Introduction to the Special Issue: Legislation Related to Children's Evidence-Based Practice.

Abstract

This Special Issue addresses the passage of a law (Washington State 2011) during the 2012 legislative session and the subsequent activities that were developed as an outcome of that legislation in the State of Washington. The law requires policy makers to utilize empirically supported services in publicly funded children’s behavioral health, juvenile justice and child welfare. The implications of this type of legislation nationally as a model for implementing a more empirically informed provision of children’s services are significant. There is precedent for bills such as this. For example, in 2003 Oregon passed Senate Bill 267 (‘‘Evidence-based practice’’) (Oregon State 2003), which mandated increase the use of evidenceand research-based psychosocial interventions within public mental health systems (including addiction), corrections, and child welfare. Setting benchmarks across three biennia, the ultimate goal by the third and final biennium (2009–2011) was that 75 % of services were required to be evidence-based. The articles in this issue focus on the process and products that flowed out of the Washington law. Many of these processes and products were developed jointly between the University of Washington’s Evidence-Based Practices Institute (EBPI) and the legislatively-funded Washington State Institute of Public Policy (WSIPP). For historical context, previous legislative funding established a program within the University of Washington to train mental health providers to choose careers in the public sector provide continuing educational opportunities to mental health professionals and be a resource to the executive and legislative branch on issues related to behavioral health. This program was the basis for development of the Division of Public Behavioral Health and Justice Policy, housed within the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, within the School of Medicine. In 2007 legislation (Washington State 2007) further established a university based Evidence-Based Practice Institute (EBPI) within the Division of Public Behavioral Health and Justice Policy. The primary mission of the EBPI was to enhance the uptake of evidence-based practices in children’s mental health services through expanded implementation and workforce training. Despite the existence of this Institute, no mandate, incentive or consequence existed for the child serving systems to implement evidence-based practices. The system change process was seen as moving too slowly by legislative leaders and enthusiasm built for creating a more directive approach to system change related to evidence-based practices. These factors contributed to the legislature crafting HB 2536 as a remedy to increase the speed in which the child serving systems would move in the direction of funding empirically supported interventions. In an environment of strong political partisanship it is instructive to note that this legislation was passed with a close to a unanimous vote in both the House and Senate of the Washington State legislature and was subsequently signed by the Governor.