BILL ANALYSIS Ó ------------------------------------------------------------ |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 1064| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |1020 N Street, Suite 524 | | |(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ------------------------------------------------------------ UNFINISHED BUSINESS Bill No: SB 1064 Author: De León (D), et al. Amended: 8/24/12 Vote: 21 SENATE HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE : 4-0, 3/27/12 AYES: Liu, Hancock, Wright, Yee NO VOTE RECORDED: Emmerson, Berryhill, Strickland SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE : 5-0, 4/24/12 AYES: Evans, Harman, Blakeslee, Corbett, Leno SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 5-2, 5/24/12 AYES: Kehoe, Alquist, Lieu, Price, Steinberg NOES: Walters, Dutton ASSEMBLY FLOOR : Not available SUBJECT : Child custody: immigration SOURCE : Author DIGEST : This bill provides family and custodial protections for children of immigrant families. Assembly Amendments (1) delete language that states if a court finds that the parent has made reasonable efforts to regain custody of the child or that termination of parental rights would be detrimental to the child. The bill would prohibit this extension under specified circumstances, CONTINUED SB 1064 Page 2 including if the child was an abandoned infant, the parent was accused of murder or voluntary manslaughter of another of his/her children or of felony assault against this child or another of the parent's children from the bill; (2) instead include language that states if a court finds there is a substantial probability, as defined, that the child will be returned to the physical custody of his/her parent and safely maintained in the home within the extended time period or that reasonable services have not been provided to the parent or guardian; (3) extend the date for the Department of Social Services (DSS) to provide guidance on best practices and to facilitate an exchange of information, from July 1, 2013 to January 1, 2014, on establishing a memoranda of understanding with foreign consulates; (4) contains chaptering out language for AB 1712 (Beall), AB 2060 (Bonilla), AB 2209 (Hueso) and AB 2292 (Nielsen) and SB 1476 (Leno) and SB 1521 (Liu); and (5) make other clarifying and technical changes. ANALYSIS : Existing law: 1. Requires a social worker to attempt to maintain the child with the child's family. Absent specified circumstances, requires the social worker to immediately release the child to the custody of the child's parent, guardian, or relative. 2. Requires a social worker to use due diligence in investigating the names and locations of relatives who are able and willing to care for a dependent child. Requires social workers to conduct an assessment of a relative or non-relative's suitability, including an in-home inspection and a criminal records check. 3. Provides that, in pursuing family reunification, the court shall order reasonable services for incarcerated or institutionalized parents, and must consider the parent's access to the court-mandated services and his or her ability to maintain contact with his/her child. Allows for court ordered services in pursuit of family reunification to be extended from 6 or 12 months to 18 or 24 months, as specified, for parents who are SB 1064 Page 3 incarcerated, institutionalized, or ordered into a resident substance abuse program if the court makes particular findings. This bill: 1. States that a relative's immigration status does not disqualify the relative from receiving custody of a child in a family law proceeding. 2. Allows a relative to file for guardianship of a minor dependent regardless of immigration status and provides that immigration status of the relative alone shall not constitute unsuitability. 3. Directs that if a social worker, upon investigation of the circumstances of a child being taken into temporary custody, decides that it is appropriate to release the child to his/her parent, guardian or a responsible relative that release shall occur regardless of the adult's immigration status. 4. Provides that a relative's identification card from a foreign consulate or a foreign passport shall be considered valid forms of identification for the purposes of conducting criminal record and fingerprint clearance checks when a social worker is deciding whether to place a child in the temporary custody of a relative or into the home of a relative as a foster care placement. 5. Specifies that when a social worker is placing a child in a foster care setting, the home of a noncustodial parent or approved home of a relative may be considered regardless of the parent's or relative's immigration status. 6. Specifies that when a relative has requested placement of a child who is removed from parental custody, preferential consideration be given to the family member regardless of that relative's immigration status. 7. Specifies that a relative caregiver shall be given information regarding the permanency options of SB 1064 Page 4 guardianship and adoption regardless of his/her immigration status. 8. Authorizes an extension of reunification services from 6 or 12 months to 18 or 24 months, as specified, for parents who have been arrested and issued an immigration hold, detained by the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS), or deported to their country of origin. 9. Adds detention by DHS and deportation to a parent's country of origin to the list of circumstances that must be considered by the dependency court in determining appropriate reunification services for a child. 10.Directs the court to provide reasonable efforts to assist parents who have been deported to contact child welfare authorities in their country of origin, identify any available services that would substantially comply with case plan requirements, document parents' participation in those services, and accept reports from local child welfare authorities as to the parents' living situation, progress and participation in services. 11.Adds a parent's detention to the list of circumstances eligible for alternative family reunification services. Adds a parent's detention or deportation to the list of circumstances that a court must consider in determining whether the failure of the parent to participate in services is prima facie evidence that reunification would be detrimental to the child. 12.Permits the court to continue a child's permanency review hearing for up to six months if the parent has been arrested and issued an immigration hold, detained by DHS or deported and the court determines that there is substantial probability that the child will be returned to his/her parent's custody, as provided, and safely remain in the home or that reasonable services have not been provided to the parent. 13.Requires the court to consider a parent's detention or deportation as barriers to that parent's ability to SB 1064 Page 5 participate in reunification when determining a child's permanency plan. 14.Adds to the list of circumstances under which a dependency court may extend a child's permanency hearing that a parent is making progress in reunification services after being recently discharged from the custody of DHS. 15.Requires DSS, commencing January 1, 2014, and annually thereafter, to provide guidance on best practices and facilitate exchange of best practices and information among counties on establishing memoranda of understanding with foreign consulates in juvenile court cases in which a parent has been arrested and issued an immigration hold, has been detained by DHS, or has been deported to his/her country of origin, including specified procedures relating to family reunification. Allows the exchange of information to be accomplished by posting information on the DSS Web site. 16.Requires DSS, commencing January 1, 2014, and annually thereafter, to provide guidance on best practices and facilitate exchange of best practices and information among counties on how to assist children in juvenile court who are eligible for special immigrant juvenile status. Allows the exchange of information to be accomplished by posting information on the DSS Web site. 17.Contains chaptering out language for ABs 1712, 2060, 2209 and 2292 and SBs 1476 and 1521. Background Child Welfare System . Approximately 70,000 children are in the custody of California's child welfare system because of abuse, neglect - including abandonment - or at-risk living situations. This figure includes those living in foster homes, group homes and with relatives. In California, the law requires that courts first consider whether a child is appropriate for family reunification services, defined as "? activities designed to provide time-limited foster care services to prevent or remedy neglect, abuse, or SB 1064 Page 6 exploitation, when the child cannot safely remain at home, and needs temporary foster care, while services are provided to reunite the family." Typically, the family reunification case plan requires parents or guardians to participate in therapy, rehabilitation and other services with the goal of regaining custody of the child. State law requires adherence to a strict timeline in which to provide services, evaluate whether reunification is in the best interest of the child and create a permanent plan for the child. In cases involving parents who are incarcerated or institutionalized, the law recognizes that there may be barriers to receiving services and to establishing visitation schedules between parents and children, and provides an opportunity for the courts to extend this timeline if it appears reunification is likely and would be appropriate. It also provides an opportunity for dependency courts to exempt parents from reunification services if they are incarcerated or institutionalized and those services are not available. "Shattered Families" report . A November 2011 report prepared and released by the Applied Research Center estimated that 5,100 children nationwide whose parents were either detained or deported are living in foster care. The center's report, "Shattered Families: The Perilous Intersection of Immigration Enforcement and the Child Welfare System," predicted that number of children in foster care with deported or detained parents could grow by another 15,000 in the next five years. The center's projections are based on a calculation that approximately 1.25 percent of all children in foster care have parents who have been detained or deported. Using that rate, the number of California children currently in the system with detained or deported parents would be approximately 875. The report argues that while priorities established in child welfare policies and immigration policies underscore the need to reunite families, current practices present barriers to that goal. SB 1064 Page 7 "Immigration policies and laws are based on the assumption that families will, and should, be united whether or not parents are deported. Similarly, child welfare policy aims to reunify families whenever possible. In practice, however, when mothers and fathers are detained and deported and their children are relegated to foster care, family separation can last for extended periods. Too often, these children lose the opportunity to ever see their parents again when a juvenile dependency court terminates parental rights." (Shattered Families, executive summary, p. 3) Current Practices . Some California counties already are taking efforts to remove barriers to reunification for these families. Los Angeles, San Francisco and several other counties have memorandums of understanding with their local Mexican consulates that define responsibilities for each entity and ensure confidentiality of information exchanged. In San Francisco County, for example, the county agrees when possible to obtain a certified copy of the U.S. birth certificate in order to prove a minor's citizenship and provides that the consulate may assist the county whenever possible in obtaining corresponding Mexican birth certificates. The memorandum-of-understanding (MOU) requires county social workers to provide verbal updates on the progress of the child's case when requested by the consulate and requires the county to consent for the minor to be interviewed by the consulate. The consulate is required to be available to social workers during business and after hours, assist with searches in Mexico for parents or relatives, when needed and facility the repatriation of Mexican minors when there are no protective issues involving the child's placement in the custody of the county's child welfare agency. The MOU also describes the roles of both agencies in ensuring a parent's appearance in dependency court, in finalizing adoptions and in proceeding when a parent has abducted their child and fled to Mexico. Los Angeles County formalized its practice of placing children with undocumented relatives in policy guidelines stretching back several decades. "Immigration status of a SB 1064 Page 8 relative caregiver should not hinder the placement of a relative child in the home as long as (licensing standards) are met," according to a 2008 memo. Los Angeles County also was one of the initial counties to use foreign consulate identification cards from the Consulate of Mexico to satisfy the need to present identification to a live scan technician. The identification cards may be obtained from the consulate by an undocumented U.S. resident once a criminal background check in Mexico is cleared. The cards then may be used to access the live scan background check used by California child welfare agencies to clear prospective foster parents. Los Angeles County subsequently set up similar arrangements with the consulates of the Argentine Republic and Korea. FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes Local: Yes According to the Senate Appropriations Committee: One-time costs potentially in excess of $150,000 (General Fund) for increased DSS staffing workload for research and development of specified guidelines to counties. Annual ongoing state-mandated costs in the range of $200,000 (General Fund) for 6- to 12-month extension of reunification services to impacted youth. Increased cost pressure on social worker (SW) workload to include information in case plans about a parent's detention by the DHS or deportation. Annual ongoing costs in the range of $150,000 (General Fund) for increased workload to the Department of Justice (DOJ) Foreign Prosecutions and Law Enforcement Unit. Potentially significant future cost savings (Local) in foster care, adoption assistance payments to the extent the provisions of this bill result in an increased number of children successfully reunified with their parents. SUPPORT : (Verified 8/28/12) 9to5 National Association of Working Women SB 1064 Page 9 All Saints Church Foster Care Project Alternative Family Services American Civil Liberties Union of California American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, AFL-CIO Applied Research Center Asian Americans for Civil Rights & Equality Asian Law Alliance ASISTA Immigration Assistance California Catholic Conference, Inc. California Immigrant Policy Center California Latinas for Reproductive Justice California Partnership California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation California Youth Connection Californians United for a Responsible Budget Center for Community Alternatives Children's Law Center of California Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice, Los Angeles Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles Congregation of the Sisters of the Holy Cross First Focus Campaign for Children Franciscan Action Network Guam Communications Network Iglesia de la Comunidad, Presbyterian Church USA Immigration Legal Resource Center Immigration Task Force of the United Methodist Church Justice Now Latino Policy Coalition Legal Services for Children Legal Services for Prisoners with Children Lutheran Office of Public Policy California Mexican American Legal Defense and Education of Fund MomsRising.org Mujeres Unidas y Activas National Association of Social Workers Public Counsel Restoration Project, Tucson Safe Passages Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors Services, Immigrant Rights & Education Network Street Level Health Project The Young Center for Immigrant Children's Rights Tongan Community Service Center Tucson Samaritans SB 1064 Page 10 ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : The Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles writes that children whose parents are detained or deported by immigration officials face economic hardship and emotional trauma. "Besides losing his/her parents, these children may also lose the opportunity to stay close to their love(d) ones that reside in the U.S. because after the detention or deportation of their parents they are placed into foster care. Unfortunately many of them will never have a realistic opportunity to be reunified with their parents and /or close relatives because parents in immigration detainment are frequently unable to access services ? (and) immigrant relatives that may be willing to take custody of a child when a parent is in this situation are turned down by the child welfare system because of their immigration status. This bill is an important step in the right direction to ensure that families stay together and that children get to grow up in loving and stable homes." CTW:RM:d 8/28/12 Senate Floor Analyses SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE **** END ****