Community members, advocates, foster parents, social workers and impacted families from across Washington will gather at the Capitol on Wednesday, Jan. 14, for the Keeping Kids SAFE Rally for Action, a nonpartisan advocacy event calling on legislators and the Department of Children, Youth and Families (DCYF) to make child safety the top priority of the 2026 legislative session, according to a news release.
The rally will begin at 10 a.m. at the Tivoli Fountain, with activities continuing throughout the day until 5 p.m. The main program will take place from 1 to 3 p.m. on the steps of the Legislative Building.
Sponsored by Keeping Kids SAFE and supported by Fostering Change, WFSE Local 889 and numerous child welfare stakeholder partners, the event comes amid growing concern over a record-breaking year of critical child safety incidents across Washington, the release stated.
Organizers are calling on legislators to:
• Make child safety the top priority of the 2026 legislative session.
• Broaden the statutory definition of harm beyond what is currently outlined in the Keeping Families Together Act.
• Recognize illegal drug use in the home as a serious risk of harm that meets threshold criteria for child removal.
• Right-size DCYF funding to adequately staff front-line, case-carrying social worker positions, as chronic understaffing has been cited as a contributing factor in multiple child fatality reviews.
“Legislators are aware of the issue,” organizers with Keeping Kids SAFE said in a news release. “Now they need to understand how deeply it matters to the community and the real-world consequences of inaction.”
The rally will feature speakers who have been directly impacted by child welfare system failures, along with key representatives and partners. The event will also include symbolic representations honoring children who have died or nearly died since 2022, as well as acknowledging the number of Narcan doses administered in child welfare-related incidents.
Participants have formally invited their elected representatives to attend and engage directly with families, foster parents, social workers, visitation agencies, and service providers to hear firsthand what is occurring on the front lines.
“It's a grownup's job to keep kids safe,” organizers emphasized. “This rally is about accountability, prevention and ensuring that policy decisions reflect the real risks children are facing today.”
The public is invited to attend.
