BILL ANALYSIS Ó ----------------------------------------------------------------- |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 1790| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |1020 N Street, Suite 524 | | |(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- THIRD READING Bill No: AB 1790 Author: Dickinson (D) Amended: 8/13/14 in Senate Vote: 21 SENATE HEALTH COMMITTEE : 8-0, 6/25/14 AYES: Hernandez, Morrell, Beall, De León, DeSaulnier, Evans, Monning, Nielsen NO VOTE RECORDED: Wolk SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8 ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 78-0, 5/28/14 - See last page for vote SUBJECT : Foster children: mental health services SOURCE : Mission Focused Solutions DIGEST : This bill requires the Department of Social Services (DSS) to convene a stakeholder group, as specified, to identify barriers to mental health services by mental health professionals with specified training. Requires the stakeholder group, on or before January 31, 2016, to make specific, non-binding recommendations to specified groups to address the identified barriers. Senate Floor Amendments of 8/13/14 expand the types of representatives required for the specified stakeholder group and extend the date by which the stakeholder group must make recommendations. CONTINUED AB 1790 Page 2 ANALYSIS : Existing law: 1.Establishes DSS to serve, aid, and protect needy and vulnerable children and adults in ways that strengthen and preserve families, encourage personal responsibility, and foster independence. 2.Requires a foster child whose adoption is final, who is receiving or is eligible for Adoption Assistance Program assistance, including Medi-Cal, and whose foster care court supervision has been terminated, to be provided medically necessary specialty mental health services by the local mental health plan in the county of residence of his or her adoptive parents. This bill: 1.Requires DSS to convene a stakeholder group to identify barriers to the provision of mental health services by mental health professionals with specialized clinical training in adoption or permanency issues to foster youth receiving services from the Adoption Assistance Program. Requires the stakeholder group to include at least all of the following individuals: A. Adoptive parents; B. Former foster youth; C. Representatives from the mental health and child welfare fields, including associations representing county mental health departments and private organizations providing specialty mental health services; D. Representatives from mental health and social work graduate degree-granting postsecondary education institutions; and E. Representatives from relevant state and local agencies. 1.Requires the stakeholder group, on or before January 31, 2016, to make specific recommendations for voluntary measures available to state and local government agencies and private entities, as appropriate, to address those barriers. 2.Requires DSS to collect existing research and professional literature pertinent to the need for specialized clinical CONTINUED AB 1790 Page 3 training in adoption and permanency issues. Requires DSS to distribute the information to the stakeholder group and to coordinate with, and endeavor not to duplicate, existing local, state, or national initiatives. 3.Prohibits any recommendation made to be construed to be binding on any state or local government agency or private entity. Comments According to the author, this bill improves the stability of adoptive and guardianship families by increasing the pool of adoption/permanency competent mental health professionals. Without the support of clinicians with specialized clinical adoption training and experience, children adopted from foster care are at unnecessary risk for disruption from their new families. The consequence is return of children to foster care, suffering one more devastating loss in a litany of preventable losses. Despite the increase in the numbers of children in foster care achieving permanence through adoption and guardianship, placement into a stable and motivated family is not sufficient to compensate for psychosocial problems related to prior trauma and chronic maltreatment. Adoption and guardianship bring with them unique issues, which if not understood by the clinician, can result in ineffective or even damaging treatment. Because adoption issues are not typically included in the education of psychologists and marriage and family therapists, these issues are given relatively limited attention in the training of graduate-level social workers. Most clinicians are unaware of the impact of the unique issues facing these families. Rather than getting the help needed, many adoptive parents and guardians are misunderstood or even blamed for a child's problems, leaving the family in greater crisis. FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes Local: No SUPPORT : (Verified 8/14/14) Mission Focused Solutions (source) Adopt a Special Kid American Academy of Pediatrics Aspirenet CONTINUED AB 1790 Page 4 Better Life Children Services California Association of Adoption Agencies California CASA California Youth Empowerment Network Capital Adoptive Families Alliance The Child Abuse Prevention Center Childrens Law Center Community Champions Network, Sacramento David & Margaret Youth and Family Services Junior Leagues of California ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : The sponsor and supporters argue that a large body of research confirms the need for adoption competency in mental health professionals accepting adoptive and guardian families as clients. They further argue that children adopted from foster care bring histories of trauma and loss into their new families, and providing mental health services to these families by professionals who do not have training and experience in adoption competency can and has caused unintentional harm. ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 78-0, 05/28/14 AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Bigelow, Bloom, Bocanegra, Bonilla, Bonta, Bradford, Brown, Buchanan, Ian Calderon, Campos, Chau, Chávez, Chesbro, Conway, Cooley, Dababneh, Dahle, Daly, Dickinson, Eggman, Fong, Fox, Frazier, Beth Gaines, Garcia, Gatto, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gorell, Gray, Grove, Hagman, Hall, Harkey, Roger Hernández, Holden, Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Levine, Linder, Logue, Lowenthal, Maienschein, Mansoor, Medina, Melendez, Mullin, Muratsuchi, Nazarian, Nestande, Olsen, Pan, Patterson, Perea, John A. Pérez, V. Manuel Pérez, Quirk, Quirk-Silva, Rendon, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas, Skinner, Stone, Ting, Wagner, Waldron, Weber, Wieckowski, Wilk, Williams, Yamada, Atkins NO VOTE RECORDED: Donnelly, Vacancy JL:nl 8/14/14 Senate Floor Analyses SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE **** END **** CONTINUED AB 1790 Page 5 CONTINUED