cut.

Continue HMG Funding Increase from 2023: We are asking the legislature to continue the $500,000 in funding that was provided one-time in 2023. That funding has supported critical work including supporting statewide capacity of the HMG System and also supporting community engagement in partnership with our growing number of local Help Me Grow communities.

In addition to these top priorities specifically related to Help Me Grow, there are also a lot of other issues we are supporting in the early childhood and family supports space. See the Prenatal-to-Three coalition’s shared legislative agenda for some of the efforts underway this session.

Resources to Share

The 2025 Child Care Complex Needs Fund application is now open! Childcare providers will want to consider this grant which covers adaptive equipment as well as TA services to support applying and managing the grant. Info Sheets are available in English, Spanish and Somali.
Help Me Grow National Forum: Save the date! The Help Me Grow National Forum is coming up in July 2025. Find more information on the HMG National Center website.
The National Indian Health Board’s new website: We’re thrilled to share some exciting news: the National Indian Health Board’s new website is officially live! This launch is a significant step forward in advancing our mission to improve the health and well-being of all Tribal nations.

DCYF Updates Mandatory Reporter Training

DCYF has updated its Mandatory Reporter training to highlight the distinction between families in need of support versus child abuse and neglect, and the importance of connecting families to resources.

The updated training includes:

Distinctions between poverty and neglect, plus resources that mandatory reporters can use to help families.
Modules that address bias with the opportunity to learn how biases contribute to systemic racism.
Videos highlighting the impact of child abuse and neglect reports.
Knowledge checks that allow mandatory reporters to practice complex, real-life scenarios in a no-risk environment.

For the past two years, DCYF staff from across the agency collaborated with medical, public education, court, and law enforcement professionals, tribal partners, parent representatives, lived experts, The Alliance for Professional Development, Training, and Caregiver Excellence, as well as many others to shape this eLearning and inform changes made to DCYF web content and publications that focus on recognizing and reporting child abuse and neglect.

To learn more, visit the updated reporting abuse and neglect and mandatory reporting webpages or begin the eLearning today.

Read more to learn about the updated publications, webpages, and eLearning.

Send along ideas and resources for the Help Me Grow Washington website and future newsletters by emailin g Lark Kesterke.

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