Forum: Protect kids from fentanyl, other dangerous drugs at home
Published 1:30 am Saturday, March 7, 2026
By Mason Rutledge / Herald Forum
Last month, adults were evacuated from the Snohomish County Courthouse after possible exposure to fentanyl. Yet under Washington law, we cannot remove children from a home where a parent openly admits to using fentanyl every day.
This contradiction should trouble every one of us.
The Washington State House of Representatives recently allowed Senate Bill 5071 — legislation that would have updated the state’s child endangerment statute to include fentanyl — to die without action. The bill did not even receive a hearing in the House Community Safety Committee.
SB 5071 would have addressed a growing and undeniable crisis: children suffering overdoses or near fatalities in homes where lethal drugs are present.
The Keep Washington Families Together Act, passed in 2023, was created with a worthy and necessary goal: reducing the disproportionate removal of Black and Indigenous children from their homes. But by raising the threshold for intervention to cases of “imminent physical harm,” the law has been interpreted so narrowly that even the presence of fentanyl — one of the deadliest substances in our community — does not qualify. Protecting children and addressing racial disparities are not competing values. We can and must do both.
The consequences of inaction are not theoretical. Everett Police have investigated at least 32 overdoses involving children since 2019, including one fatality. A third of those cases involved toddlers between 1 and 3 years old. These tragedies were preventable.
Statewide data tells the same story. According to the Department of Children, Youth and Families, 66 percent of near fatalities in recent years were caused by accidental ingestion or overdose of controlled substances, and 78 percent of those involved fentanyl. And because Narcan-revived overdoses are not counted as “near fatalities,” the true scope of the crisis is even larger than the numbers suggest.
While lawmakers in Olympia let the solution die, Everett’s leaders are stepping forward. The Everett Police Department and City Attorney’s Office have proposed a municipal ordinance making it a gross misdemeanor to knowingly or recklessly allow a child to be exposed to Schedule I or II drugs, including heroin, methadone, cocaine and fentanyl. This ordinance would not replace the state’s authority to remove children from unsafe homes. But it would allow law enforcement to remove the drug-using adult and intervene before another child is harmed.
I believe in keeping families together. I grew up in a home affected by addiction. Police and aid cars came often. My parents were alcoholics; once, they were arrested while my sister and I waited in the car. But our family stayed together, and I am grateful for that, and even more grateful that my parents eventually found sobriety.
But fentanyl is not alcohol. Its lethality is immediate. A single exposure can kill a toddler.
Protecting children is one of the most basic responsibilities of a society. We teach them not to touch hot burners, to look both ways, to ask before petting a dog. Yet under current state law, we cannot remove them from a deadly danger sitting on a coffee table.
The Legislature should be embarrassed by its inaction. Everett should be proud of its leaders for stepping into the gap. A House committee allowed this bill to go unconsidered. If nothing changes, more children will die too. But at least we cleared the courthouse.
Mason Rutledge lives in Everett.
