(1) The licensing division (LD) is responsible for:
(a) Licensing and monitoring of the care provided to residential students at RPSs with living accommodations; and
(b) Verifying RPSs meet the minimum licensing requirements in this chapter.
(2) This chapter contains licensing requirements for the living accommodations of RPSs. These licensing regulations are designed to verify children in RPSs are safe, healthy, and protected from all forms of child abuse and neglect, as outlined in:
(a) RCW 26.44.020; and
(b) Chapter 110-30 WAC.
(3) This chapter reflects the department's commitment to:
(a) Recognize the traumatic history of RPS and boarding schools that were used to follow a policy of forced assimilation on tribal individuals for over a century and half;
(b) Empathetically understand the intergenerational impact these institutions had on tribal communities across the nation that resulted in the loss of traditional language, culture, and beliefs today; and
(c) Acknowledge the hard truths of our past and present not only honors the deep wounds tribal individuals and communities carry as a direct result of being targeted and dispossessed but is necessary for healing and progress to occur.