Statement on King County Audit Findings
August 28, 2025
On August 26, 2025, the King County Auditor’s Office released its report Department of Community and Human Services Needs to Strengthen Financial Stewardship. The report reviewed contract management among youth diversion programs and reported gaps in key areas, including enforcement of contract terms, validation of invoices, and communication of expectations to staff and grantees. The Auditor’s Office recommended ways DCHS can strengthen its financial stewardship.
Restorative Community Pathways (RCP) remains committed to transparency and accountability in how we partner with our communities and families, and so we must clarify some points on how the audit was presented.
RCP was one of four programs audited. The report co-mingles its findings, and we are concerned that doing so falsely implies that RCP engaged in deeply improper practices.
We view audits as part of a healthy financial reporting system and have completed one DCHS audit. That audit covers 2022-2023 (recommendations were released Q2 2025) and reported three areas for improvement:
#1 More documentation for program expenses
#2 Add the County’s verbiage to our subcontractor contracts
#3 Formalize a subcontractor monitoring policy.
We submitted a corrective-action plan to the County this summer, and we have consistently adapted to the County’s contracting requirements as they’ve evolved.
We reject any suggestion by King County Councilmember Regan Dunn that RCP engages in fraudulent or wasteful practices, and we call on the press to be more responsible about conflating RCP with other findings in the report. Even Mr. Dunn stated at King County’s Committee of the Whole Audit Results meeting on August 26 that the shortcomings of fiscal stewardship are the responsibility of the County–not the community organizations providing the services.
It’s important that we correct false claims about RCP because King County and RCP have broken new ground with a community-led model of restorative justice that has helped 1,072 young people and harmed parties since 2022. This alternative to youth incarceration should be celebrated, and given the time to mature and improve.
We invite readers to review our 2024 Annual Report, and look forward to DCHS releasing its third-party evaluation of RCP’s performance in September.
We have work to do, and we have the data to show we’re making a difference in the lives of King County’s young people and harmed residents. RCP is ready to do what is required, because young peoples’ lives are too important to politicize.
