BILL ANALYSIS ------------------------------------------------------------ |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 743| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |1020 N Street, Suite 524 | | |(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ------------------------------------------------------------ THIRD READING Bill No: AB 743 Author: Portantino (D) Amended: 7/15/10 in Senate Vote: 21 SENATE HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE : 3-0, 6/10/10 AYES: Liu, Runner, Yee NO VOTE RECORDED: Romero, Vacancy SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE : 4-0, 6/29/10 AYES: Corbett, Harman, Hancock, Leno NO VOTE RECORDED: Walters SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 11-0, 8/12/10 AYES: Kehoe, Ashburn, Alquist, Corbett, Emmerson, Leno, Price, Walters, Wolk, Wyland, Yee ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 67-0, 1/27/10 - See last page for vote SUBJECT : Foster care: sibling placement SOURCE : Childrens Law Center of Los Angeles DIGEST : This bill makes changes to the standards for sibling visitation, interaction, and placement for children who are placed out-of-home, in foster care, or adoption, to conform with language in the federal Fostering Connections Act, and requires placing agencies to notify a dependent child's attorney of placements and changes in placement, as specified. CONTINUED AB 743 Page 2 ANALYSIS : Existing law: 1. Provides for the establishment and support of a statewide child welfare system through the Department of Social Services (DSS) and county welfare departments. 2. 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/her siblings or half-siblings also being removed, or to describe continuing efforts to place them together if they are not initially placed together, or to explain why placing them together is inappropriate. 3. Requires, when the court has ordered the removal of a child from his/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. 4. States the intent of the Legislature to ensure that siblings who are removed from the home will be placed in foster care together, unless the placement is not in the best interest of one or more siblings. Recognizes the importance of sibling relationships and requires the responsible local agency to develop and maintain sibling relationships. 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. 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 CONTINUED AB 743 Page 3 child. 6. Requires any order placing a child in foster care to provide for visitation between a child and any siblings, unless the court finds by clear and convincing evidence that sibling interaction is detrimental to either child. Requires a county adoption agency or DSS to take steps to facilitate ongoing sibling contact for a dependent child placed in adoption, except in cases where the court determines by a preponderance of evidence that sibling interaction is detrimental to the child. This bill: 1. Requires a placing agency to notify a dependent child's attorney and provide specified information no later than the close of the following business day of a decision to place, or change the placement of, the child (instead of "as soon as possible" under current law). 2. Requires, absent emergency circumstances, a placing agency to notify the child's attorney and the child's siblings' attorneys at least 10 calendar days prior to the change in placement of a dependent child, if the change will result in the separation of siblings. Requires a lesser timeline for changes in placement that are initiated by a foster family agency, group home, or other foster care provider. Requires, in an emergency, a placing agency to provide notice as soon as possible, but no later than the next business day following the change of placement. 3. Requires a notice that is given after the change in placement to include information on the child's address, telephone number, and caregiver. Requires a notice that is given prior to a change in placement to include this same information to the extent that the information is known. 4. Makes changes to the standards for sibling visitation, interaction, and placement for children who are placed out-of-home, in foster care, or adoption, in order to conform with federal law. Specifically, requires court orders for foster care placement to provide for sibling CONTINUED AB 743 Page 4 visitation, unless the court finds by clear and convincing evidence that sibling interaction is "contrary to the safety or well-being" of either child. Applies the same "contrary to the safety or well-being" of either child standard to requirements to facilitate sibling interaction in adoption cases, and to place siblings together in out-of-home placements. (Current law sometimes specifies a "detrimental" or "inappropriate" standard.) 5. Requires a social worker, if siblings are not placed togther, to explain why those efforts would be contrary to the safety or well-being of any of the siblings, and requires the social worker to make diligent efforts to place siblings together in the same placement. Background Data on sibling placement . As of October 1, 2009, foster children in California are placed together with all their siblings in only approximately half of all cases. In approximately 73 percent of cases, foster youth are placed with all or some of their siblings, leaving about 27 percent of cases, where foster youth are separated from all of their siblings. (Needell, B., Webster, D., Armijo, M., Lee, S., Dawson, W., Magruder, J., Exel, M., Cuccaro-Alamin, S., Williams, D., Zimmerman, K., Simon, V., Hamilton, D., Putnam-Hornstein, E., Frerer, K., Lou, C., Peng, C. & Moore, M. (2010). Child Welfare Services Reports for California. Retrieved from University of California at Berkeley Center for Social Services Research.) Fostering Connections Act . In October 2008, Congress passed and President Bush signed the Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act, which promotes permanent families for children and youth in foster care by providing greater assistance to relative caregivers and improving incentives for adoption. The Act also extends assistance to foster children to age 21 and improves education and health care for children and youth in foster care. Relative to this bill, the federal act requires states to use "reasonable efforts" to place siblings together, unless such placement is contrary to their safety CONTINUED AB 743 Page 5 or well-being. If siblings are not placed together, visitation between the siblings must occur frequently, unless contrary to their safety or well-being. (42 USC Section 671(a).) FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes Local: Yes According to the Senate Appropriations Committee: Fiscal Impact (in thousands) Major Provisions 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 Fund Codifies federal compliance Costs not attributable to this bill General Mandated notifications $160* $320** $320**General $86 $172 $172 Federal * If the Commission on State Mandates determines that the notification mandate is not reimbursable, the state cost would be reduced to $112,000 General Fund, with a county cost of $48,000. **If the Commission on State Mandates determines that the notification mandate is not reimbursable, the state cost would be reduced to $224,000 General Fund, with a county cost of $96,000. SUPPORT : (Verified 8/13/10) Children's Law Center of Los Angeles (source) All Saints Church Foster Care Project American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Aspiranet California Alliance of Child and Family Services California Youth Connection Child Abuse Prevention Council of Contra Costa County Children's Advocacy Institute County Welfare Directors Association of California Judicial Council of California CONTINUED AB 743 Page 6 Junior Leagues of California Juvenile Court Judges of California (if amended) National Association of Social Workers, California Chapter Public Counsel Law Center State Bar of California, Family Law Section OPPOSITION : (Verified 8/13/10) Department of Finance ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : The bill's sponsor, the 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 different ideas for resources to address the underlying issue, many of these anticipated separations can be avoided. Judicial Council of California writes that this bill will enhance the ability of the juvenile court to carry out its responsibility to keep siblings placed together whenever such placement is appropriate. Judicial Council states that by adopting the enhanced federal standard for sibling placement, which will clarify that placement of siblings together is appropriate in any case in which the placement is not contrary to the safety or well-being of any sibling. The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees writes that the bill extends a helping hand to the children of California who have lost the most, and provides an opportunity for recovery through protecting the remaining bonds between siblings. ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION : The Department of Finance is opposed to this bill unless it is amended to remove the attorney notification requirement that county social workers notify sibling attorneys regarding a change in the placement that would result in the separation of the siblings. Although the CONTINUED AB 743 Page 7 attorney notification requirement may have merit, the state's current fiscal condition requires extreme fiscal prudence. ASSEMBLY FLOOR : AYES: Adams, Ammiano, Anderson, Arambula, Beall, Bill Berryhill, Tom Berryhill, Blakeslee, Block, Blumenfield, Bradford, Brownley, Buchanan, Caballero, Charles Calderon, Chesbro, Conway, Cook, Coto, De La Torre, Emmerson, Eng, Evans, Feuer, Fletcher, Fong, Fuentes, Fuller, Furutani, Gaines, Galgiani, Garrick, Gilmore, Hagman, Harkey, Hayashi, Hernandez, Hill, Huber, Huffman, Jeffries, Jones, Knight, Lieu, Logue, Bonnie Lowenthal, Ma, Mendoza, Monning, Nava, Nestande, Niello, Nielsen, John A. Perez, Portantino, Ruskin, Silva, Skinner, Smyth, Solorio, Audra Strickland, Swanson, Torres, Torrico, Tran, Villines, Yamada NO VOTE RECORDED: Carter, Davis, De Leon, DeVore, Hall, Miller, V. Manuel Perez, Salas, Saldana, Torlakson, Bass CTW:mw 8/16/10 Senate Floor Analyses SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE **** END **** CONTINUED