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Article: UNIONIZING FOSTER PARENTS BAD IDEA.(Editorial)(Column)
- Article from:
- Seattle Post-Intelligencer
- Article date:
- February 26, 2008
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2008 Seattle Post-Intelligencer. All rights reserved. Reproduced with the permission of the Dialog Corporation by Gale Group. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Byline: GARY MALKASIANGUEST COLUMNIST
House Bill 3145, now in the Senate, takes foster care in a dangerous direction. Innocuously titled "Implementing a tiered classification system for foster parent licensing," it was drafted by Foster Parents Association of Washington (FPAWS, division WFSE/AFL-CIO) as the first step toward unionizing foster parents.
HB3145 establishes collective bargaining for foster parents, classifies them as state employees and authorizes the collection of union dues from payments to foster parents. This is going too far.
HB3145 was written specifically for foster parents of high-needs children to establish a beachhead. ...