Stand Up Federal Way

If lawmakers spent as much effort on accountability as they do pouring taxpayer money into pet virtue projects with no guardrails, they wouldn’t feel entitled to simply take more. The article explains that access to information carries responsibility. It does not allege fraud, but affirms the public’s right to recognize concerning patterns, question oversight of public funds, and demand transparency. Social media allows these concerns to be amplified so officials with proper authority are pressured to act, especially when red flags have been ignored for years.

Love notes and drug paraphernalia. We've got to do better!

We Heart Seattle (@weheartseattle) on X

This is great information from Kent, WA. Glad the Kent Police Department helped this young lady and hope that she gets the help she needs. https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1BGmcUvLVD/

OFFICER HELPS TEEN IN CRISIS/RESOURCE INFORMATION FOR PARENTS

January is National Human Trafficking Awareness Month. In the hope of providing awareness, it seems fitting to wrap up this month with this incident that occurred over the weekend.

One of our officers was called to a home on Kent’s East Hill. The 911 caller had unwanted subjects in her house. They were invited in by her adult son in his 30s. The officer who responded discovered that the unwanted person was also in his 30s, and with him was a 16-year-old girl.

Long story short, she had been kicked out of her home across the state at the age of 14. After bouncing around place to place, and acting like an imperfect teenager in crisis, she ended up with a 20-year-old boyfriend who brought her to the opposite side of the state. He physically abused her. She did not report it because she was threatened and he was all she had. She did leave, and with no options, ended up in a home in Kent with 2 men in their 30s.

The responding officer and his crewmates worked for 5+ hours to connect with her family. They repeatedly refused to come to get her and stated if she did manage to get home, she was not welcome. They would not help find a suitable alternative. CPS would not take her. The officers tirelessly exhausted multiple avenues of housing, none of which were successful. In a final aggressive push with the family, they located someone on this side of the state that would accept her for the night. FD CARES was assisting the officers and arranged transportation for her to the location.

We never have the whole story. We’re guessing she engaged in activities that were not acceptable in the home. We know that this dynamic is frustrating, overwhelming, and at times unmanageable.

But make no mistake, you don’t get to kick a child out of your home and wash your hands of the responsibility. There are resources and legal actions you can take (see below) and yes, we know the resources are imperfect. But abandoning your child to unknown adults is delivering them to a lifestyle that eventually, more often than not, results in them being trafficked.

Abandoning a child in this way results, at bare minimum, in a criminal citation for Neglect of a Child. We consider this case a win because she was noticed by an officer and removed to safety. It could have been so much worse.

The domestic abuse by the boyfriend has been referred to the city/county where it occurred for investigation.

So today, we are listing as many resources as we can below in the hope that one of them meets the complex needs if you find yourself in a place where you can’t take care of your child.

Please share with whomever needs to see it. If you just can’t take it, call 911 before you abandon your child to strangers.



RESOURCES
IN CRISIS and need to talk about options: Call 988 24/7 365 Days a year

*Guidance obtaining a court order for temporary placement of a child in a residence other than the home of their parent when other meditation services cannot help:
https://kingcounty.gov/en/court/superior-court/courts-jails-legal-system/court-programs-children-families/truancy-at-risk-youth-programs/child-in-need-of-services-program

*King County Youth Services/Mental Health/Substance Abuse/Family Counseling:
https://kingcounty.gov/en/dept/dchs/human-social-services/behavioral-health-recovery/children-youth-services

*Seattle Children’s Hospital Behavior/Attention Management Program
https://www.seattlechildrens.org/clinics/psychiatry-and-behavioral-medicine/services/behavior-and-attention-management-program/

*Seattle Children’s Same Day children 4-17 Mental Health Support:
https://www.seattlechildrens.org/clinics/psychiatry-and-behavioral-medicine/psychiatric-urgent-care/?utm_campaign=amplification&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_content=psych-psychiatricurgentcare&utm_term=families&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=22665055641&gbraid=0AAAAADk7DDQwZplaFu1UtS3IXBYSSJRK3&gclid=Cj0KCQiA4eHLBhCzARIsAJ2NZoLOsU8p9V1TQp8G5Ab0nNFZ-QT2E5idPrxwXsM-WYf5b38qqz7jfXgaApyFEALw_wcB

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If you care about understanding why things happen — not just what happens — you may find our existing content useful, thought-provoking, and worth revisiting. We've invested in researching the topics that matter the most to us.

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I love when the garbage takes itself out

'South Hill Ra**st' Kevin Coe dies of natural causes Kevin Coe, informally known as the "South Hill Ra**st," died of natural causes on Wednesday morning.