Stemming from her work with Enumclaw grandparents Doug and Anne Marie Stuth and their granddaughter Alexis Stuth, Sen. Pam Roach has introduced two pieces of legislation regarding child welfare and the Child Protective Services.

The Stuths and Alexis were in Olympia Thursday for a public hearing on both bills.

“They are perfect to represent this issue,” said Roach, who worked with the Enumclaw couple for nearly two years before they were able to adopt their granddaughter.

Doug and Anne Marie Stuth had essentially raised their granddaughter Alexis until she was taken out of their care and put into foster care by the Department of Health and Human Services. The Stuths did not have legal standing to defend themselves or their granddaughter. After months of heartache, Alexis was placed back with the Stuths and they have since adopted her.

Senate Bill 6416, the Alexis Stuth Act, would give certain grandparents and relatives legal standing in child welfare cases where a parent has been declared unfit to parent the child.

In the Stuths’ case, Roach said, a relative, living outside the state of Washington, should also have been considered as a home for Alexis before foster care and that also did not happen.

SB 6417 would create a legal presumption that placement with relatives, in dependency cases, is in the best interest of the child.

“The Stuth case shows how crucial this legislation is,” Roach said. “We must place children with caring relatives first and we must give relatives who have been caring for a child that is stuck in the system a say in any placement decisions.”

Thursday’s hearing was the first step toward becoming law.

“I think this bill is going to end up on the governor’s desk,” Roach said.

Roach, who has been a strong advocate for accountability in child welfare cases and within the Department of Social and Health Services, said the Stuths are not the only family facing a similar situation she has worked with recently, and laws addressing these issues would benefit many families.