Washington’s proposed 2026 supplemental budget includes two cuts that should concern anyone who values fiscal responsibility, family stability and community safety: a 50% reduction in funding for Dispute Resolution Centers and a $20 million cut to emergency housing and shelter programs.
On paper, these may look like savings. In reality, they shift costs from prevention into crisis, where problems are far more expensive and damaging.
Dispute Resolution Centers (DRCs) provide mediation services that resolve conflicts before they turn into eviction, litigation or family breakdown. Across Washington, and especially in rural counties like Lewis County, much court-referred mediation involves parenting plans — agreements that outline where children will live, decision-making responsibilities and how parents will share care after separation or divorce.
These mediations are not casual conversations. Judges recognize a simple truth: parents who work out agreements with skilled neutral guidance are more likely to follow them. That leads to fewer return trips to court, less conflict in front of children and more stable family arrangements.
Here in Lewis and Cowlitz counties, the Community Mediation Center (our local DRC) helps parents navigate emotionally charged decisions about custody schedules, holidays, schooling, transportation and communication boundaries without turning family court into a prolonged battleground.
This work also matters financially. Every unresolved conflict increases court caseloads, legal costs, and often spills over into child welfare, law enforcement, schools and social services. Mediation reduces all of that at a fraction of the cost of repeated litigation, producing faster resolutions, higher compliance and better long-term outcomes for children.
At the same time the state proposes to slash mediation funding, it is also cutting $20 million from emergency housing and shelter programs. When mediation prevents eviction, it reduces demand on shelters. Without mediation, more families fall into crisis, and with fewer shelter options, some may have nowhere to go — including women and children fleeing domestic violence, who may be forced to choose between staying in a dangerous home or sleeping in a car.
Washington’s 21 DRCs are nonprofit, community-embedded organizations operating on lean budgets with heavy reliance on trained volunteers and strong partnerships with courts and community organizations. They are prevention infrastructure: they stop small problems from becoming large ones. Cutting them does not eliminate conflict; it pushes it into systems that are more adversarial, more expensive and less capable of producing lasting solutions.
In rural communities, losing access to mediation removes one of the few tools families have to resolve disputes without hiring attorneys or waiting months for court dates. It undermines the stability of households and the broader community — quietly but profoundly.
This budget proposal is more than a line item. It is a choice between prevention or crisis, responsibility or reaction, solving problems early or paying for them later.
If we care about children, taxpayers and stable communities, we must protect the programs that quietly keep them functioning. Cutting mediation and shelters at the same time is not reform — it is a recipe for avoidable harm and unnecessary expense.
Luis Manzo
Napavine
