BILL NUMBER: AB 899 CHAPTERED 10/10/01 CHAPTER 683 FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE OCTOBER 10, 2001 APPROVED BY GOVERNOR OCTOBER 10, 2001 PASSED THE ASSEMBLY AUGUST 31, 2001 PASSED THE SENATE AUGUST 30, 2001 AMENDED IN SENATE AUGUST 28, 2001 AMENDED IN SENATE JULY 18, 2001 AMENDED IN SENATE JULY 9, 2001 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 31, 2001 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 1, 2001 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 28, 2001 INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Liu (Coauthors: Assembly Members Aroner, Bates, Calderon, Chavez, Firebaugh, Goldberg, Koretz, Steinberg, Strom-Martin, Washington, and Wiggins) (Coauthors: Senators Kuehl, Romero, and Scott) FEBRUARY 23, 2001 An act to add Section 1530.91 to the Health and Safety Code, and to amend Sections 16164 and 16501.1 of, and to add Sections 27 and 16001.9 to, the Welfare and Institutions Code, relating to human services. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AB 899, Liu. Rights of foster children. Existing law establishes procedures for the placement of certain children in foster care. Existing law provides for licensing of facilities that provide foster care for children. Existing law requires the State Department of Social Services to license defined community care facilities, including facilities that provide foster care services for children, and to adopt regulations for this purpose. Under existing law, violation of the community care licensing provisions or related regulations adopted by the department is a misdemeanor. This bill would require those facilities that provide foster care services for children to make certain information regarding the rights of children in foster care available to those children. By changing the definition of a crime, this bill would result in a state-mandated local program. This bill would set forth the policy of the state that children placed in foster care have certain rights, and would require social workers and facilities providing social services for children in foster care to provide those children with information regarding those rights. To the extent this bill would increase the responsibilities of counties in the administration of the provision of foster care benefits for children, this bill would result in a state-mandated local program. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement, including the creation of a State Mandates Claims Fund to pay the costs of mandates that do not exceed $1,000,000 statewide and other procedures for claims whose statewide costs exceed $1,000,000. This bill would provide that with regard to certain mandates no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. With regard to any other mandates, this bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs so mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. It is the intent of the Legislature that the rights of children in out-of-home placement are not infringed upon, and when a foster child's rights conflict with the health or safety of the child or others, the Legislature urges counties and foster care providers to find a way to preserve the child's rights in a manner that maintains the health and safety of the child and others. SEC. 1.5. Section 1530.91 is added to the Health and Safety Code, to read: 1530.91. (a) Except as provided in subdivision (b) any care provider that provides foster care for children pursuant to this chapter shall provide each schoolage child and his or her authorized representative, as defined in regulations adopted by the department, who is placed in foster care, with an age and developmentally appropriate orientation that includes an explanation of the rights of the child, as specified in Section 16001.9 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, and addresses the child's questions and concerns. (b) Any facility licensed to provide foster care for six or more children pursuant to this chapter shall post a listing of a foster child's rights specified in Section 16001.9 of the Welfare and Institutions Code. The office of the State Foster Care Ombudsperson shall design posters and provide the posters to each facility subject to this subdivision. The posters shall include the telephone number of the State Foster Care Ombudsperson. SEC. 2. Section 27 is added to the Welfare and Institutions Code, to read: 27. Each agency and department responsible for listing in regulations the rights of children under this division shall incorporate the rights of foster children, as listed in Section 16001.9 on the list. SEC. 3. Section 16001.9 is added to the Welfare and Institutions Code, to read: 16001.9. (a) It is the policy of the state that all children in foster care shall have the following rights: (1) To live in a safe, healthy, and comfortable home where he or she is treated with respect. (2) To be free from physical, sexual, emotional, or other abuse, or corporal punishment. (3) To receive adequate and healthy food, adequate clothing, and, for youth in group homes, an allowance. (4) To receive medical, dental, vision, and mental health services. (5) To be free of the administration of medication or chemical substances, unless authorized by a physician. (6) To contact family members, unless prohibited by court order, and social workers, attorneys, foster youth advocates and supporters, Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA), and probation officers. (7) To visit and contact brothers and sisters, unless prohibited by court order. (8) To contact the Community Care Licensing Division of the State Department of Social Services or the State Foster Care Ombudsperson regarding violations of rights, to speak to representatives of these offices confidentially, and to be free from threats or punishment for making complaints. (9) To make and receive confidential telephone calls and send and receive unopened mail, unless prohibited by court order. (10) To attend religious services and activities of his or her choice. (11) To maintain an emancipation bank account and manage personal income, consistent with the child's age and developmental level, unless prohibited by the case plan. (12) To not be locked in any room, building, or facility premises, unless placed in a community treatment facility. (13) To attend school and participate in extracurricular, cultural, and personal enrichment activities, consistent with the child's age and developmental level. (14) To work and develop job skills at an age-appropriate level that is consistent with state law. (15) To have social contacts with people outside of the foster care system, such as teachers, church members, mentors, and friends. (16) To attend Independent Living Program classes and activities if he or she meets age requirements. (17) To attend court hearings and speak to the judge. (18) To have storage space for private use. (19) To review his or her own case plan if he or she is over 12 years of age and to receive information about his or her out-of-home placement and case plan, including being told of changes to the plan. (20) To be free from unreasonable searches of personal belongings. (21) To confidentiality of all juvenile court records consistent with existing law. (b) Nothing in this section shall be interpreted to require a foster care provider to take any action that would impair the health and safety of children in out-of-home placement. SEC. 4. Section 16164 of the Welfare and Institutions Code is amended to read: 16164. (a) The Office of the State Foster Care Ombudsperson shall do all of the following: (1) Disseminate information on the rights of children and youth in foster care and the services provided by the office. The rights of children and youths in foster care are listed in Section 16001.9. The information shall include notification that conversations with the office may not be confidential. (2) Investigate and attempt to resolve complaints made by or on behalf of children placed in foster care, related to their care, placement, or services. (3) Decide, in its discretion, whether to investigate a complaint, or refer complaints to another agency for investigation. (4) Upon rendering a decision to investigate a complaint from a complainant, notify the complainant of the intention to investigate. If the office declines to investigate a complaint or continue an investigation, the office shall notify the complainant of the reason for the action of the office. (5) Update the complainant on the progress of the investigation and notify the complainant of the final outcome. (6) Document the number, source, origin, location, and nature of complaints. (7) Compile and make available to the Legislature all data collected over the course of the year including, but not limited to, the number of contacts to the toll-free telephone number, the number of complaints made, the number of investigations performed by the office, the number of referrals made, and the number of unresolved complaints. (8) Have access to any record of a state or local agency that is necessary to carry out his or her responsibilities, and may meet or communicate with any foster child in his or her placement or elsewhere. (b) The office may establish, in consultation with a committee of interested individuals, regional or local foster care ombudsperson offices for the purposes of expediting investigations and resolving complaints, subject to appropriations in the annual Budget Act. (c) (1) The office, in consultation with the California Welfare Directors Association, Chief Probation Officers of California, foster youth advocate and support groups, groups representing children, families, foster parents, children's facilities, and other interested parties, shall develop, no later than July 1, 2002, standardized information explaining the rights specified in Section 16001.9. The information shall be developed in an age-appropriate manner, and shall reflect any relevant licensing requirements with respect to foster care providers' responsibilities to adequately supervise children in care. (2) The office, counties, foster care providers, and others may use the information developed in paragraph (1) in carrying out their responsibilities to inform foster children and youth of their rights pursuant to Section 1530.91 of the Health and Safety Code, Sections 27 and 16501.1, and this section. SEC. 5. Section 16501.1 of the Welfare and Institutions Code is amended to read: 16501.1. (a) The Legislature finds and declares that the foundation and central unifying tool in child welfare services is the case plan. (b) The Legislature further finds and declares that a case plan ensures that the child receives protection and safe and proper care and case management, and that services are provided to the child and parents or other caretakers as appropriate in order to improve conditions in the parent's home, to facilitate the safe return of the child to a safe home or the permanent placement of the child, and to address the needs of the child while in foster care. A case plan shall be based upon the principles of this section and shall document that a preplacement assessment of the service needs of the child and family, and preplacement preventive services, have been provided, and that reasonable efforts to prevent out-of-home placement have been made. In determining the reasonable services to be offered or provided, the child's health and safety shall be the paramount concerns. Reasonable services shall be offered or provided to make it possible for a child to return to a safe home environment, unless, pursuant to subdivisions (b) and (e) of Section 361.5, the court determines that reunification services shall not be provided. If reasonable services are not ordered, or are terminated, reasonable efforts shall be made to place the child in a timely manner in accordance with the permanent plan and to complete all steps necessary to finalize the permanent placement of the child. (c) When out-of-home placement is used to attain case plan goals, the decision regarding choice of placement shall be based upon selection of a safe setting that is the least restrictive or most familylike and the most appropriate setting that is available and in close proximity to the parent's home, consistent with the selection of the environment best suited to meet the child's special needs and best interest, or both. The selection shall consider, in order of priority, placement with relatives, tribal members, and foster family, group care, and residential treatment pursuant to Section 7950 of the Family Code. (d) A written case plan shall be completed within 30 days of the initial removal of the child or of the in-person response required under subdivision (f) of Section 16501 if the child has not been removed from his or her home, or by the date of the dispositional hearing pursuant to Section 358, whichever occurs first. The case plan shall be updated, as the service needs of the child and family dictate. At a minimum, the case plan shall be updated in conjunction with each status review hearing conducted pursuant to Section 366.21, and the hearing conducted pursuant to Section 366.26, but no less frequently than once every six months. Each updated case plan shall include a description of the services that have been provided to the child under the plan and an evaluation of the appropriateness and effectiveness of those services. (e) The child welfare services case plan shall be comprehensive enough to meet the juvenile court dependency proceedings requirements pursuant to Article 6 (commencing with Section 300) of Chapter 2 of Part 1 of Division 2. (f) The case plan shall be developed as follows: (1) The case plan shall be based upon an assessment of the circumstances that required child welfare services intervention. (2) The case plan shall identify specific goals and the appropriateness of the planned services in meeting those goals. (3) The case plan shall identify the original allegations of abuse or neglect, as defined in Article 2.5 (commencing with Section 11164) of Chapter 2 of Title 1 of Part 4 of the Penal Code, or the conditions cited as the basis for declaring the child a dependent of the court pursuant to Section 300, or all of these, and the other precipitating incidents that led to child welfare services intervention. (4) The case plan shall include a description of the schedule of the social worker contacts with the child and the family or other caretakers. The frequency of these contacts shall be in accordance with regulations adopted by the State Department of Social Services. If the child has been placed in foster care out of state, the county social worker or a social worker on the staff of the social service agency in the state in which the child has been placed shall visit the child in a foster family home or the home of a relative at least every 12 months and submit a report to the court on each visit. For children in out-of-state group home facilities, visits shall be conducted at least monthly, pursuant to Section 16516.5. At least once every six months, at the time of a regularly scheduled social worker contact with the foster child, the child's social worker shall inform the child of his or her rights as a foster child, as specified in Section 16001.9. The social worker shall provide the information to the child in a manner appropriate to the age or developmental level of the child. (5) When out-of-home services are used, the frequency of contact between the natural parents or legal guardians and the child shall be specified in the case plan. The frequency of those contacts shall reflect overall case goals, and consider other principles outlined in this section. (6) When out-of-home placement is made, the case plan shall include provisions for the development and maintenance of sibling relationships as specified in subdivisions (b), (c), and (d) of Section 16002. If appropriate, when siblings who are dependents of the juvenile court are not placed together, the social worker for each child, if different, shall communicate with each of the other social workers and ensure that the child's siblings are informed of significant life events that occur within their extended family. Unless it has been determined that it is inappropriate in a particular case to keep siblings informed of significant life events that occur within the extended family, the social worker shall determine the appropriate means and setting for disclosure of this information to the child commensurate with the child's age and emotional well-being. These significant life events shall include, but shall not be limited to, the following: (A) The death of an immediate relative. (B) The birth of a sibling. (C) Significant changes regarding a dependent child, unless the child objects to the sharing of the information with his or her siblings, including changes in placement, major medical or mental health diagnoses, treatments, or hospitalizations, arrests, and changes in the permanent plan. (7) When out-of-home placement is made in a foster family home, group home or other child care institution that is either a substantial distance from the home of the child's parent or out of state, the case plan shall specify the reasons why that placement is in the best interest of the child. When an out-of-state group home placement is recommended or made, the case plan shall, in addition, specify compliance with Section 7911.1 of the Family Code. (8) When out-of-home services are used, or when parental rights have been terminated and the case plan is placement for adoption, the case plan shall include a recommendation regarding the appropriateness of unsupervised visitation between the child and any of the child's siblings. This recommendation shall include a statement regarding the child's and the siblings' willingness to participate in unsupervised visitation. If the case plan includes a recommendation for unsupervised sibling visitation, the plan shall also note that information necessary to accomplish this visitation has been provided to the child or to the child's siblings. (9) When out-of-home services are used and the goal is reunification, the case plan shall describe the services to be provided to assist in reunification and the services to be provided concurrently to achieve legal permanency if efforts to reunify fail. The plan shall also consider the importance of developing and maintaining sibling relationships pursuant to Section 16002. (10) When out-of-home services are used, the child has been in care for at least 12 months, and the goal is not adoptive placement, the case plan shall include documentation of the compelling reason or reasons why termination of parental rights is not in the child's best interest. A determination completed or updated within the past 12 months by the department when it is acting as an adoption agency or by a licensed adoption agency that it is unlikely that the child will be adopted, or that one of the conditions described in paragraph (1) of subdivision (c) of Section 366.26 applies, shall be deemed a compelling reason. (11) (A) Parents and legal guardians shall have an opportunity to review the case plan, sign it whenever possible, and then shall receive a copy of the plan. In any voluntary service or placement agreement, the parents or legal guardians shall be required to review and sign the case plan. Whenever possible, parents and legal guardians shall participate in the development of the case plan. (B) Parents and legal guardians shall be advised that, pursuant to Section 1228.1 of the Evidence Code, neither their signature on the child welfare services case plan nor their acceptance of any services prescribed in the child welfare services case plan shall constitute an admission of guilt or be used as evidence against the parent or legal guardian in a court of law. However, they shall also be advised that the parent's or guardian's failure to cooperate, except for good cause, in the provision of services specified in the child welfare services case plan may be used in any hearing held pursuant to Section 366.21 or 366.22 as evidence. (12) The case plan shall be included in the court report and shall be considered by the court at the initial hearing and each review hearing. Modifications to the case plan made during the period between review hearings need not be approved by the court if the casework supervisor for that case determines that the modifications further the goals of the plan. When out-of-home services are used with the goal of family reunification, the case plan shall consider and describe the application of subdivision (b) of Section 11203. (13) When the case plan has as its goal for the child a permanent plan of adoption or placement in another permanent home, it shall include documentation of the steps the agency is taking to find an adoptive family or other permanent living arrangements for the child; to place the child with an adoptive family, an appropriate and willing relative, a legal guardian, or in another planned permanent living arrangement; and to finalize the adoption or legal guardianship. At a minimum, the documentation shall include child specific recruitment efforts, such as the use of state, regional, and national adoption exchanges, including electronic exchange systems, when the child has been freed for adoption. (g) If the court finds, after considering the case plan, that unsupervised sibling visitation is appropriate and has been consented to, the court shall order that the child or the child's siblings, and the child's prospective adoptive parents, if applicable, be provided with information necessary to accomplish this visitation. Nothing in this section shall be construed to require or prohibit the social worker's facilitation, transportation, or supervision of visits between the child and his or her siblings. (h) The case plan documentation on sibling placements required under this section shall not require modification of existing case plan forms until the Child Welfare Services Case Management System is implemented on a statewide basis. (i) The department, in consultation with the County Welfare Directors Association and other advocates, shall develop standards and guidelines for a model relative placement search and assessment process based on the criteria established in Section 361.3. These guidelines shall be incorporated in the training described in Section 16206. These model standards and guidelines shall be developed by March 1, 1999. SEC. 6. No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to Section 6 of Article XIIIB of the California Constitution for certain costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school district because in that regard this act creates a new crime or infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of the Government Code, or changes the definition of a crime within the meaning of Section 6 of Article XIIIB of the California Constitution. However, notwithstanding Section 17610 of the Government Code, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that this act contains other costs mandated by the state, reimbursement to local agencies and school districts for those costs shall be made pursuant to Part 7 (commencing with Section 17500) of Division 4 of Title 2 of the Government Code. If the statewide cost of the claim for reimbursement does not exceed one million dollars ($1,000,000), reimbursement shall be made from the State Mandates Claims Fund.