BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1751
Page 1
CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
AB 1751 (Pan)
As Amended August 24, 2012
Majority vote
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|ASSEMBLY: |76-0 |(May 14, 2012) |SENATE: |38-0 |(August 28, |
| | | | | |2012) |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Original Committee Reference: HUM. S.
SUMMARY : Requires that county child welfare agencies and
county probation departments be given access to specified child
support information related to the noncustodial parents of
children who are subject to juvenile court proceedings.
Specifically, this bill :
1)Requires the disclosure, by all state departments, boards,
agencies, bureaus, or other agencies of the state or local
government, of a parent's name, social security number, most
recent address, telephone number, place of employment, or
other contact information to a county child welfare agency or
county probation department to identify, locate, and notify
parents of children who are the subject of juvenile court
proceedings, to establish parent and child relationships, and
to assess the appropriateness of placements of a child with a
noncustodial parent.
2)Authorizes the release of a parent's name, social security
number, most recent address, telephone number, place of
employment or other contact information to county child
welfare agencies and probation departments established or
maintained by any public entity pursuant to the administration
and implementation of the child and spousal support
enforcement program.
3)Requires the state Department of Social Services (DSS) and the
Department of Child Support Services (DCSS), on or before July
1, 2013, to issue an all-county letter or similar instruction
explaining the entitlement of county child welfare and
probation agencies to specified information in child and
spousal support records.
The Senate amendments :
AB 1751
Page 2
1)Delete the requirement of DSS, no later than January 30, 2013,
to amend the foster care state plan required by federal law to
implement access to information provided to the California
Parent Locator Service and Central Registry (CPLS) by the
federal Parent Locator Services (FPLS) to ensure compliance
with and facilitation of provisions related to the location of
parents of children who are the subject of juvenile court
proceedings.
2)Delete the requirement of DSS to adopt emergency regulations,
and to develop an interagency agreement with the DCSS, to
implement the provisions of this bill.
AS PASSED BY THE ASSEMBLY , in addition to what is described in
the summary of this analysis, it also required DSS to amend the
foster care state plan to implement access to the CPLS, adopt
emergency regulations to implement this measure, and enter into
an interagency agreement with the DCSS.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS : The author points out that, in recognition of the
importance of family preservation and in alignment with federal
law, following a child's removal from their home a social worker
must, within 30 days, conduct an investigation to "identify and
locate all grandparents, adult siblings, and other adult
relatives of the child" in an attempt to find a suitable
relative for placement, consistent with the child's best
interests (W&I Code Sections 361.3, 309(e)). "Unfortunately,"
the author says, "current law does not explicitly allow county
child welfare agencies and probation officers to utilize an
important resource within the child welfare system-the child
support information database-and as a result, social workers do
not routinely access this source of information about
alternatives to foster care."
This bill would enable county officials responsible for locating
the relatives of an abused or neglected child to use the state's
child support database to access the basic contact information
of the child's noncustodial parent. The author notes that the
measure would decrease the amount of time currently spent by
county officials in unnecessarily difficult attempts to locate
the parents of abused children pursuant to state and federal
AB 1751
Page 3
mandates. In addressing the need for this bill, the author
says:
With approximately 60,000 children currently in the
state's foster-care system and an ongoing state budget
shortfall, county welfare agencies have fewer
resources than ever to do their jobs. This
common-sense bill would allow local child welfare
agencies and probation officers to access the child
support information that already exists in the state
child support database and to obtain critical contact
information such as the parent's name, social security
number, most recent address, phone number, and place
of employment.
This, in turn, will allow the case worker to contact
the parent to see if they want to and can provide a
caring alternative to foster care for the abused or
neglected child. This measure provides county child
welfare agencies, social workers, and probation
officers with the information they need to make
timely, appropriate decisions regarding the placement
of abused and neglected children who have been removed
from their homes.
The author notes that placing children with relatives decreases
both the number of children in the foster care system and the
costs associated with prolonged stays in foster care:
According to the Public Policy Institute of California
(Foster Care in California: Achievements and Challenges,
2010), the number of children in California's foster
care system has declined by 10 percent or more between
2000 and 2009. The report notes an increased number of
placements with relatives among the reasons for this
decline and credits, in part, the creation of the
Kinship Guardian Assistance Program Payment (Kin-GAP)
Program in 2000. This program incentivizes kinship care
- a form of foster placement that is significantly less
costly to the state than some other options such a group
home placement.
Analysis Prepared by : Chris Reefe / HUM. S. / (916) 319-2089
FN: 0005746
AB 1751
Page 4