‘The numbers are dramatic’: WA rep. says child fatalities have skyrocketed under Keeping Families Together Act

A Seattle mother, who was allegedly a known fentanyl user, was charged in her 11-month-old son’s fentanyl overdose in 2024, KOMO News reported. According to charging documents, the mother had previously been investigated by the Washington State Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF) for using drugs around her child.

Washington State Representative Travis Couture explained to “The Jake and Spike Show” on KIRO Newsradio that the Keeping Families Together Act, passed in 2021, has led to a dramatic spike in child fatalities by preventing Child Protective Services (CPS) from stepping in until a child faces imminent serious harm.

“In the last two years, we’ve had over 100 critical incidents, that’s child fatalities and near fatalities,” he said. “And just to put that into perspective, before the Keeping Families Together Act, we would maybe have less than a handful in the entire state for a year. So the numbers are dramatic. They’re huge.”

‘Trading 70 ACEs for one’: Couture challenges math behind Keeping Families Together Act

Couture pushed back on DCYF Secretary Tana Senns’ argument that keeping children with parents who abuse drugs like fentanyl is less traumatic than removing them.

“What is actually more traumatic is when a social worker has to come not 10, 20, 30, but upwards of 70 times to these homes and endanger themselves because they’re fentanyl everywhere, but also try to keep this kid alive,” he said. “I’ve talked to a lot of these social workers, and in tears, they will say, ‘I just know when I go back to that home, there’s nothing I can do, and that child might be dead the next day,’ and that’s a tragic situation to be in for them.”

Couture tried to amend the law this session, but Democrats voted it down. He said lawmakers justify the law using Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) scores, which count removing a child from a parent as one ACE. But Couture argued the math doesn’t hold up because every time a social worker visits a dangerous home, it adds another ACE to the child’s score.

“So we’re trading 70 ACEs for one, is kind of how the math works out, and that doesn’t make any sense,” he said.

Seattle infant dies of fentanyl after repeated CPS contact

In the case of Seattle mother Safarah Red, she called police saying she had been attacked at the Othello light rail station and that a man had put a substance in her mouth, KOMO News reported. She said her son was not breathing, and that after the attack, she went home, made him a bottle, and fell asleep. She believed he may have ingested some of the substance. The 911 dispatcher noted Red sounded high.

Police determined her account didn’t add up. They found her child dead, and an autopsy determined he died from fentanyl exposure. DCYF records show CPS was first contacted when Red gave birth in 2023 due to drug use concerns, according to KOMO News. Red then repeatedly tested positive for fentanyl despite saying she wasn’t using it.

Couture said the case demonstrates a hard truth.

“I’ve said this before, and I won’t apologize for it, but the only thing someone who is in the throes of a deep fentanyl addiction cares about is getting the next hit,” he said. “They love the drugs more than they love caring for their kids. And as harsh as that sounds, it is the truth.”

Couture struggles to win Democratic support for amending the law

In the meantime, Couture said he is spending the interim trying to build Democratic support for his amendments, but acknowledged that selling the bill across the aisle has been an uphill battle.

“I feel like I’m kind of circling the wagons a little bit to try to figure out, what do I have to do this interim to kind of sell this. But in my talks with Democrat leadership, they just don’t even see the same thing that we see. They don’t,” he said. “They look at the data, and they say, ‘Hey, it’s getting better.’ But even if you believed their data, it would still be one of the worst in the country. I mean, it just doesn’t make any sense. It’s total confirmation bias.”

Watch the full discussion in the video above.

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