BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó






                                  SENATE HUMAN
                               SERVICES COMMITTEE
                            Senator Jim Beall, Chair


          BILL NO:       AB 2379                                      
          A
          AUTHOR:        Weber                                        
          B
          VERSION:       April 22, 2014
          HEARING DATE:  June 10, 2014                                
          2
          FISCAL:        No                                           
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          7
          CONSULTANT:    Mareva Brown                                 
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                                     SUBJECT
                                         
            Abuse of elders and dependent adults: multidisciplinary  
                                     teams

                                     SUMMARY  

          This bill adds child welfare services personnel to the list  
          of persons who may be included in multidisciplinary teams  
          that are trained in the prevention, identification,  
          management, or treatment of abuse of elderly or dependent  
          adults.

                                     ABSTRACT  

           Existing law  :

             1)   Establishes the Elder Abuse and Dependent Adult  
               Civil Protection Act to, among other intents, direct  
               special attention to the needs and problems of elderly  
               persons, recognizing that these persons constitute a  
               significant and identifiable segment of the population  
               and that they are more subject to risks of abuse,  
               neglect, and abandonment. (WIC 15610, et seq.)

                                                         Continued---



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             2)   Defines within the context of this section a  
               "Multidisciplinary personnel team" as  any team of two  
               or more persons who are trained in the prevention,  
               identification, management, or treatment of abuse of  
               elderly or dependent adults and who are qualified to  
               provide a broad range of services related to abuse of  
               elderly or dependent adults. (WIC 15610.55 (a))

             3)   Defines those who may participate in a  
               multidisciplinary personnel team to include, but need  
               not be limited to, any of the following:
                  a.        Psychiatrists, psychologists, or other  
                    trained counseling personnel.
                  b.        Police officers or other law enforcement  
                    agents.
                  c.        Medical personnel with sufficient  
                    training to provide health services.
                  d.        Social workers with experience or  
                    training in prevention of abuse of elderly or  
                    dependent adults.
                  e.        Public guardians.
                  f.        The local long-term care ombudsman. (WIC  
                    15610.55)

             4)   Permits persons who are trained and qualified to  
               serve on multidisciplinary personnel teams to disclose  
               to one another information and records which are  
               relevant to the prevention, identification, or  
               treatment of abuse of elderly or dependent persons  
               (WIC 15754).

             5)   Establishes that the activities of a  
               multidisciplinary personnel team engaged in the  
               prevention, identification, management, or treatment  
               of child abuse or neglect, or of the abuse of elder or  
               dependent persons are activities performed in the  
               administration of public social services. (WIC  
               10850.1)

             6)   Permits a member of the team to disclose and  
               exchange any information or writing that also is kept  
               or maintained in connection with any program of public  
               social services or otherwise designated as  
               confidential under state law which he or she  
               reasonably believes is relevant to the prevention,  




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               identification, management, or treatment of child  
               abuse or neglect, or of the abuse of elder or  
               dependent persons to other members of the team.  
               Requires that all discussions relative to the  
               disclosure or exchange of any such information or  
               writing during team meetings are confidential. (WIC  
               10850.1)

           This bill:
           
             1)   Adds child welfare services personnel to the six  
               existing identified members of the multidisciplinary  
               personnel team members.

                                  FISCAL IMPACT  

          This bill has been identified as non-fiscal by the Office  
          of Legislative Counsel.

                            BACKGROUND AND DISCUSSION  

           Purpose of the bill:
           
          According to the author, this bill makes a modest change to  
          existing statute that will increase the ability of local  
          abuse prevention teams to collaborate in order to identify  
          potential risk in caregivers of older or dependent adults  
          who may have been known to abuse or neglect children in  
          their care in the past. Current law does not identify child  
          welfare staff as members who may be included on an elder  
          abuse multidisciplinary personnel team, which is tasked  
          with prevention efforts and authorized to share information  
          in individual case files. 

          The author states that two recent cases in San Diego of  
          young adults with intellectual disabilities who reportedly  
          were being abused by a parent.  Adult Protective Services  
          workers in these two cases are precluded by law from asking  
          for case information from child welfare workers.  In 2010,  
          a 28-year-old San Diego County man died after he was  
          neglected by his mother and brother. According to the  
          author, it is important to prevent further abuses for  
          county adult protection workers to have the ability to know  
          if parents who have abused and neglected their children are  
          being assigned as caregivers when the children become  




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          dependent adults. 

           Elder Abuse and Dependent Adult Civil Protection Act

           The Elder Abuse and Dependent Adult Civil Protection act  
          was passed in 1982 in recognition that vulnerable elderly  
          adults may be subjected to abuse, neglect or abandonment  
          and a significant number of them may have mental or verbal  
          limitations and that the state has a duty to protect them.  
          Among the elements of the act is the establishment of  
          multidisciplinary personnel teams who are composed of two  
          or more public social service professionals engaged in the  
          prevention, identification, management, or treatment of  
          child abuse or neglect, or of the abuse of elder or  
          dependent persons.  Team members specifically identified in  
          statute may include psychiatrists or psychologists, police  
          officers, medical personnel, social workers with experience  
          in elder and dependent abuse, public guardians and the  
          long-term care ombudsman.

          The law grants members of the team permission to disclose  
          and exchange any information or writing that also is kept  
          or maintained in connection with any program of public  
          social services or otherwise designated as confidential  
          under state law which he or she reasonably believes is  
          relevant to the prevention, identification, management, or  
          treatment of child abuse or neglect, or of the abuse of  
          elder or dependent persons to other members of the team.
           
          Adult Protective Services
           
          In California, each county oversees its own Adult  
          Protective Services (APS) agency to investigate abuse,  
          neglect or exploitation of elder and dependent adults or  
          assist them when they are unable to meet their own needs.  
          In March, according to the Department of Social Services,  
          there were roughly 15,000 reports of adult and dependent  
          abuse statewide, and approximately 10,500 of them were  
          against elders. APS may conduct needs assessments, create  
          an abuse reporting system, and provide preventative  
          services, including food, transportation, emergency shelter  
          and in-home protective care.  Each county also may use a  
          multidisciplinary team to coordinate with community  
          resources. 





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           Child Welfare
           
          Each county also oversees its own Child Welfare Services  
          (CWS) system, designed to respond to and investigate claims  
          of child abuse or neglect. If an allegation is  
          substantiated, and a child is placed into the custody of  
          the juvenile court for protection, child welfare  
          caseworkers oversee the child's care in a foster home or  
          other out-of-home placement, as well as efforts of the  
          family to reunify with the child. Case files typically have  
          extensive information on a family's history.

                                   PRIOR VOTES  

          Assembly Floor           78 - 0
          Assembly Judiciary       10 - 0
          Assembly Human Services    7 - 0


                                    POSITIONS  

          Support:       County of San Diego (sponsor)
                         California Probation, Parole and  
          Correctional Association 
                         AFSCME
                         National Association of Social Workers -  
          California Chapter
                         Office of the District Attorney of San Diego  
          County
                         Urban Counties Caucus


          Oppose:   None received





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