BILL NUMBER: AB 1133	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN SENATE  SEPTEMBER 3, 2013
	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 clarify that medically fragile children, as
defined,   meet the definition of a child with special
health care needs for the purposes of these provisions. The 
bill would require that, when determining the placement of a foster
child who is medically fragile, as defined, 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 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.
  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, 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 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. 
   (d) For purposes of placements made pursuant to this section, a
medically fragile child shall be deemed to meet the definition of a
"child with special health care needs," as defined by Section 17710,
and shall be subject to this chapter and any other applicable
regulations adopted pursuant to this chapter.