BILL NUMBER: AB 2279 CHAPTERED 09/26/02 CHAPTER 920 FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE SEPTEMBER 26, 2002 APPROVED BY GOVERNOR SEPTEMBER 25, 2002 PASSED THE ASSEMBLY AUGUST 28, 2002 PASSED THE SENATE AUGUST 27, 2002 AMENDED IN SENATE AUGUST 20, 2002 AMENDED IN SENATE AUGUST 5, 2002 AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 26, 2002 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 30, 2002 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 17, 2002 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 2, 2002 INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member La Suer (Coauthor: Senator Scott) FEBRUARY 20, 2002 An act to add Section 305.5 to the Welfare and Institutions Code, relating to minors. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AB 2279, La Suer. Minors: custody. Existing law authorizes a peace officer to take into temporary custody, without a warrant, a minor who is in a hospital when the release of the minor to a parent poses an immediate danger to the child's health or safety. This bill would enact a similar provision authorizing a peace officer to take into temporary custody a minor who is in a hospital if the release of the minor to a prospective adoptive parent poses an immediate danger to the minor's health or safety. The bill would also create a limited exception to this provision and to the provision described above if the minor is a newborn who tests positive for illegal drugs or whose birth mother tests positive for illegal drugs, the minor is the subject of a petition for adoption and an adoption placement agreement, and the release of the minor to a prospective adoptive parent or parents does not pose an immediate danger to the minor. The bill would include a statement of legislative findings and declarations regarding drug-exposed infants. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares: (a) The impact of drug abuse and addiction on our nation's children is particularly onerous. The National Institute of Drug Abuse and Addiction in its Sixth Triennial Report to Congress affirmed that an estimated 51/2 percent of women use some sort of illicit drug during pregnancy, resulting in approximately 221,000 babies who have the potential to be born drug-exposed. Further, studies throughout the nation indicate that the number of drug-exposed babies has dramatically increased in recent years, virtually doubling in states demographically similar to California. (b) Although the full extent of the effects of prenatal drug exposure on a child is still not known, scientific studies have shown that babies born to mothers who use drugs during pregnancy are often delivered prematurely, have low birth weights and are generally smaller than infants not exposed in utero to drugs. The Center for Substance Abuse Research also reports that newborns affected by maternal substance abuse or addiction often require intensive, specialized, and lengthy hospital care, which increases the cost of medical services to infants. (c) Many drug-exposed infants are placed in foster care when they are discharged from hospitals. Some studies have shown that the majority of babies discharged from hospitals to foster care as a result of maternal substance abuse or addiction were still in foster care three years later, and that the increasing placement of drug-exposed children in foster care is coupled with poor growth outcomes in the physical, mental, and emotional development of these children. (d) The placement of a drug-exposed infant in an adoptive home may provide a better alternative to placement of the infant in a foster home and may further the best interest of the child. Where the release of a drug-exposed infant to a prospective adoptive parent would pose no danger to the health and safety of the infant, the authority of a child protective services agency must be exercised with great care, in order to ensure that the newborn is not unnecessarily placed in foster care instead of the more nurturing environment of an adoptive home. SEC. 2. Section 305.5 is added to the Welfare and Institutions Code, to read: 305.5. (a) Any peace officer may, without a warrant, take into temporary custody a minor who is in a hospital if the release of the minor to a prospective adoptive parent poses an immediate danger to the minor's health or safety. (b) (1) Notwithstanding subdivision (a) and Section 305, a peace officer may not, without a warrant, take into temporary custody a minor who is in a hospital if all of the following conditions exist: (A) The minor is a newborn who tested positive for illegal drugs or whose birth mother tested positive for illegal drugs. (B) The minor is the subject of a petition for adoption and an adoption placement agreement signed by the placing birth parent or birth parents and filed with the court. (C) The release of the minor to a prospective adoptive parent or parents does not pose an immediate danger to the minor. (2) The prospective adoptive parents or their representative shall provide a copy of the filed petition for adoption and signed adoption placement agreement to the local child protective services agency or to the peace officer who is at the hospital to take the minor into temporary custody.