BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    



                                                                  SB 1214
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          Date of Hearing:   June 29, 2010

                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HUMAN SERVICES
                                Jim Beall Jr., Chair
                      SB 1214 (Wolk) - As Amended:  May 27, 2010

           SENATE VOTE  :  33-0
           
          SUBJECT  :  Crisis nurseries

           SUMMARY :  Redefines the scope of community care licensing for  
          crisis nurseries to the provision of short-term 24-hour  
          residential care and supervision for children under six years of  
          age voluntarily placed by a relative or other responsible adult  
          during a time of crisis or stress, and extends the sunset  
          allowing for the use of crisis nurseries as a child welfare  
          services direct placement option until July 1, 2012.   
          Specifically,  this bill  :  

          1)Sunsets existing statutes related to the licensing of crisis  
            nurseries on July 1, 2012. 

          2)Defines a "crisis nursery", effective July 1, 2012, as a  
            Department of Social Services (DSS) licensed facility that  
            provides short-term, 24-hour non-medical residential care and  
            supervision for children under the age of six voluntarily  
            placed by a parent, legal guardian, relative or other adult  
            responsible for the child's day-to-day care and supervision  
            during a family crisis or stressful situation.

          3)Specifies that a voluntary placement does not include a child  
            directly placed by a county child welfare services agency.

          4)Limits the time a child may be voluntarily placed in a crisis  
            nursery to no more than 30 days.

          5)Limits the capacity for a crisis nursery at 14 licensed beds  
            with specified exceptions.

          6)Requires crisis nurseries to collect and maintain information  
            on the total number and ages of children placed in the program  
            and the length of their placement, to be made available to DSS  
            upon request.

          7)Provides that a crisis nursery may provide child day care  








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            services to children under the age of six at the same site for  
            up to 30 calendar days in a six-month period, unless granted  
            an exception by DSS.  

          8)Requires that exceptions to group home licensing regulations  
            for county-operated or contracted emergency shelter care  
            facilities for children under six be contained in regulations  
            for crisis nurseries. 

           EXISTING LAW  

          1)Defines a "crisis nursery" as a nonprofit facility licensed by  
            DSS to provide short-term, 24-hour non-medical residential  
            care and supervision for children under six years of age who  
            are either placed:

               a)     Voluntarily by a parent or legal guardian for  
                 temporary relief in a family crisis or stressful  
                 situation for no more than 30 days; or, 

               b)     By a county welfare service agency for 14 days or  
                 less, unless granted an exception by DSS, provided county  
                 child welfare placements account for no more than  
                 one-third of the a crisis nursery's licensed capacity.   
                 Health and Safety Code (HSC) Section 1516.

          2)Defines a "voluntary placement" as a child placed by a parent  
            or legal guardian who retains physical custody of, and remains  
            responsible for, the care of his or her child during the  
            temporary emergency care placement.  Ibid.

          3)Allows a crisis nursery to provide temporary emergency care to  
            children under six years of age either in the protective  
            custody of child welfare services, or as a child welfare  
            services direct placement.  Ibid.

          4)Allows crisis nurseries to provide child day care services to  
            children under six years of age for no more than 30 calendar  
            days in a six-month period, unless issued an exception by DSS,  
            and provides that children in the day care program shall count  
            toward the facility's licensed capacity.  Ibid.

          5)Limits the capacity of crisis nurseries to 14 infants and  
            children under the age of six, unless the facility was  
            licensed before January 1, 2004 as a group home for children  








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            under the age of six, providing crisis nursery services, with  
            a capacity between 14 and 21.  Ibid.

          6)Permits the use of volunteers subject to specified training  
            requirements to be included in the staff-to child ratios for  
            the purposes of licensing.  HSC 1526.8.

          7)Prohibits a child receiving Aid to Families with Dependent  
            Children-Foster Care (AFDC-FC) from falling under the  
            definition of a voluntary placement.  HSC 1516.

          8)Allows for AFDC-FC funding of children placed by child welfare  
            services in licensed crisis nurseries.  Welfare & Institutions  
            Code (WIC) Section 11402.

          9)Sets forth criteria for the licensure of a crisis nursery,  
            including that the facility meet one of the following  
            conditions:

             a)   The facility had been operating as a group home in the  
               county of Contra Costa, Nevada, Placer, Sacramento, San  
               Joaquin, Stanislaus, or Yolo for children under 6 years of  
               age as of September 1, 2004.;

             b)   The facility meets an urgent, significant, and unmet  
               need for the temporary respite care of children under six  
               years of age, pursuant to DSS regulatory standards.; or

             c)   The facility offers temporary emergency shelter and  
               services only to children under six years of age who are  
               voluntarily placed by a parent or guardian and does not  
               accept county child welfare services placements.  HSC 1516.

          10)Requires each crisis nursery to submit a monthly report to  
            DSS with the number of children placed in the program, the  
            child's length of stay, and specifying whether each child was  
            voluntarily placed by a parent or legal guardian, or placed by  
            county child welfare services.  Ibid.

          11)Requires an annual summary report to DSS for those children  
            placed directly in crisis nurseries by a county child welfare  
            services agency, indicating the number of children placed, the  
            age of each child and length of stay, the average length of  
            stay for all children placed by the county, and the county's  
            reasons for using the crisis nursery for these children.   








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            Ibid.

          12)Sunsets the above provisions on July 1, 2011.

           FISCAL EFFECT  :   Unknown.

           COMMENTS  :   

           Background  :  Crisis nurseries provide short-term emergency  
          respite care for the infants, toddlers, or young children of  
          families in crisis without other options, such as trusted  
          friends or relatives to care for their children.  Reports show  
          that families turn to crisis nurseries when they are struggling  
          to deal with illness, hospitalization, domestic violence,  
          homelessness, or substance abuse recovery.  According to crisis  
          nursery proponents, temporary emergency respite care helps to  
          reduce the numbers of children who may enter the child welfare  
          system and end up in foster care by helping parents and legal  
          guardians to have a stable place for their child during a  
          short-term emergency.  

          In California, licensed crisis nurseries are established in  
          response to an urgent or unmet need for families in crisis, and  
          operated by private nonprofit agencies.  Placements are  
          restricted to voluntary placements by parents or legal  
          guardians, and, at shorter, more restricted intervals, child  
          welfare services placements.  In addition, many crisis nursery  
          programs in California have developed robust crisis day care  
          services, and the numbers of children in day care apply toward  
          the licensed capacity of the facilities.

          Prior to 2004, crisis nurseries had been licensed as group  
          homes.  Group homes are residential facilities used by the  
          courts and child welfare agencies for foster children whose  
          needs cannot be met in less restrictive, more family-like  
          settings such as relative placements, foster family homes, or  
          foster family agencies.  Crisis nurseries that served children  
          under the age of six had been held to the group home regulations  
          for this cohort, commonly referred to as the "under six"  
          regulations, which require educational standards for staff,  
          defined staff to child ratios, and supportive services.  As  
          stated in the DSS procedural guide for congregate care for  
          children under the age of six:  "We have a firm belief that  
          these young children should never be placed in congregate care  
          unless exceptional circumstances exist which require services  








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          that only a group home can provide."

          Supporters of crisis nurseries argued at the time that the more  
          stringent standards for group homes should not apply to crisis  
          nurseries given that the demands of children who are voluntarily  
          placed by their parents are less serious than those of an abused  
          or neglected child, and they cited a concern that the costs  
          associated with group home licensing threatened their financial  
          viability.  In response, a separate licensing category was  
          created with the passage of SB 855 (Machado) Chapter 664,  
          Statutes of 2004.  Changes brought about by the new licensure  
          category include a provision allowing crisis nurseries to use  
          trained volunteers instead of staff and allowing specified  
          volunteers to apply to staffing ratios.  

          The provisions of SB 855 were due to sunset on January 1, 2008,  
          but because licensing standards were not issued by DSS until  
          late 2007, the sunset was extended pursuant to SB 104 (Machado)  
          Chapter 288, Statutes of 2007, which added reporting  
          requirements and moved the sunset date to July 1, 2011.  

          Currently, five nonprofit agencies operate six crisis nursery  
          facilities with a total of 66 licensed beds in the counties of:   
          Contra Costa, Sacramento, Yolo, Stanislaus, and Nevada.  The  
          crisis nurseries operate 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and rely  
          mostly on private funds, although some do receive funding  
          through their local First Five Commissions.  Some counties, such  
          as Stanislaus work with parents and legal guardians involved in  
          the child welfare system to get them to voluntarily utilize the  
          crisis nursery services in an effort to avoid greater child  
          welfare services involvement.  

          The only existing crisis nursery that still accepts direct child  
          welfare services placements is the Yolo Crisis Nursery, and they  
          have one licensed bed for this purpose.  A total of 97 children  
          and infants were directly placed by county child welfare  
          services in the Yolo Crisis Nursery over the course of four  
          years (2006-2009), accounting for approximately 43% of the total  
          overnight placements.  Over the same period, around 57% (132  
          total) of the overnight placements were by voluntary placement.   
          The average length of stay for children in a child welfare  
          placement at the Yolo Crisis Nursery was 7 days.  Notably, the  
          numbers of children in voluntary placement crisis day care at  
          the Yolo Crisis nursery rose dramatically from an average of  
          around 155 per year from 2006-2008, to 325 in 2009, an increase  








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          of 110% over the course of one year.

           Need for this bill  :  This bill would allow a child to be  
          directly placed by his or her parent or legal guardian, or by a  
          relative or adult caregiver in a licensed crisis nursery.  As  
          amended this bill sunsets provisions allowing for direct  
          placement of a child under six by county child welfare services  
          as of July 1, 2012.  

          According to the bill's sponsor, the California Alliance of  
          Child and Family Services:

               In response to concerns about this specific use [child  
               welfare placements] of Crisis Nurseries by counties,  
               [this bill] would eliminate the authority for Crisis  
               Nurseries to accept placements made directly by county  
               child welfare agencies and to receive AFDC-Foster Care  
               payments, effective July 1, 2012.  Under SB 1214,  
               parents, legal guardians, relatives, or other  
               caregivers would continue to be able to come to Crisis  
               Nurseries when they need a safe and stable place for  
               their children to stay for a few days while they deal  
               with a difficult situation in their lives.

          According to the Youth Law Center, in removing their  
          opposition:

               We are certain that developing quality foster family  
               home resources for children in care will ensure that  
               children in foster care receive the consistent care  
               from one responsive adult that is critical for healthy  
               development, and will protect already traumatized  
               young children from being subjected to an additional  
               necessary move and the documented harms of shift care.

           In opposition  , the Alliance for Children's Rights states:

               One of the most important factors in the development  
               of an infant is the security of their attachment to a  
               primary caregiver.  When a very young child is placed  
               in a group setting, as [this bill] allows, they are at  
               greater risk of failing to make these crucial  
               attachments because their caregivers are constantly  
               rotating in and out, as staff goes on and off shift  
               and volunteers cycle through.  This can have  








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               profoundly negative impacts on the child's  
               development.

           Proposed Amendments
           The author has asked to take the following correction  
          amendments found by Senate Engrossing and Enrolling:

          On page 5, line 29, add "children" after "14"

          On page 5, line 32, add "children" after "14" and after  
          "21"

           In addition  , staff is recommending the following  
          amendments:

          1)The existing statutes are clear that children who are  
            voluntarily placed in crisis nurseries must be placed by  
            a parent or legal guardian.  This bill proposes to expand  
            the definition of "voluntary placements" to include  
            children placed by other relatives and adults responsible  
            for the child's day-to-day care and supervision.  This  
            could be broadly interpreted, and is a departure from  
            what has been permitted and evaluated under current law.   
            Staff recommends the author limit voluntary placements to  
            placements made by parents or legal guardians, per  
            existing law as follows:

            On page 5, line 14, after "voluntarily", strike  
            "placements" and add "placed by a parent or guardian"

            On page 5, line 14, strike "as defined in" and replace  
            with "pursuant to"

            On page 5, strike lines 24 through 27.

            On page 5, line 23, add the following:

             .  Voluntary placement does not include a child who has  
            been removed from the care and custody of his or her  
            parent or legal guardian and placed in foster care by a  
            child welfare services agency.
           
          2)Given that there is currently only one county in  
            California using a single licensed bed for child welfare  
            services placements, staff recommends restoring the  








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            existing sunset date for child welfare services  
            placements in crisis nurseries.  This would provide Yolo  
            County with one year, until July 1, 2011, as provided  
            under existing law, to seek family-centered alternatives  
            for the few children currently placed in crisis  
            nurseries, consistent with statewide practice.

          3)In addition, staff recommends including information  
            regarding the reasons for voluntary placement in a crisis  
            nursery to the information collected and maintained by  
            crisis nurseries as follows:

            On page 5, line 39 insert "the reasons given for the use  
            of the crisis nursery,"

           Prior & Related Legislation:
           SB 104 (Machado) Chapter 288, Statutes of 2007 extended the  
          sunset for crisis nurseries to July 1, 2011, and required  
          specified reporting to DSS on child welfare placements in crisis  
          nurseries. 

          SB 855 (Machado) Chapter 664, Statutes of 2004 created a  
          separate licensing category for crisis nurseries, to sunset  
          January 1, 2008.

          AB 1197 (Bates) Chapter 1088, Statutes of 1993 established  
          standards for congregate care placements for children under six  
          years of age, including "temporary shelter care facilities," or  
          facilities operated by counties for 24-hour temporary  
          residential placement.

           REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :

           Support 
           
          California Alliance of Child and Family Services (sponsor)
          California State Association of Counties
          The Child Abuse Prevention Center
          EMQ Families First
          Junior Leagues of California-State Public Affairs Committee
          Junior League of Sacramento
          Sacramento County Board of Supervisors
          Yolo County Board of Supervisors
           
            Opposition 








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          The Alliance for Children's Rights
          2 Individuals

           Analysis Prepared by  :    Michelle Doty Cabrera / HUM. S. / (916)  
          319-2089