BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    



                                                                  AB 743
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   April 28, 2009

                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HUMAN SERVICES
                                Jim Beall, Jr., Chair
                  AB 743 (Portantino) - As Amended:  April 14, 2009
           
          SUBJECT  :  Foster care:  sibling placement

           SUMMARY  :  Requires social workers to make reasonable efforts to  
          place and keep siblings together when they have been removed  
          from their parents or guardians due to abuse or neglect.   
          Specifically,  this bill  :  

          1)Requires social workers to make reasonable efforts to place  
            siblings together when they have been removed from their  
            parents or guardian because of abuse or neglect.

          2)Requires the social worker, if unable to place siblings  
            together, to report to the court why a joint placement would  
            be contrary to the safety or well-being of any of the  
            siblings.  

          3)Requires, absent emergency circumstances, the placing agency  
            to notify the child's attorney and the child's siblings'  
            attorneys as soon as the agency that placed the child becomes  
            aware of a need for a change of placement of a dependent  
            child.

             a)   Requires, except in the event of an emergency, at least  
               10 days notice of the planned change of placement if the  
               change will result in separation of siblings.  

             b)   Allows the child's attorney to object to the change by  
               filing a notice of hearing "ex parte" (without the  
               necessity of initially involving the other parties).

             c)   Defines sibling to include half-siblings and adoptive  
               siblings.

           EXISTING LAW  

          1)Requires, a social worker, where possible and appropriate, to  
            place a child, who has been removed from his or her parents or  
            guardian because of abuse or neglect, together with his or her  
            siblings or half-siblings also being removed, or to describe  








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            continuing efforts to place them together if they are not  
            initially placed together, or to explain why placing them  
            together is inappropriate.  (Welfare & Institutions Code (WIC)  
            Section 306.5.)

          2)Requires, when the court has ordered the removal of a child  
            from his or her parents, to consider whether there are  
            siblings also under the court's jurisdiction, the nature of  
            the relationships between the siblings and the appropriateness  
            of developing or maintaining those relationships, and the  
            impact of those relationships on placement and permanency  
            planning.  (WIC Section 361.2(i))

          3)Requires the status review reports from the social worker to  
            the court to contain information on the nature of the  
            relationships between the siblings, and the appropriateness of  
            developing or maintaining those relationships, if the siblings  
            are not placed together an explanation of why not and the  
            frequency and nature of visits between the siblings, and the  
            impact of the relationships on placement and permanency  
            planning.  Requires the court to consider this information at  
            the status hearing.  (WIC Sections 366.1(f); 366.3(e)(9).)

          4)Recognizes the importance of sibling relationships and  
            requires the responsible local agency to maintain sibling  
            togetherness and contact, whenever possible.  Requires the  
            responsible local agency to make diligent effort in all  
            out-of-home placements of dependent children to develop and  
            maintain sibling relationships.  Requires that, if siblings  
            are not placed together in the same home, the social worker  
            must explain why, what efforts are being exerted to place them  
            together in the same home, or why those efforts are not  
            appropriate.  (WIC Section 16002.)

          5)Requires a placing agency to notify the child's attorney as  
            soon as possible after the agency makes a decision regarding a  
            placement or a change of placement for the child.  (WIC  
            Section 16010.6.)  

          6)Requires the dependency court to appoint counsel for a  
            dependent child unless the court affirmatively finds that the  
            child would not benefit from such appointment.  (WIC Section  
            317.)

           FISCAL EFFECT  :  Unknown








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           COMMENTS  :  According to the author:

            Maintaining sibling relationships is critical to foster  
            children's emotional stability, yet many children in foster  
            care in California are separated from one or more of their  
            siblings either from the outset of the dependency case or as  
            the case moves forward.  For many foster children already  
            suffering the trauma of the circumstances that brought their  
            family into the child welfare system, along with the  
            additional trauma of being removed from their homes, being  
            placed with siblings is a critical lifeline that provides  
            emotional support.  In keeping with our state's promise to  
            "parent" these vulnerable children, our obligation goes beyond  
            their physical safety; we must do everything we can to nurture  
            their emotional well-being and give them every available  
            opportunity to be connected to the people they love and are  
            closest to.  As the child's advocate, the child's attorney is  
            uniquely positioned to work with all parties involved to  
            ensure that wherever possible and appropriate the siblings are  
            able to stay together. 

           Need for this bill  :  The author identifies several issues under  
          current law that this bill is intended to address:  Current law  
          requires the child welfare department to notify the child's  
          attorney "as soon as possible" when a child has been moved to a  
          new placement, but does not require the notification to occur  
          within any prescribed timeframe.  Current law does not require  
          the child welfare department to notify the attorney for the  
           sibling  of a child being removed from a placement where the two  
          children are placed together.  In addition, current law  
          requiring the child welfare departments to make efforts to place  
          siblings together does not comport with the "reasonable efforts"  
          requirement of recently enacted federal law-the Fostering  
          Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act (Fostering  
          Connections Act; HR 6893; Pub. L. 110-351).

          The sponsor, Children's Law Center of Los Angeles (CLC), reports  
          that, often, a sibling group is initially placed together but  
          one of the children has difficulties or demonstrates behavioral  
          issues with which the caregiver struggles to handle.  Many times  
          the remedy sought by the social worker is to remove that child  
          from that foster home, thus separating the siblings.  CLC  
          believes that with the intervention of the child's attorney who  
          may have a different relationship with the caregiver and/or  








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          different ideas for resources to address the underlying issue,  
          many of these anticipated separations can be avoided.

          Recent data provided by the author reveal that children in  
          foster care are often not placed with all their siblings.  As of  
          October 1, 2008, foster children in California are placed  
          together with all their siblings in only about half of all  
          cases.  Moreover, in approximately 29 percent of cases, foster  
          youth have been separated from all of their siblings.  (Needell,  
          B., Webster, D., Armijo, M., Lee, S., Dawson, W., Magruder, J.,  
          Exel, M., Glasser, T., Williams, D., Zimmerman, K., Simon, V.,  
          Putnam-Hornstein, E., Frerer, K., Ataie, Y., Winn, A., &  
          Cuccaro-Alamin, S., Child Welfare Services Reports for  
          California (2008).)

          In October 2008, Congress passed and President Bush signed the  
          Fostering Connections Act, which will significantly improve the  
          lives of hundreds of thousands of children and youth in foster  
          care by promoting permanent families for them through relative  
          guardianship and adoption, extending assistance to foster  
          children to age 21, and improving education and health care.   
          The federal act requires that states use "reasonable efforts" to  
          place siblings together unless that is contrary to their safety  
          or well-being.  If siblings are not placed together, visitation  
          between the siblings must happen frequently unless it is  
          contrary to their safety or well-being.  (42 USC Section  
          671(a).)

           This bill  seeks to keep siblings together in two ways.  First,  
          it provides that social workers must, when children are first  
          taken into custody, make "reasonable efforts" to place siblings  
          together.  If not, the social worker must explain to the court  
          either his or her continuing efforts to place the siblings  
          together or why a joint placement would be contrary to the  
          safety or well-being of one of the siblings.  This provision  
          ensures that California is in compliance with the Fostering  
          Connections Act.

          Second, this bill establishes a procedure to allow for  
          intervention if siblings who have been placed together are to be  
          separated.  Existing law requires notice to a dependent child's  
          attorney when a decision is made about the child's placement or  
          change of placement.  This bill requires that, absent an  
          emergency, a child's attorney and the attorneys for all the  
          child's siblings, be notified at least 10 days before a proposed  








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          separation of siblings that have been placed together.  This  
          time period will allow the children's attorneys to investigate  
          the circumstances of the proposed separation.  In the event that  
          one of the children's attorneys objects to the separation, this  
          bill allows the attorney to file an ex parte notice of hearing  
          to have the court resolve the issue.  This should help prevent  
          siblings from being unnecessarily separated and then later,  
          after much disruption in their lives, being reunited.

           SECOND COMMITTEE OF REFERENCE  .  This bill was previously heard  
          in the Assembly Judiciary Committee on April 14th, and was  
          approved on a 10-0 vote.

           REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION  :   

           Support 
           
          California Alliance of Child and Family Services
          California Youth Connection
          Children's Advocacy Institute
          Children's Law Center of Los Angeles (sponsor)
          John Burton Foundation for Children Without Homes

           Opposition 
           
          None on file.
           
          Analysis Prepared by  :    Eric Gelber / HUM. S. / (916) 319-2089