The Washington State Center for Court Research (WSCCR) is proud to release Dependent Children in Washington State: Case Timeliness and Outcomes 2020 Annual Report. The report can be viewed online here.
We also have a Dependency Dashboard that is available to the public and can be accessed by stakeholders outside the courts. The dashboard is updated monthly and quarterly and can be viewed here.
We are happy to report that King County data is included in the 2020 Timeliness Report, which now includes dependency data from all 39 superior courts for all reporting years.
As anticipated, the pandemic impacted dependency case processing and the effect is evident in this 2020 report. Some examples of the challenges dependency courts experienced were: courts were closed and access via virtual hearings created challenges; hearing schedules were impacted and case processing slowed considerably; and a reduction in dependency cases filed in court. We expect next year’s report to provide insight in the dependency courts recovery and status following an unprecedented year of court closures.
We would like to thank our colleagues at the Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF) and other court partners who contributed to this report.
If you have questions or suggestions for improvement of this annual report, please let us know. We can be reached at [email protected], [email protected] or [email protected].