BILL NUMBER: AB 1133	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN SENATE  JUNE 27, 2013
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  MAY 7, 2013
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  APRIL 8, 2013
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  MARCH 21, 2013

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Mitchell
   (Principal coauthor: Assembly Member Quirk-Silva)
   (Coauthors: Assembly Members Ammiano, Chesbro, and Maienschein)

                        FEBRUARY 22, 2013

   An act to add Section 17739 to the Welfare and Institutions Code,
relating to foster children.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 1133, as amended, Mitchell. Foster children: special health
care needs.
   Under existing law, the State Department of Social Services
licenses foster families, and the department and each county provide
assistance to foster parents of low-income children under the Aid to
Families with Dependent Children-Foster Care (AFDC-FC) program.
Existing law requires the department to develop a program, to be
administered by the department and county social services
departments, for the establishment of foster care homes for children
with special health care needs with foster parents trained by health
care professionals pursuant to the discharge plan of the facility
releasing the child being placed in, or currently in, foster care.
Existing law requires each county department of social services to
develop a specified plan for foster care placement of children with
special health care needs.
   This bill would require that, when determining the placement of a
foster child who is medically fragile, as defined, 
preference   priority consideration  be given to
placement with a foster parent who is an individual nurse provider,
as defined, who provides health services under the federal Early and
Periodic Screening, Diagnosis and Treatment program, but that this
 preference   priority consideration  be
subordinate to the preference granted to a relative of the child, in
accordance with federal law.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
   
  SECTION 1.    The Legislature finds and declares all of
the following:
   (a) There are growing numbers of medically fragile infants
entering the foster care system.
   (b) Local resources have been, and continue to be, strained to the
limit in providing services to the expanding number of these and
other medically fragile foster children.
   (c) These children are harder to place with the typical foster
parent because of their special needs, and they become forgotten
members of our society.
   (d) Encouraging trained nurses to be foster parents for medically
fragile infants and children results in more positive outcomes for
these placements. The children placed with trained nurses receive
consistent medical care, and benefit from the home environment and
the relationship with the foster family. 
   SECTION 1.   SEC. 2.   Section 17739 is
added to the Welfare and Institutions Code, to read:
   17739.  (a) When determining the placement of a foster child who
is medically fragile, as defined in subdivision (b) of Section 1760.2
of the Health and Safety Code,  preference  
priority consideration  shall be given to placement with a
foster parent who is an individual nurse provider, as defined in
subdivision (m) of Section 14043.26 of the Welfare and Institutions
Code, who provides health services under the federal Early and
Periodic Screening, Diagnosis and Treatment program (Section 1396d(a)
(4)(B) of Title 42 of the United States Code).
   (b) The  preference   priority consideration
 described in subdivision (a) shall be subordinate to the
preference granted to a relative of the child under Section 361.3, in
accordance with Section 671(a)(19) of Title 42 of the United States
Code.
   (c) This section does not prohibit a child welfare agency or the
juvenile court from placing a medically fragile foster child in a
specialized foster care home with appropriate support services 
or another appropriate placement  if it is deemed to be in the
best interest of the child.