BILL ANALYSIS Ó ----------------------------------------------------------------- |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 2379| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |1020 N Street, Suite 524 | | |(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- CONSENT Bill No: AB 2379 Author: Weber (D) Amended: 4/22/14 in Assembly Vote: 21 SENATE HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE : 4-0, 6/10/14 AYES: Beall, DeSaulnier, Liu, Wyland NO VOTE RECORDED: Berryhill ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 78-0, 5/15/14 (Consent) - See last page for vote SUBJECT : Abuse of elders and dependent adults: multidisciplinary team SOURCE : County of San Diego DIGEST : This bill adds child welfare services (CWS) 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. ANALYSIS : Existing law: 1. Establishes the Elder Abuse and Dependent Adult Civil Protection Act (Act) to, among other intents, direct special attention to the needs and problems of elderly persons, CONTINUED AB 2379 Page 2 recognizing that these persons are more subject to risks of abuse, neglect, and abandonment. 2. Defines "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. 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. 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. 5. Permits a member of the team to disclose and exchange any information or writing which he/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. Requires that all discussions relative to the disclosure or exchange of any such information or writing during team meetings are confidential. CONTINUED AB 2379 Page 3 This bill adds CWS personnel to the six existing identified members of the multidisciplinary personnel team members. Comments According to the author's office, this bill makes a modest change to existing statute that increases 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. Existing law does not identify CWS personnel 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's office 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 (APS) 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's office, 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 dependent adults. Act . The 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. APS . In California, each county oversees its own 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 CONTINUED AB 2379 Page 4 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. CWS . Each county also oversees its own 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, CWS 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. FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No Local: No SUPPORT : (Verified 6/12/14) County of San Diego (source) AFSCME California Association of Public Authorities California Police Chiefs Association California Probation, Parole and Correctional Association California State Association of Counties California Welfare Directors Association National Association of Social Workers - California Chapter Office of the District Attorney of San Diego County Urban Counties Caucus ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 78-0, 5/15/14 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, Donnelly, 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, 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 CONTINUED AB 2379 Page 5 NO VOTE RECORDED: Mansoor, Vacancy JL:d 6/12/14 Senate Floor Analyses SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE **** END **** CONTINUED