Washington is one step closer to ending the practice of intercepting federal benefits from young adults receiving foster care services under a bill the Senate unanimously passed Friday.
If it becomes law, the proposal would ensure foster youth ages 18 to 21 receive federal benefits such as retirement, survivors and disability insurance and supplemental security income that have long been siphoned off by the state's Department of Children, Youth and Families.
The legislation is part of a bipartisan effort nationwide to make sure foster youth rather than states benefit from that money.
State Sens. Emily Alvarado, D-West Seattle, and Judy Warnick, R-Moses Lake, sponsored a broader version of the bill last year that included foster children of all ages, but the proposal failed to move forward. Alvarado and Warnick are the main primary sponsors this legislative session.
“For far too long our state has taken public benefits from children, youth and young adults in our foster care system — benefits that belong to those children and youth,” Alvarado said on the debate floor Friday. “We’ve taken it to cover the cost of foster care.”
Washington is one of many states that intercepts money from foster youth to fund the agency overseeing their care. The Department of Children, Youth and Families collects about $700,000 a month in federal benefits from approximately 750 children and youth of all ages.
Alvarado said the proposal sets up those in extended foster care for “more financial success, self-sufficiency and opportunity.” The bill directs DCYF to assist foster youth to determine what type of financial account is appropriate to store the funds.
“Today we take one step to stop taking benefits from young adults in extended foster care,” Alvarado said. “I hope that someday we can be back here again and end the practice for all children and youth.”
Warnick acknowledged the latest version is pared back because of the state's ongoing budget problems, but said the state needs to “help those young people who deserve those payments to get on the right track after they leave the foster care system.”
Kim Justice, director of public policy at Partners for Our Children, said that while the ultimate goal is to end the practice for all foster youth, the bill passed Friday is the “first stage” of reaching that goal. Justice said that while there was no major opposition to the proposal last year, the challenge was the overall cost hit to DCYF as the state tackled the enormous shortfall in the budget.
The cost of the latest proposal would amount to over $600,000 in fiscal year 2027. In 2025, DCYF estimated the proposal to stop the practice for all foster youth would have amounted to nearly $12 million in the 2025-27 biennium.
Justice said she believes focusing the bill on 18- to 21-year-olds in extended care is a good starting point because this would provide more stability as they transition out of foster care.
Momentum is also growing to end the practice nationally.
In December, the federal Administration for Children and Families at the Department of Health and Human Services called on governors in the 39 states that still collect the federal aid to work toward ending the practice. Assistant Secretary Alex J. Adams referred to the seizing of federal benefits as “the orphan tax.”
Since then, Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen has signed an executive order to bar the state from intercepting benefits from foster youth.
In 2025, Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly signed an executive order ending the practice. Arizona passed legislation in 2023 to stop seizing federal benefits for foster youth, and Washington, D.C., ended the practice in 2022. Other states, including Colorado and Idaho, have also stopped seizing foster youth benefits.
If the proposal passes, the bill would go into effect Jan. 1, 2027.
© 2026 The Seattle Times. Visit www.seattletimes.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
