BILL ANALYSIS
SB 1214
Page 1
Date of Hearing: August 4, 2010
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Felipe Fuentes, Chair
SB 1214 (Wolk) - As Amended: August 2, 2010
Policy Committee: Human
ServicesVote:6 - 0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
Yes Reimbursable: No
SUMMARY
This bill removes the sunset of the California Department of
Social Services (CDSS) licensing provisions for crisis nurseries
and allows county child welfare services (CWS) departments to
continue to use crisis nurseries as an emergency placement for
children in the foster care system until July 1, 2012. After
that date, this bill would prohibit the use of crisis nurseries
as an emergency placement for foster children.
FISCAL EFFECT
1)The average monthly caseload for the Emergency Assistance
program is 3,200 children. If 100 of those children spend an
average of 7 days in a crisis nursery each year, extending the
use of crisis nurseries as an emergency placement for foster
children could cost approximately $175,000 ($150,000 TANF) for
the additional year.
2)Absent the use of crisis nurseries for emergency placement,
counties would most likely place these children in temporary
foster homes with foster parents who are reimbursed at a
significantly lower rate.
COMMENTS
1)Rationale . The intent of this bill is to allow for the
continued operation of crisis nurseries, while limiting their
use to only parents and legal guardians. In recent years,
California has determined that congregate care, such as group
homes and crisis nurseries are not appropriate placements for
children under six years old. Initially, the licensing of
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crisis nurseries was scheduled to end in 2011. This bill would
remove the sunset date for licensure, but prohibit the use of
crisis nurseries as emergency placements for children in the
child welfare system after July 1, 2012.
2)Crisis Nurseries . 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.
In California, 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 crisis day care services.
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.
In 2004, a separate, less stringent, 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.
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. In the
past year, Yolo County has been the only county to use a
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crisis nursery for CWS emergency shelter placements. However,
current law allows any county to use a crisis nursery for CWS
placements.
3)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.
Analysis Prepared by : Julie Salley-Gray / APPR. / (916)
319-2081