A proposed class action lawsuit filed last week alleges Washington’s child welfare agency has failed to provide immigrant youths with legal services that could grant them a pathway to legal status. The lawsuit, filed against the Department of Children, Youth and Families and the agency’s secretary, Tana Senn, centers on a federal immigration pathway known as Special Immigrant Juvenile status: a green card opportunity for young people who have been abandoned, abused or neglected by a parent, are under the care of the state, and for whom returning to their birth country would not be in their best interest. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of two young immigrants from Guatemala, identified by their initials in the suit, who came into DCYF’s care and now live in King County. One of them, a 17-year-old girl, entered the U.S. alone about a decade ago. After investigating reports of abuse and neglect starting in 2021, a court found she should be in the custody of DCYF.…