BILL NUMBER: AB 973	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  JANUARY 25, 2010
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  JANUARY 7, 2010
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  JANUARY 4, 2010

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Audra Strickland

                        FEBRUARY 26, 2009

   An act to amend, repeal, and add Section 305.6 of the Welfare and
Institutions Code, relating to minors.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 973, as amended, Audra Strickland. Minors: temporary custody.
   Existing law authorizes a peace officer to take into temporary
custody, without a warrant, 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. However, existing
law prohibits a peace officer from taking into custody, without a
warrant, a newborn child who is in a hospital, who tested positive
for illegal drugs or whose birth mother tested positive for illegal
drugs, who is the subject of an adoption petition, and whose release
to the prospective adoptive parents does not pose an immediate danger
to him or her.
   This bill, instead, would prohibit a peace officer from taking
into custody, without a warrant, a newborn who is the subject of a
proposed adoption. This bill would also allow the Health Facility
Minor Release Report to be signed by a licensed adoption agency, and
allow the release of the minor to the adoptive parent's authorized
representative or a licensed adoptive agency, when it does not pose
an immediate danger to the minor.
   Existing law also requires the adoptive parent or parents or their
representative to provide a copy of the Health Facility Minor
Release Report and a copy of the petition for adoption to the local
child protective services agency or to the peace officer who is at
the hospital to take the minor into custody or allows a copy of an
adoption placement agreement signed by the placing birth parent or
parents and the prospective adoptive parents to be used in place of
the Health Facility Minor Release Report.
   This bill would instead require the prospective adoptive parent or
parents or their representative or a representative of a licensed
adoption agency to provide a fully executed copy of the Health
Facility Minor Release Report and a written form signed by the
prospective adoptive parent or parents or a representative of a
licensed adoption agency that includes a declaration that the signer
will immediately notify the county child welfare agency if the
adoption plan is terminated, as provided.
   This bill would provide that these changes are to remain in effect
until January 1, 2015.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Section 305.6 of the Welfare and Institutions Code is
amended to read:
   305.6.  (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 or a representative of a
licensed adoption agency 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 proposed adoption and a Health
Facility Minor Release Report, prescribed by the department, has been
completed by the hospital, including the marking of the boxes
applicable to an independent adoption or agency adoption planning,
and signed by the placing birth parent or birth parents, as well as
either the prospective adoptive parent or parents or an authorized
representative of a licensed adoption agency, prior to the discharge
of the birth parent or the minor from the hospital. Prior to signing
the Health Facility Minor Release Report, the birth parent or parents
shall be given a notice written in at least 14-point pica type,
containing substantially the following statements:
   (i) That the Health Facility Minor Release Report does not
constitute consent to adoption of the minor by the prospective
adoptive parent or parents, or any other person.
   (ii) That the Health Facility Minor Release Report does not
constitute a relinquishment of parental rights for the purposes of
adoption.
   (iii) That the birth parent or parents or any person authorized by
the birth parent or parents may reclaim the minor at any time from
the prospective adoptive parent or parents or any other person to
whom the minor was released by the hospital, as provided in Sections
8814.5, 8815, or 8700 of the Family Code.
   This notice shall be signed by the birth parent or parents and
attached to the Health Facility Minor Release Report, a copy of which
shall be provided to the birth parent or parents by hospital
personnel at the time the form is completed.
   (C) The release of the minor to a prospective adoptive parent or
parents or an authorized representative of a licensed adoption agency
does not pose an immediate danger to the minor.
   (D) An attorney or an adoption agency has provided documentation
stating that he or she, or the agency, is representing the
prospective adoptive parent or parents for purposes of the adoption.
In the case of an independent adoption, as defined in Section 8524 of
the Family Code, the attorney or adoption agency shall provide
documentation stating that the prospective adoptive parent or parents
have been informed that the child may be eligible for benefits
provided pursuant to the Adoption Assistance Program, as set forth in
Chapter 2.1 (commencing with Section 16115) of Part 4 of Division 9,
only if, at the time the adoption request is filed, the child has
met the requirements to receive federal supplemental security income
benefits pursuant to Subchapter XVI (commencing with Section 1381) of
Chapter 7 of Title 42 of the United States Code, as determined and
documented by the federal Social Security Administration.
   (E) The prospective adoptive parent or parents or their
representative, or an authorized representative of a licensed
adoption agency, provides all of the following to the peace officer
who is at the hospital to take the minor into temporary custody:
   (i) A fully executed copy of the Health Facility Minor Release
Report.
   (ii) A written form, developed by the department, signed by either
the prospective adoptive parent or parents or a representative of
the licensed adoption agency, which shall include all of the
following:
   (I) A statement that the minor is the subject of a proposed
adoption.
   (II) A declaration that the signer or signers will immediately
notify the county child welfare agency pursuant to Section 11165.9 of
the Penal Code if the adoption plan is terminated for any reason,
and will not release the minor to the birth parent or parents or any
designee of the birth parent or parents until the county child
welfare agency or local law enforcement agency completes an
investigation and determines that release of the minor to the birth
parent or parents or a designee of the birth parent or parents will
not create an immediate risk to the health or safety of the minor.
   (III) An agreement to provide a conformed copy of the adoption
request to the county child welfare agency within five business days
after filing.
   (IV) The names, identifying information, and contact information
for the minor, for each prospective adoptive parent, and for each
birth parent, to the extent that information is known. In the case of
an agency adoption where no prospective adoptive parent or parents
are identified at the time of the minor's release from the hospital,
the licensed adoption agency may provide the information as it
pertains to the licensed or certified foster home into which the
agency intends to place the minor.
   (c) If the adoption plan for a minor who was released from the
hospital pursuant to subdivision (b) is terminated for any reason,
the prospective adoptive parent or parents or licensed adoption
agency shall immediately notify the county child welfare agency. The
prospective adoptive parent or parents or licensed adoption agency
may not release the minor into the physical custody of the birth
parent or parents, or any designee of the birth parent or parents,
until the county child welfare agency or local law enforcement agency
completes an investigation and determines that release of the minor
to the birth parent or parents or a designee of the birth parent or
parents will not create an immediate risk to the health or safety of
the minor.
   (d) Nothing in this section is intended to create a duty that
requires law enforcement to investigate the prospective adoptive
parent or parents. 
   (e) The department shall study the effects of the release of a
minor to a prospective adoptive parent or licensed adoption agency
under this section, particularly on the health and safety of the
minor, and shall report all of its findings to the Legislature on or
before January 1, 2014.  
   (f) 
    (e)  This section shall remain in effect only until
January 1, 2015, and as of that date is repealed, unless a later
enacted statute, that is enacted before January 1, 2015, deletes or
extends that date.
  SEC. 2.  Section 305.6 is added to the Welfare and Institutions
Code, to read:
   305.6.  (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 a
Health Facility Minor Release Report, prescribed by the department,
has been completed by the hospital, including the marking of the
boxes applicable to an independent adoption or agency adoption
planning, and signed by the placing birth parent or birth parents and
the prospective adoptive parent or parents, prior to the discharge
of the birth parent or the minor from the hospital. Prior to signing
the Health Facility Minor Release Report, the birth parent or birth
parents shall be given a notice written in at least 14-point pica
type, containing substantially the following statements:
   (i) That the Health Facility Minor Release Report does not
constitute consent to adoption of the minor by the prospective
adoptive parent or parents, or any other prospective adoptive parent
or parents.
   (ii) That the Health Facility Minor Release Report does not
constitute a relinquishment of parental rights for the purposes of
adoption.
   (iii) That the birth parent or birth parents or any person
authorized by the birth parent or birth parents may reclaim the minor
at any time from the prospective adoptive parent or parents or any
other person to whom the minor was released by the hospital, until an
adoption placement agreement or a relinquishment is signed by the
birth parent or birth parents.
   This notice shall be signed by the birth parent or birth parents
and attached to the Health Facility Minor Release Report.
   (C) The release of the minor to a prospective adoptive parent or
parents does not pose an immediate danger to the minor.
   (D) An attorney or an adoption agency has provided documentation
stating that he or she, or the agency, is representing the
prospective adoptive parent or parents for purposes of the adoption.
In the case of an independent adoption, as defined in Section 8524 of
the Family Code, the attorney or adoption agency shall provide
documentation stating that the prospective adoptive parent or parents
have been informed that the child may be eligible for benefits
provided pursuant to the Adoption Assistance Program, as set forth in
Chapter 2.1 (commencing with Section 16115) of Part 4 of Division 9,
only if, at the time the petition is filed, the child has met the
requirements to receive federal supplemental security income benefits
pursuant to Subchapter XVI (commencing with Section 1381) of Chapter
7 of Title 42 of the United States Code, as determined and
documented by the federal Social Security Administration.
   (E) The prospective adoptive parent or parents or their
representative provides a copy of the Health Facility Minor Release
Report with the signed notice to the birth parent or birth parents as
described in subparagraph (B) and a copy of the petition for
adoption to the local child protective services agency or to the
peace officer who is at the hospital to take the minor into temporary
custody.
   (2) Notwithstanding Section 305 or subdivision (a) of this
section, 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 a
prospective adoptive parent or prospective adoptive parents have been
licensed to act as a foster parent or foster parents of the minor
pending finalization of the petition for adoption.
   (C) The release of the minor to the prospective adoptive parent or
prospective adoptive parents does not pose an immediate danger to
the minor.
   (D) The prospective adoptive parent or parents or their
representative provides a copy of the petition for adoption and
documents evidencing licensure as a foster parent or foster parents
to the local child protective services agency or to the peace officer
who is at the hospital to take the minor into temporary custody.
   (3) If at the time the minor is released to the custody of a
prospective adoptive parent or parents or their representative
pursuant to paragraph (1) or (2), the petition for adoption of the
minor has not been filed with the court, the petition for adoption
shall be filed within 15 calendar days of the date the birth parent
was released from the hospital.
   (4) A copy of an adoption placement agreement signed by the
placing birth parent or birth parents and the prospective adoptive
parent or parents may be used in place of the Health Facility Minor
Release Report and notice to the birth parent or birth parents as
described in subparagraph (B) of paragraph (1).
   (c) Nothing in this section is intended to create a duty that
requires law enforcement to investigate the prospective adoptive
parent or parents.
   (d) This section shall become operative on January 1, 2015.