VIDEO | “A standard that has failed us”: Rep. Joshua Penner on child safety | House Bill 2660
During an executive session of the House Appropriations Committee, Rep. Joshua Penner, R-Orting, issues a sobering warning regarding House Bill 2660, a bill centered on child shelter care orders.
While supporting a key amendment to give the courts more latitude, Penner delivers a blunt assessment of Washington’s current child welfare standards, which he argues are directly contributing to a rise in preventable child fatalities.
Penner emphasizes that the state is currently facing a crisis of “unexpected fatality reports,” noting that hundreds of children have died while under the peripheral watch of the system. He argues that the existing legal standard of “imminent physical harm”—implemented as a silent standard even before its formal codification in 2023—has repeatedly failed to protect vulnerable children.
According to Penner, social workers in the field are currently “running against a barrier,” documented in pages of notes where they attempt to remove children from dangerous environments but are blocked by a rigid system.
Penner critiques what he calls an “institutionalized vision” of keeping families together at all costs, stating clearly that this ideology is “very clearly not working.” He highlights a critical jurisdictional gap: even when a judge orders safety conditions, the Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF) and the courts often have no power to mandate parental compliance. Penner concludes that while the bill itself may not solve the entire crisis, the proposed amendment is a vital step toward giving judges the authority to evaluate the totality of danger a child faces before another tragedy occurs.
