BILL NUMBER: AB 1928	ENROLLED
	BILL TEXT

	PASSED THE SENATE  JUNE 28, 2012
	PASSED THE ASSEMBLY  MAY 17, 2012
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  MAY 10, 2012
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  APRIL 18, 2012
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  MARCH 20, 2012

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Cook

                        FEBRUARY 22, 2012

   An act to amend Sections 17710, 17730, and 17732 of, and to add
Section 17732.2 to, the Welfare and Institutions Code, relating to
foster care.



	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 1928, Cook. Foster homes: residential capacity.
   The California Community Care Facilities Act provides for the
licensing and regulation of community care facilities, including,
among others, foster family homes, small family homes, and foster
family agencies, as defined. Under existing law, a violation of the
act is a misdemeanor.
   Existing law limits foster family homes and small family homes to
6 or fewer foster children, but allows a licensing agency to increase
that limit to 8 foster children under specified circumstances.
Existing regulations of the State Department of Social Services
require that these licensing agencies include biological, adoptive,
and guardianship children in the number of children for whom these
homes are licensed to provide care and supervision. Existing law also
requires the licensing agency to take into consideration how many
children, in addition to the children already living in the home, the
caregiver is capable of providing care and supervision to and that
the home can accommodate.
   Under existing law, the State Department of Social Services is
required to develop a program to establish specialized foster care
homes for children with special health care needs. No more than 2
foster care children are permitted to reside in a specialized foster
care home, except that an additional foster child, or children, may
be permitted if specified conditions are met.
   This bill would specify that, in determining the licensed capacity
of a specialized foster family home or a specialized certified
family home, the State Department of Social Services shall consider
all adoptive, biological, and foster children, and children in
guardianship living in the home, in order not to exceed a total of 6
children living in the home. The bill also would make conforming and
technical changes.
   This bill would state that its provisions are declaratory of
existing law.



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

  SECTION 1.  Section 17710 of the Welfare and Institutions Code is
amended to read:
   17710.  Unless otherwise specified in this part:
   (a) "Child with special health care needs" means a child, or a
person who is 22 years of age or younger who is completing a publicly
funded education program, who has a condition that can rapidly
deteriorate resulting in permanent injury or death or who has a
medical condition that requires specialized in-home health care, and
who either has been adjudged a dependent of the court pursuant to
Section 300, has not been adjudged a dependent of the court pursuant
to Section 300 but is in the custody of the county welfare
department, or has a developmental disability and is receiving
services and case management from a regional center.
   (b) "County" means the county welfare department.
   (c) "Department" means the State Department of Social Services.
   (d) "Individualized health care plan team" means those individuals
who develop a health care plan for a child with special health care
needs in a specialized foster care home, as defined in subdivision
(i), or group home, which shall include the child's primary care
physician or other health care professional designated by the
physician, any involved medical team, and the county social worker or
regional center worker, and any health care professional designated
to monitor the child's individualized health care plan pursuant to
paragraph (8) of subdivision (c) of Section 17731, including, if the
child is in a certified home, the registered nurse employed by or
under contract with the certifying agency to supervise and monitor
the child. The child's individualized health care plan team may also
include, but shall not be limited to, a public health nurse,
representatives from the California Children's Services Program or
the Child Health and Disability Prevention Program, regional centers,
the county mental health department, and where reunification is the
goal, the parent or parents, if available. In addition, if the child
is in a specialized foster care home, the individualized health care
plan team may include the prospective specialized foster parents, who
shall not participate in any team decision pursuant to paragraph (6)
of subdivision (c) of Section 17731 or pursuant to subparagraph (C)
of paragraph (1) of subdivision (a), or clause (i) of subparagraph
(B) of paragraph (2) of subdivision (a), of Section 17732.
   (e) "Director" means the Director of Social Services.
   (f) "Level of care" means a description of the specialized in-home
health care to be provided to a child with special health care needs
by the foster family.
   (g) Medical conditions requiring specialized in-home health care
require dependency upon one or more of the following: enteral feeding
tube, total parenteral feeding, a cardiorespiratory monitor,
intravenous therapy, a ventilator, oxygen support, urinary
catheterization, renal dialysis, ministrations imposed by
tracheostomy, colostomy, ileostomy, or other medical or surgical
procedures or special medication regimens, including injection, and
intravenous medication.
   (h) "Specialized in-home health care" includes, but is not limited
to, those services identified by the child's primary physician as
appropriately administered in the home by any one of the following:
   (1) A parent trained by health care professionals where the child
is being placed in, or is currently in, a specialized foster care
home.
   (2) Group home staff trained by health care professionals pursuant
to the discharge plan of the facility releasing the child where the
child was placed in the home as of November 1, 1993, and who is
currently in the home.
   (3) A health care professional, where the child is placed in a
group home after November 1, 1993. The health care services provided
pursuant to this paragraph shall not be reimbursable costs for the
purpose of determining the group home rate under Section 11462.
   (i) "Specialized foster care home" means any of the following
foster homes where the foster parents reside in the home and have
been trained to provide specialized in-home health care to foster
children:
   (1) Licensed foster family homes, as defined in paragraph (5) of
subdivision (a) of Section 1502 of the Health and Safety Code.
   (2) Licensed small family homes, as defined in paragraph (6) of
subdivision (a) of Section 1502 of the Health and Safety Code.
   (3) Certified family homes, as defined in subdivision (d) of
Section 1506 of the Health and Safety Code, that have accepted
placement of a child with special health care needs who is under the
supervision and monitoring of a registered nurse employed by, or on
contract with, the certifying agency, and who is either of the
following:
   (A) A dependent of the court under Section 300.
   (B) Developmentally disabled and receiving services and case
management from a regional center.
  SEC. 2.  Section 17730 of the Welfare and Institutions Code is
amended to read:
   17730.  The department shall develop a program to establish
specialized foster care homes for children with special health care
needs with persons specified in subdivision (h) of Section 17710. The
department shall limit the use of group homes for children with
special health care needs pursuant to subdivisions (c) and (d) of
Section 17732. The program shall conform to the requirements set
forth in this chapter, and shall be integrated with the foster care
and child welfare services programs authorized by Article 5
(commencing with Section 11400) of Chapter 2 of Part 3 and Chapter 5
(commencing with Section 16500) of Part 4.
   The department, in administering the licensing program, shall not
evaluate or have any responsibility for the evaluation of the in-home
health care provided in specialized foster care homes or group
homes.
   This program shall be conducted by county welfare departments in
conformance with procedures established by the department in
accordance with this chapter.
  SEC. 3.  Section 17732 of the Welfare and Institutions Code is
amended to read:
   17732.  (a) No more than two foster children with or without
special health care needs shall reside in a specialized foster care
home with the following exceptions:
   (1) A specialized foster care home may have a third foster child
with or without special health care needs placed in that home
provided that the licensed capacity, as determined by the department
pursuant to the California Community Care Facilities Act (Chapter 3
(commencing with Section 1500) of Division 2 of the Health and Safety
Code) is not exceeded and provided that all of the following
conditions have been met:
   (A) The child's placement worker has determined and documented
that no other placement is available.
   (B) For each child in placement and the child to be placed, the
child's placement worker has determined that his or her psychological
and social needs will be met by placement in the home and has
documented that determination. New determinations shall be made and
documented each time there is an increase or turnover in foster care
children and the two-child capacity limit is exceeded.
   (C) The individualized health care plan team responsible for the
ongoing care of each child with special health care needs involved
has considered the number of adoptive, biological, and foster
children, and children in guardianship living in the home and
determined that the two-child limit may be exceeded without
jeopardizing the health and safety of that child, and has documented
that determination. New determinations shall be made and documented
each time there is an increase or turnover in foster care children
and the two-child capacity limit is exceeded.
   (2) A licensed small family home, but not a certified home, may
exceed the two-child placement limit and accept children with or
without special health care needs up to the licensed capacity as
determined by the department pursuant to paragraph (6) of subdivision
(a) of Section 1502 of the Health and Safety Code if the conditions
in paragraph (1) have been met for both the third foster child and
each foster child placed thereafter, and the following additional
conditions have been met:
   (A) At least one of the children in the facility is a regional
center client monitored in accordance with Section 56001 and
following of Title 17 of the California Code of Regulations.
   (B) Whenever four or more foster children are physically present
in the facility, the licensee of the small family home has the
assistance of a caregiver to provide specialized in-home health care
to the children except that:
   (i) Night assistance shall not be required for those hours that
the individualized health care plan team for each child with special
health care needs has documented that the child will not require
specialized medical services during that time.
   (ii) The department may determine that additional assistance is
required to provide appropriate care and supervision for all children
in placement. The determination shall only be made after
consultation with the appropriate regional center and any appropriate
individual health care teams.
   (iii) On-call assistance is available at all times to respond in
case of an emergency. The on-call assistant shall meet the
requirements of paragraph (5) of subdivision (c) of Section 17731.
   (iv) The home is sufficient in size to accommodate the needs of
all children in the home.
   (b) Notwithstanding Section 1523 of the Health and Safety Code, a
foster family home which has more than three children with special
health care needs in its care as of January 1, 1992, and which
applies for licensure as a small family home in order to continue to
provide care for those children, shall be exempt from the application
fee.
   (c) Except for children with special health care needs placed in
group homes before January 1, 1992, no child with special health care
needs may be placed in any group home or combination of group homes
for longer than a short-term placement of 120 calendar days. The
short-term placement in the group home shall be on an emergency basis
for the purpose of arranging a subsequent placement in a less
restrictive setting, such as with the child's natural parents or
relatives, with a foster parent or foster family agency, or with
another appropriate person or facility. The 120-day limitation shall
not be extended, except by the approval of the director or his or her
designee. For children placed after January 1, 1992, the 120-day
limitation shall begin on the effective date of the amendments to
this section made during the 1993 portion of the 1993-94 Regular
Session.
   (d) A child with special health care needs shall not be placed in
a group home unless the child's placement worker has determined and
documented that the group home has a program that meets the specific
needs of the child being placed and there is a commonalty of needs
with the other children in the group home.
   (e) The Legislature finds and declares that the amendments to this
section made by the act that added this subdivision are declaratory
of existing law.
  SEC. 4.  Section 17732.2 is added to the Welfare and Institutions
Code, to read:
   17732.2.  (a) In determining the licensed capacity of a
specialized foster family home or a specialized certified family
home, the department shall consider all adoptive, biological, and
foster children, and children in guardianship living in the home, in
order not to exceed a total of six children living in the home.
   (b) The Legislature finds and declares that this section is
declaratory of existing law.