BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SB 1089
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Date of Hearing: June 26, 2012
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HUMAN SERVICES
Jim Beall Jr., Chair
SB 1089 (Liu) - As Amended: April 17, 2012
SENATE VOTE : 39-0
SUBJECT : Child Day Care Facilities
SUMMARY : This measure would exclude facilities that provide
behavioral programming services to minors from child care
licensing requirement exemptions unless they are under the
jurisdiction of specified state or county agencies.
Specifically, this bill :
1)States legislative findings and declarations, including the
following:
a) Finds that youth boot camps and other like programs
operate as non-profit organizations under Section 501(c)(3)
of the federal Internal Revenue Code, which utilize
non-traditional behavioral treatment methodologies and are
intended to provide services in a less restrictive
environment for children with significant behavioral
issues.
b) These programs advertise themselves as alternative
behavioral treatment programs for youth with significant
behavioral issues who may feel they have few other options.
c) The growth of youth boot camps that employ high-risk
tactics on children, such as extreme physical exertion,
began in the 1990s, which has led to thousands of
allegations of abuse, neglect and death.
d) In 2011 a youth boot camp in Pasadena, California was
alleged to have kidnapped, abused, endangered, extorted,
and impersonated law enforcement authorities to youth in
their programs.
e) A few youth boot camp programs in California operate
without a license, which place children under their care at
risk.
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f) It is the Legislature's role to ensure proper licensing
and regulation of social service providers for the
protection and care of all citizens.
2)Prohibits the exemption from state licensing requirements of
entities that provide behavioral programming to address
conduct described in Section 601 of the Welfare and
Institutions Code (WIC), unless the facility is:
a) Under the jurisdiction of the California Department of
Corrections and Rehabilitation, Division of Juvenile
Facilities;
b) Under the jurisdiction of the California Department of
Education; or
c) A County-operated facility.
3)Adds to the list of facilities exempted from licensure by the
California Department of Social Services (DSS) outpatient
behavior programs for children with developmental disabilities
that are a vendor of a regional center.
EXISTING LAW
1)Establishes the California Child Day Care Facilities Act
(CCDCFA) to provide a comprehensive, quality system for
licensing child care facilities to ensure a quality day care
environment and states that good quality child care services
are essential services for working parents.
2)Sets licensing requirements and provides authority to DSS to
develop and adopt regulations to administer the CCDCFA,
including the authority to set licensing standards for
facilities that provide nonmedical care to children under the
age of 18.
3)Defines a "day care center" as any child day care facility
other than a family day care home, and includes infant
centers, preschools, extended day care facilities, and school
age child care centers.
4)Defines a "family day care home" as a home that regularly
provides care, protection and supervision for 14 or fewer
children for periods of less than 24 hours per day.
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5)By regulation, prohibits any adult, general partners of a
partnership, controlling partners in a limited liability
corporation, county, city, public agency or other governmental
entity from operating, establishing, managing, conducting, or
providing care and supervision, as defined, without a valid
license issued by DSS.
6)Requires a criminal record clearance or a criminal record
exemption from DSS for any person who works in a child day
care facility.
7)Exempts from state licensure requirements the following
facilities:
a) Health facilities
b) Clinics
c) Community Care Facilities
d) Family day care homes providing care for the children of
one family in addition to the provider's own children.
e) Cooperative child care arrangements in family homes, as
specified.
f) Child care provided by a relative.
g) Public recreation programs, as specified.
h) Extended day care programs operated by public or private
schools.
i) School parenting program or adult education child care
program, as specified.
j) Child day care programs that operates only one day a
week for no more than four hours.
aa) Child day care programs that offers temporary child care
services, as specified.
bb) Instructional programs provided in a classroom-like
setting, as specified.
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cc) Programs administered by the Department of Corrections,
as specified.
dd) A crisis nursery, as defined, until January 1, 2014.
8)Defines a juvenile delinquent, under Section 601 of the
Welfare and Institutions Code, as any person under the age of
18 who:
a) Persistently or habitually refused to obey the
reasonable and proper orders or directions of his or her
parents, guardian, or custodian.
b) Is beyond the control of that parent, guardian or
custodian.
c) Violates any ordinance of any city or county
establishing a curfew based solely on age.
d) Has four or more truancies within one school year, as
defined, or a school attendance review board or a probation
officer determines that the available public and private
services are insufficient or inappropriate to correct the
habitual truancy of the minor, or to correct the minor's
persistent or habitual refusal to obey the reasonable and
proper orders or directions of school authorities, or fails
to respond to directives of a school attendance review
board or probation officer or to services provided.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS :
Need for this bill:
According to the author, this measure is needed to "ensure boot
camps, ranch camps, or forestry camps, are not excluded from the
child care licensing process." These programs are often
intended to provide less restrictive treatment options for
children with significant mental health or behavioral issues.
However, there have been only two known non-residential youth
boot camps in California, specifically in Pasadena.
In one particular instance, a camp owner was arrested and
charged with child abuse, kidnapping, false imprisonment,
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extortion, and the unlawful use of a badge. Upon further
inspection it was found that this camp did not have a DSS-issued
child care license, which would have required the camp to comply
with child safety laws, ensure that all staff undergoes a
criminal background check and provides for the protection of
children under their care, and be subject to the DSS complaints
process and operational accountability requirements.
Background
These types of programs often use military-style boot camp
training regimens and significant physical exertion strategies
with the intent of building self-discipline, confidence and
organizational skills in troubled youth with severe behavioral
issues. Children are typically housed in a dormitory or
barracks-like setting, where deprivation of everyday amenities,
like showers, regular meals, and access to media, i.e.
television, internet, etc. is common.
Unlike residential youth boot camps, which are licensed and most
often overseen by the Department of Corrections and
Rehabilitation or local law enforcement agencies, such as a
County Sheriff or Probation Office, nonresidential youth boot
camps are not used as an out of home placement. According to the
Youth Law Center, children in privately operated nonresidential
youth boot camps are typically placed there by their parents,
who are seeking an alternative services option to help address
their child's serious behavioral issues.
Although not previously uncommon, residential youth boot camps
became popular in the 1990s. Seen as an alternative to existing
service methodologies for difficult to serve youth with
significant behavioral problems, residential youth boot camps
were found to produce positive behavioral outcomes through the
use of intense physical activities. However, due to their
extreme use of aggressive tactics, many have been accused of
child abuse and neglect, which has resulted in serious injury
and death.
In October, 2007 the United States Government Accountability
Office (GAO) released a report on "Concerns Regarding Abuse and
Death in Certain Programs for Troubled Youth." The GAO
primarily looked at specific allegations of child abuse, some of
which resulted in death, at residential treatment programs
throughout the country. The term 'residential treatment
program' was used by the GAO to encapsulate private entities
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"that call themselves wilderness therapy programs, therapeutic
boarding schools, academics, behavioral modification facilities,
ranches, and boot camps, among other names."
The GAO worked to identify a common or universal definition of a
youth boot camp but found it "difficult to obtain an overall
picture of the extent of the residential treatment program
industry." According to the GAO, in the context of the report,
the phrase "residential treatment program" can refer to
organizations throughout the country that call themselves
"wilderness therapy programs, boarding schools, academies,
behavioral modification facilities, and boot camps, among other
names."
In a follow up report issued in April, 2008, the GAO examined
selected cases of death, abuse and deceptive marketing by
residential treatment programs. In its review of ten closed
civil or criminal cases, ineffective management was found to be
a common occurrence in a private "residential treatment program"
where inexperienced staff and inadequate equipment and
facilities led to unmet needs and resulted in increased
instances of child abuse, neglect and death.
Like residential youth boot camps, nonresidential youth boot
camps face similar concerns of neglect, abuse and death.
However, whereas some residential youth boot camps operate at a
regular "bricks and mortar" facility or series of facilities,
nonresidential youth boot camps that operate by day can use
multiple sites, which may or may not include regular facilities.
This makes it difficult to determine whether nonresidential
youth boot camps that operate at various physical locations that
may or may not have or utilize a facility should be licensed.
Licensing
Under the CCDCFA, the Legislature declares its intent to provide
a comprehensive, quality system for licensing child care
facilities to ensure a quality day care environment and states
that good quality child care services are essential services for
working parents. It also sets licensing requirements and
provides authority to DSS to develop and adopt regulations to
administer the act, including the authority to set licensing
standards for facilities that provide nonmedical care to
children under the age of 18.
The CCDCFA defines a "child day care facility" as a facility
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that provides nonmedical care to children under 18 years of age
in need of personal services, supervision, or assistance
essential for sustaining the activities of daily living or for
the protection of the individual on less than a 24-hour basis.
Child day care facility includes day care centers,
employer-sponsored child care centers, and family day care
homes. (Health and Safety Code 1596.750) It also establishes a
separate definition for a "day care facility," which is defined
as any child day care facility other than a family day care
home, and includes infant centers, preschools, extended day care
facilities, and schoolage child care centers. (Health and
Safety Code 1596.76)
Further, Section 101158 of Title 22 of the California Code of
Regulations requires that "no adult, general partners of a
partnership, controlling partners in a limited liability
corporation, county, city, public agency or other governmental
entity from operating, establishing, managing, conducting, or
providing care and supervision" that meets facility capacity
authorizations to operate without a valid license issued by DSS.
The CCDCFA is intended primarily for child development
facilities that provide educational and supervision services for
children ages zero to 12. Adding nonresidential youth boot
camps as facilities that fall under the jurisdiction of this act
may not be appropriate as they provide more intensive and
aggressive behavioral treatment and intervention services for
youth typically over the age of 12 who have serious behavioral
issues.
It would more appropriate to place nonresidential youth boot
camps under the jurisdiction of the California Community Care
Facilities Act (CCCFA). Under the CCCFA, the Legislature
declares it the intent of the state to establish a coordinated
and comprehensive statewide service system of quality community
care for mentally ill, developmentally and physically disabled,
and children and adults who require care or services by a
facility or organization issued a license or special permit.
This includes the intent to assure that all people who require
these services are provided with the appropriate range of social
rehabilitative, habilitative and treatment services, including
residential and nonresidential programs tailed to their needs.
(Health and Safety Code Section 1501)
According to the DSS, some residentially based boot camps are
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required to be licensed under the CCCFA as they provide 24-hour
care and supervision in a group home-like setting. However, DSS
acknowledges that some residential boot camps, such as a
"wilderness boot camp" or an "outdoor therapy camp," which
provide "boot camp" type services do not fall under current
licensing requirements because they do not operate out of a
specific facility.
RECOMMENDED AMENDMENTS
It is unclear whether the bill's current language would achieve
the goal of ensuring that all nonresidential youth boot camps
are licensed. Under its current language, it states that
facilities providing "behavioral programming to address conduct
described in Section 601 of the Welfare and Institutions
Code"--but not those operated by state agencies or counties as
specified--are not exempt from licensing requirements.
Since a parent can choose to place their child in a
nonresidential youth boot camp for any reason, the current
proposed language may inadvertently exclude certain
nonresidential youth boot camps from licensure requirements as
it may be difficult to prove or ascertain whether a parent
placed their in this type of program due to their child behaving
similar to what is described in Section 601 of the Welfare and
Institutions Code.
Additionally, because some but not all programs that provide
these types of camps do not fall within one licensing category
under the CCCFA or the CCDCFA, and because youth boot camps
purport to provide substantial and aggressive behavioral
intervention tactics that can produce both positive and negative
outcomes in a child's development, the bill should be amended to
define facilities that provide aggressive non-traditional
behavioral treatment services for youth to encompass facilities
or programs that operate "youth boot camps." required to amend
their regulations to clarify licensing requirements for youth
boot camps.
Specifically, staff recommends the following amendments:
1) Add Section 1502.2 to the Health and Safety Code to
read:
1502.2. "Private non-traditional alternative treatment
facility for youth" means any residential or
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non-residential facility or program operated by an
organization that provides aggressive non-traditional
punitive, retaliatory, aversive, or military style
behavioral treatment or intervention services for youth.
(a) No person, firm, partnership, association organization,
or corporation shall operate, establish, manage, conduct,
or maintain a "private non-traditional alternative
treatment facility for youth" as defined in this section
unless applicable licensing requirements are met and all
components of the program are accredited by an independent
nonprofit accrediting organization approved by the
department, including the Commission on Accreditation of
Rehabilitation Facilities or the Joint Commission.
(b) Corporal punishment may not be used in any private
non-traditional alternative treatment facility for youth.
(c) For the purposes of this section "corporal punishment"
means willfully causing the infliction of physical pain or
injury on a child through physical contact, verbal or
emotional harassment, intimidation, humiliation,
exploitation, or abuse.
(d) Every resolution, bylaw, rule, ordinance, or other act
or authority permitting or authorizing the operation of a
"private non-traditional alternative treatment facility for
youth" that does not comply with this section is void and
unenforceable.
(e) Private non-traditional alternative treatment
facilities for youth do not include programs under the
jurisdiction of the Department of Corrections and
Rehabilitation, Division of Juvenile Facilities, the State
Department of Education, county-operated facilities or
programs, or a residential or nonresidential behavior
program for youth with developmental disabilities that is
under the jurisdiction of the Department of Developmental
Services or vendorized by a regional center pursuant to
Division 4.5 of the Welfare and Institutions Code.
2) On page 2, delete lines 28 through 30, pages three
through seven, and lines one through 33 on page eight.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
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Support
None on file
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by : Chris Reefe / HUM. S. / (916) 319-2089