Misguided ‘Keeping Families Together Act’ linked to increase in child mortality in Washington state

During a four-hour meeting on Thursday, the Washington State Department of Youth, Children & Families (DCYF) Oversight Board was presented with grim data from the Office of the Family and Children’s Ombuds (OFCO). OFCO Director Patrick Dowd revealed that 45 children died or nearly died between April and June 2025, just two fewer than the already-alarming 47 cases reported in the first quarter.

Dowd said the deaths are part of a growing trend his office could no longer ignore. “We didn’t want to give the impression that things are getting better when in fact we had preliminary information for 2025 that might paint a very different picture,” Dowd told the board. “We wanted to paint a picture of where things are headed.”

Among the most harrowing cases were six incidents in which children aged 0 to 3 accidentally ingested fentanyl, many while in homes where DCYF had previously been involved.

Dowd explained that while DCYF only reviews critical incidents when they have prior involvement with a family, OFCO looks more broadly at any case that raises red flags. Their findings indicate that 36 percent of the incidents were clearly linked to neglect, 18 percent to physical abuse, and nearly half involved contributing factors of child maltreatment.

Much of the blame, say foster parents, healthcare workers, and child welfare advocates, lies with the Keeping Families Together Act, or House Bill 1227, legislation supported by Washington Democrats that raised the threshold for removing children from homes. Under the law, substance abuse and housing instability alone no longer qualify as reasons for emergency intervention.

“I am here today as someone who is deeply disgusted by the direction our child welfare system is headed,” said Jamie Williams, a foster parent and labor and delivery nurse, during emotional public testimony. “We are sending our most vulnerable children back into the most lethal environments. A 200 percent increase in critical incidents is not just a statistic, it’s a failure.”

Williams blasted the law for prioritizing the rights of abusive and neglectful adults over the safety of innocent children. “The so-called Keeping Families Together Act is tragically misnamed,” she said. “Rather than preserving families, this law is accelerating the destruction of them.”

Kristina Johnson, another speaker, said, “The kids are dying because of this law.”

She argued that DCYF continues to cite the fentanyl crisis, but the real problem is that children are being kept in homes where those dangers exist. “If the children weren’t in the home, they wouldn’t be dying.”

In one devastating 2024 case, a newborn in Port Townsend, born with fentanyl in his system, was placed into the custody of his father, Jordan Sorenson, after passing initial drug tests. Sorenson later stopped complying with drug screening and vanished with the baby. Authorities eventually located him, without the child. The baby was found dead, his body left in the bushes.

Jefferson County Prosecutor James Kennedy was blunt in his assessment. “This was a foreseeable result,” Kennedy said. “According to the law, substance abuse or housing issues do not constitute imminent physical risk to a child. That has proven to be tragically wrong.”

In another shocking 2024 incident, 4-year-old Ariel Garcia was stabbed to death, up to 41 times, allegedly by his mother, Janet Garcia, whose own mother had just filed for custody days earlier, citing erratic and dangerous behavior fueled by drugs and alcohol. Despite these warnings, Ariel remained with his mother until his mutilated body was found alongside Interstate 5.

Court documents revealed Garcia had previously taken the boy to bars, abandoned him with other children, and become increasingly violent, yet no action was taken to remove the child under the standards of HB 1227.

Republican State Rep. Travis Couture, who has proposed legislation to amend the law, didn’t mince words in an interview on The Ari Hoffman Show on Talk Radio 570 KVI. “Democrats have chosen this radical ideology of drug and equity over the lives of innocent children,” Couture said. “We need to be able to take the keys away from parents who are addicted so we can help them get sober and protect their kids in the meantime.”

Couture pointed to the broader context of Washington’s drug crisis: over 3,000 overdose deaths in 2022, many involving parents responsible for young children.

“It’s like losing the entire population of Port Ludlow or McChord Air Force Base every year. And yet our state continues to fund heroin dens and distribute ‘booty bumping kits’ with taxpayer dollars.”

He called the state’s harm reduction efforts “coddling” and demanded lawmakers refocus the system on saving lives.

“Love and compassion is not giving people the tools to kill themselves, it’s helping them climb out of the dark hole. And keeping children in those environments is not compassion. It’s state-sanctioned negligence.”

In 2022 alone, 85 children under state supervision died, with 22 of those deaths linked to accidental drug ingestion, 67 percent involving fentanyl. With 2025 now on pace to surpass those figures, pressure is mounting for lawmakers to reverse course.

“We’re not just failing these kids,” said Williams. “We’re burying them.”