The 2019 Washington State Legislature passed Senate Bill 5274, establishing a COFA Islander Dental Care program. This new bipartisan law makes no-cost dental coverage available to adults from Compact of Free Association (COFA) nations residing in Washington, who are income-eligible for Medicaid (below 138% of the Federal Poverty Level).
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State lawmakers can take important steps to improve kids’ lives in the 2019 state legislative session. Candidates for the Washington state legislature will make critical choices for our kids if they are elected in November. Their choices can help kids have great childhoods and grow up strong, and advance racial equity and opportunity for all our kids.
Children’s Alliance has taken the following positions on statewide ballot measures.
We believe in the potential of every child. Poverty and racism erode kids’ opportunities. Our 2019 legislative agenda (PDF) reflects smart public policies that remove barriers and create opportunity—so all kids can thrive.
In the 2018 legislative session, Children’s Alliance led our many partners across Washington to advocate for good public policy—laws and public investments that create opportunity for Washington’s children.
We all have a stake in the basic services and supports that help Washington’s kids. We count on programs and services, quality schools, health care and other public goods that make Washington great. Our shared investments contribute to quality early learning, child nutrition, and other services and supports that let kids thrive.
Children’s Alliance proudly supports Initiative 940. It’s good for kids and public safety.
Every child in our state should have the opportunity to thrive: a quality education supported by parents and community from cradle to career; enough healthy food to eat each day; and access to comprehensive, affordable health care that optimizes their well-being.
In our Learn, Love, Lead! email series, we show what we can do together to protect and support Washington's children from new federal threats. Each week, we provide a resource you can learn from and share, or an action you can take to be the leader kids are counting on.
I. Short-Term Opportunities: Now through November 2017
We all have a stake in making sure that, from the day they’re born, kids can have the enriching experiences they need to get off to a great start in life. Research has found quality early learning can give children the tools they need to thrive academically and emotionally throughout their young lives and beyond.
Children’s Alliance is very pleased to see a number of our priorities reflected in 2SHB 1661. This brief outlines the provisions in the legislation a
The creation of a consolidated Department of Children, Youth and Families is an historic opportunity to improve outcomes for all children, especially those who face barriers to their healthy development and learning.
We support the proposal for a Department of Children, Youth and Families (DCYF), with the following priorities:
Dental therapists can make dental care accessible.
Dental therapists work as part of the dental team to provide routine and preventive care.
The Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program (ECEAP) is quality preschool that’s good for kids, parents and schools.
FACT: Dental therapists will work within a narrowly defined scope of practice to provide important and needed routine and preventive care to Washingtonians who currently can’t get it.
The proposal to consolidate programs and services into a Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF) in Washington State is a once in a generation opportunity to structure government for positive outcomes for children, youth, and families.
More than 385,000 children insured by Apple Health for Kids are not receiving any kind of dental care, including emergency visits. Similarly, nearly 3 in 10 children with private dental coverage in Washington did not receive any dental care on a yearly basis in 2013.