(The Center Square) - The Department of Children, Youth, and Families laid off roughly 11% of staff at the Echo Glen juvenile detention facility in late June and early July despite a history of significant problems including a 2023 violent escape, public records obtained by The Center Square show.
As of 2025, there were 277 total employees at the facility, and around 30 staff were laid off.
The detention facility houses boys up to 18 and girls and women up to 25 years old. The Center Square has previously reported numerous allegations made by whistle blowers at Echo Glen, including “major theft” by staff. A recent Joint Legislative Audit and Review Committee audit found that the facility also has a high annual staff turnover rate of 47%.
Additionally, the facility has experienced numerous escapes including one incident in 2023 where staff were overpowered and assaulted. A fence is planned for the facility but has not yet been built. According to a March King County Local Services and Land Use Committee document, the fence is still in the permitting phase.
Echo Glen Superintendent Jeffrey Wallace described the past several months as “among the most difficult our campus has faced,” citing the staff layoffs as well as the “at-risk process” and organizational changes, according to a June 26 internal letter obtained through the records request.
Wallace’s letter described the layoffs as part of implementing a new staffing model that shifts Juvenile Rehabilitation Counselors away from “routine floor coverage” so they could concentrate on “case management, collaboration and individualized support.”
As part of the new model, Security Services Northwest, Inc., a private company that provides security personnel and related services, no longer staffs the facility’s point of entry. Instead, the role is now handled by Echo Glen employees. The company was hired to provide security for the facility after the 2023 escape of juvenile inmates.
The public records also reveal there were internal disputes in Microsoft Teams chats between a layoff team tasked with assessing what to do with staff affected by the process and the Operations team that reviewed their assessment.
Human Resources Area Administrator Tracy Dunn wrote in a June 8 chat that the layoff team was “frustrated” that the Operations team was “questioning their assessment before it even goes to leadership. We are trying to place impacted employees and receiving a lot of push back so now they are questioning how much of that is coming from within HR.”
Human Resource Operations Area Administrator Carrie Wood responded in a chat that while she understood the layoff teams' frustration, she argued that the Operations teams “are trying to perform their due diligence in support of their appointing authorities and to help ensure timely and well-informed responses to the layoff team. I do believe their intent is to support the decision-making process rather than create additional barriers.”
According to a June 18 chat sent out by Wood, Secretary Tana Senn “doesn’t want HR blasting the agency, leadership, etc. with communications all at once or in a short timeframe and she doesn’t want us sending things out during the layoffs,” adding that “we shouldn’t be sending out communications saying we are launching something unless we are 100% sure it’s ready to go. So I think she’s a little trigger shy.”
On June 25, Tina Martin wrote to an unknown recipient that “this is a bigger discussion than having processing by 7/1/2026. I think we are going to have approximately 100 or more position updates due to the layoffs.”
However, a June 15 email written by Luz Barefoot to Archivist Lupita Lopez at the Secretary of State's Office inquired if SOS was experiencing any layoffs.
“I have no idea, they are hiring in certain departments,” Lopez replied. “Is DCYF doing layoffs?”
Barefoot responded that about 30 full time DCYF positions were being eliminated.
“Three of my colleagues are being directly impacted by layoffs,” Barefoot wrote.
A draft letter sent out by Francesca Fonseca on June 4 to be given to a staffer after a meeting about the layoffs informs the recipient that they had formal layoff options, adding that they would also receive a separate letter with options and timelines.
Phedra Quincey described the layoff process in a June 12 email as “such a huge task and so emotionally charged for everyone involved.”
According to a July 1 chat sent out by Tracy Taylor, the DCYF executive leadership team made the layoffs due to a variety of factors, including:
protect frontline workersmaintain core services“be strategic given shrinking budget”streamline “where possible”
The Center Square reached out to DCYF requesting an interview to discuss the records and confirm the layoffs occurred but did not receive a response by time of publication.
