BILL ANALYSIS �
SENATE HUMAN
SERVICES COMMITTEE
Senator Leland Y. Yee, Chair
BILL NO: SB 528
S
AUTHOR: Yee
B
VERSION: April 1, 2013
HEARING DATE: April 9, 2013
5
FISCAL: Appropriations
2
8
CONSULTANT: Sara Rogers
SUBJECT
Care and treatment of dependent children and dependent
parents
SUMMARY
This bill requires a social worker for a dependent child
age 12 years or older to ensure the child is informed of
his or her medical and mental health consent rights and to
ensure the child has received specified reproductive health
information. This bill provides that existing law
permitting the court and social workers to authorize
specified medical care for a dependent child shall not be
construed to limit the medical consent rights of the minor.
Additionally, this bill requires the state to track the
number of parenting minor and nonminor dependents through
the state's Child Welfare Services/Case Management System.
This bill requires child welfare agencies to ensure
pregnant and parenting dependents have access to case
workers with specialized training, and that case plans are
developed though a team decision-making process including
specified persons involved in the minors care. Finally,
this bill adds parenting minor and nonminor dependents to
the list of families prioritized for subsidized child
development services.
Continued---
STAFF ANALYSIS OF SENATE BILL 528 (Yee)
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ABSTRACT
Existing Federal Law:
Section 1:
1.Establishes the Child Care Development Fund, administered
by the Administration for Children and Families, to fund
subsidized child care services to eligible low-income
working families. (45 CFR 98)
2.Limits eligibility to families whose parents are working
or in education or training activities, and to families
whose children are receiving protective services.
Restricts eligibility to families whose income is at or
below 85% of the State Median Income (SMI) based on
family size and to children under the age of 13, or to
children with special needs, as defined. (45 CFR 98.20)
3.Requires states to prioritize children of families with
very low family income (considering family size) and
children with special needs and permits states to define
these terms, subject to the eligibility criteria listed
above. (45 CFR 98.44)
Section 2:
4.Requires that Title X funded family planning services be
available to all adolescents, regardless of their age,
without the need for parental consent. (CFR 59.5(a)(4))
Section 4:
5.Provides funding to states, pursuant to Title IV E of the
Social Security Act, to implement a Statewide Automated
Child Welfare Information System (SACWIS) for the purpose
of establishing a unified case management automation tool
used by all child welfare social workers responsible for
case management activities. (45 CFR 1355.50 and 45 CFR
95.621)
Existing State Law:
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Section 1:
1.Requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to
adopt rules and regulations regarding prioritization of
federal and state subsidized child care and child
development services. (EDC 8263)
2.Provides that in order to be eligible for such services,
a family must be a current aid recipient, income
eligible, homeless, a recipient of child protective
services, or at risk of being abused or neglected and a
family must need the services for one of the following
reasons:
a. The child is a recipient of child protective
services, is being, or is at risk of being,
neglected, abused or exploited.
b. The parents are engaged in vocational training,
employed or seeking employment, seeking permanent
housing, or are incapacitated. (EDC 8263)
3.Grants first priority to neglected or abused children, or
those at risk, and provides that such families are
eligible on this basis for up to three months unless the
family's child care referral is recertified by the county
child welfare agency. (EDC 8263)
4.Grants second priority to the remaining eligible
families, providing that families with the lowest gross
monthly income, according to family size, shall be
admitted first. In the case of two or more families with
equal income, a child with exceptional needs shall be
admitted first, or if not applicable, then the family
that has been on the waiting list the longest shall be
admitted first. (EDC 8263)
Section 2
5.Authorizes a minor aged 15 years or older to consent to
STAFF ANALYSIS OF SENATE BILL 528 (Yee)
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his or her medical care or dental care under specified
conditions. (FC 6922)
6.As specified, authorizes a minor aged 12 years or older
to consent to outpatient mental health treatment or
residential shelter services, the diagnosis and treatment
of infectious, contagious or communicable disease which
the minor may have come into contact with, the prevention
of a sexually transmitted disease, medical care and
collection of medical evidence related to the diagnosis
or treatment of rape. (FC 6924-6927)
7.Authorizes a minor to consent to medical care related to
the prevention or treatment of pregnancy, except as
specified. (FC 6925)
8.Authorizes a minor to consent to medical care related to
the diagnosis or treatment of sexual assault and to the
collection of medical evidence. (FC 6928)
9.Permits a social worker who is responsible for a child
taken into temporary custody to authorize medical,
surgical, dental or other remedial care, upon
recommendation by an attending physician, surgeon, or
dentist, as specified. (WIC 369)
10. Permits the juvenile court to make
an order authorizing the performance of necessary
medical, surgical, dental or other remedial care for a
child for whom a petition has been filed, as specified.
(WIC 369)
11. Permits a social worker
supervising the care of a dependent child to authorize
medical, surgical, dental or other remedial care, as
specified. (WIC 369)
Section 3:
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12. Establishes, in a single statute,
a Foster Care Bill of Rights to clearly enumerate the
rights of children placed in foster care, which otherwise
are provided for in multiple sections of law. (WIC
16001.9)
Section 4:
13. Establishes legislative intent to
support the preservation of families headed by minor
parents and nonminor dependent parents and provides that
such families shall, to the greatest extent possible, be
provided with access to existing services for which they
may be eligible. (WIC 16002.5)
14. Establishes the Child Welfare
Services/Case Management System (CWS/CMS) as California's
SACWIS system to establish a unified case management
automation tool used by all child welfare social workers
responsible for case management activities. (WIC 16501.5)
15. Pursuant to the Budget Act of
2011-2012, indefinitely suspends the Child Welfare
Services Web (CWS/Web) Project and requires the
Department of Social Services, in consultation with the
Office of Systems Integration, stakeholders, legislative
staff and counties to evaluate and determine the best
approach to upgrade the CWS/CMS system in order to
support and enhance the effectiveness of child welfare
system. (AB 106, Committee on Budget. Human Services.
(Chapter 32, Statutes of 2011)
This bill:
Section 1:
1.Includes parenting foster youth or nonminor dependents in
the list of family categories receiving priority for
subsidized child care or child development services.
Section 2:
2.Specifies that existing law establishing the ability of
STAFF ANALYSIS OF SENATE BILL 528 (Yee)
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the court or a social worker to consent to specified
medical care on behalf of a foster youth, shall not limit
the rights of a dependent child to consent to medical
care pursuant to the Family Code (described above).
3.Requires the social worker of a dependent child over the
age of 12 to ensure the child is informed of his or her
right to consent to and receive specified medical
services.
4.Requires the social worker of a dependent child over the
age of 12 to ensure the child has been provided with
medically accurate information about sexual development,
reproductive health and the prevention of unplanned
pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases on an ongoing
basis.
Section 3:
5.Adds two provisions to current law establishing the
policy of the state that children in foster care shall
have certain rights. Specifically this bill adds that
foster children shall have the right to:
a. Have access to age-appropriate, medically
accurate information about sexual development,
reproductive health, and prevention of unplanned
pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases, and,
for children 12 years of age or older, to be
informed of his or her right as a minor to receive
this information and consent to those services.
b. To consent to and access specified medical
services pursuant to the Family Code (described
above), and, for children 12 years of age or older,
to be informed of his or her right as a minor to
consent to and receive those services.
Section 4:
6.Requires the Department of Social Services to ensure that
STAFF ANALYSIS OF SENATE BILL 528 (Yee)
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the new Child Welfare Services/Case Management System
(CWS/CMS) includes a mandatory field to track the number
of parenting minor and nonminor dependent parents and
their children, and that prior to the implementation of a
new system, interim procedures are developed and
implemented to track this information.
7.Requires child welfare agencies to ensure that minor
parents and nonminor dependent parents have access to
social workers or resource specialists who have received
training on the needs of teenaged parents and on the
resources and programs available to the youth, as
specified.
8.Requires child welfare agencies to ensure that case plans
for pregnant minor or nonminor dependents are developed
and updated by a specialized conference of specified
individuals, including the specially trained social
worker or resource specialist.
9.Requires child welfare agencies to update the case plan
of a minor or nonminor within 30 days of the agency being
informed of a pregnancy.
10.Prohibits a minor or nonminor from being penalized if he
or she is unwilling to participate in the specialized
conference.
11.Requires child welfare agencies, local educational
agencies and child care resource and referral agencies to
make coordinated efforts to ensure that minor parents and
nonminor dependent parents who have not completed
highschool have access to school programs that provide
onsite or coordinated child care and that minor dependent
parents are given priority for subsidized child care.
FISCAL IMPACT
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This bill is designated as subject to the Commission on
State Mandates. This bill has not been analyzed by a
fiscal committee.
BACKGROUND AND DISCUSSION
According to the author, young parents in the foster care
system face both the challenges of being in foster care as
well as the challenges of being a young, usually single,
parent. The author cites studies indicating that parenting
minors, both within and outside foster care, experience
higher than average rates of poverty, unemployment and low
educational attainment. The author additionally cites
research from the University of Chicago that suggests
extended foster care will roughly double the incidence of
parenting youth in foster care. The author states that it
is therefore important for California's foster care system
to adapt to meet the real needs of parenting youth and
their children in order to better serve parenting foster
youth and meet the needs of their children in their first,
most critical years of life.
According to the author, parenting and pregnant youth are
200 percent more likely to drop out of high school than to
graduate from high school, leaving them without the means
to achieve economic stability. The author states that an
important cause of the lower educational attainment of
parenting youth is the lack of reliable, affordable child
care and that by prioritizing parenting foster youth to
receive subsidized child care the state will help enable
such youth to remain in school.
The author states that there are no known figures for the
number of parenting foster youth in California, and such
information is necessary to understand the breadth of this
issue and to develop appropriate policies to address it.
The author states that by requiring the state's Child
Welfare Services/Case Management System to track this
information the state will be better able to address the
needs of parenting foster youth.
The author states that this bill will expand access to a
STAFF ANALYSIS OF SENATE BILL 528 (Yee)
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model of case plan development known as pregnant and
parenting teen (PPT) conferences that has been utilized in
Los Angeles County. According to the author, the needs of
parenting teens in foster care are extensive and require
resources to be drawn from a range of sources within the
child welfare system as well as from other benefit systems.
According to the author, as California has expanded foster
care to serve older youth, the need to discuss reproductive
health has become even more urgent. The author states that
there is currently a lack of clarity about who is
responsible for educating youth in foster care about
reproductive health, which has resulted in higher than
average rates of unintended pregnancy and sexually
transmitted diseases among youth in foster care.
California Child Welfare System
DSS supervises a 58 county-administered Child Welfare
Services (CWS) system which responded to approximately
40,000 reports of abuse, neglect or exploitation in 2012.
According to DSS, as of February 2012, there were nearly
58,000 children currently in foster care placement, with
nearly one in three residing in Los Angeles County.
It is currently unknown how many current foster youth are
pregnant or parenting. When youth transition out of care,
counties report specified exit outcomes data to DSS,
including the number of youth who are custodial parents.
This data does not include the number of youth who may not
have custody of their children. This data indicates that
the number of custodial parents who age out of foster care
is between 200 to 350 youth annually. Under extended foster
care, many parenting youth are remaining in foster care
longer, and thus the number of exiting parents has
temporarily declined - indicating that the number of
parenting youth in foster care is likely to have increased.
Los Angeles County DCFS estimate that there are 400
parenting foster youth in the county, which the sponsor
extrapolates to 1,150 youth statewide.
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California Fostering Connections to Success Act of 2010
The California Fostering Connections to Success Act of 2010
(Beall and Bass, Chapter 559, Statutes of 2010) established
a statutory framework for foster youth who reach the age of
emancipation and who meet certain requirements to
voluntarily remain in foster care placement up to age 21.
This legislation corresponds with the federal Fostering
Connections Act, which provided the option for states to
receive federal financial participation under
kinship-guardianship benefits and/or foster care for
eligible nonminor dependents. Beginning January 1, 2012,
foster youth became eligible to participate in extended
foster care.
To participate in extended foster care, a youth must
fulfill one of the following requirements: be completing
high school or an equivalent program (i.e. GED); be
enrolled in college, community college or a vocational
education program; be participating in a program designed
to remove barriers to employment; be employed at least 80
hours a month; be unable to do one of the above
requirements because of a medical condition.
Currently, there are no specific child care programs or
services directed toward parenting non-minor dependents
expected to meet these requirements while simultaneously
safely caring for their child.
Pregnant and Parenting Foster Youth
Studies indicate that foster youth are particularly
vulnerable to becoming parents at an early age. One study
of foster youth in Chicago estimated that approximately
half of young women in foster care will be mothers when
they reach age 18 and that at least 30 percent of the young
mothers in foster care will experience a second pregnancy
before the age of 21. Additionally, the study found a
strong likelihood that a significant number of them will
have 2 or more children by the time they reach age 19. The
study indicated that "school performance among these foster
youth was poor" and that the majority of youth included in
STAFF ANALYSIS OF SENATE BILL 528 (Yee)
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the study exited care without a GED or diploma and
identified a lack of access to reliable child care as a
barrier in need of further study. The same study found that
children of foster youth may be especially vulnerable to
abuse and neglect - 22% of mothers had been investigated
for abuse and neglect and 11% had a child in foster
care<1>.
Research shows that teen mothers who stay in school are
equally as likely to graduate as teenage girls with no
children; however those who drop out before or shortly
after childbirth are only half as likely to return to
school and graduate as are childless youth who dropout. The
same study also indicated that preschool children of teen
mothers tend to show some delay of cognitive development as
well as more behavior problems and more aggressive behavior
than children of older mothers, while adolescent children
of teen mothers experience high rates of grade failure,
delinquency, and early sexual activity. (Constantine, N.,
and Nevarez, C.)<2>
Also, the study estimated that the annual net costs to
California taxpayers related to births to teen mothers was
$870 million, and annual net societal costs to the state
was $3.6 billion.<3>
Subsidized Child Care
The state's subsidized child care and development system is
estimated to serve more than 430,000 children in 2013-14
and the California Department of Education (CDE) expects to
spend around $1.7 billion this year. At a single point in
-------------------------
<1>
http://www.chapinhall.org/sites/default/files/Pregnant_Foste
r_Youth_final_081109.pdf
<2> http://teenbirths.phi.org
<3> Ibid.
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time, CDE anticipates that there will be 270,000 total
slots this year, down from 338,931 in 2008. Slots are
apportioned at the local level according to a system of
prioritization established in statute and regulation (see
above description of current law). Stage Two Child care is
administered by CDE as an entitlement for families
participating in CalWORKs, while Stage Three is not
considered an entitlement.
The current level of unmet need is unknown because funding
for the centralized eligibility list which consolidates
child care waiting lists was eliminated pursuant to the
2011 Budget Act. In 2008, the list contained 100,000
families. Now with 23 percent fewer slots (77,000) the
unmet met need may be as high as 200,000 families.
According to county-reported exit outcomes data for
dependent youth aging out of foster care, very few
custodial parents exiting foster care apply for or receive
subsidized child care. In 2012 only 9 out of 203 parenting
foster youth had done so. Additionally, school-site child
care services, provided under the CAL-SAFE program for
parenting youth, have been largely eliminated due to the
programs inclusion in Tier 3 categorical flexibility for
education funding.
DSS administers Stage One Child Care which is established
as an entitlement for families participating in the
CalWORKs program. According to the department, caseload for
this program is forecasted to be around 45,000. Fiscal Year
2012-13 spending on all child care programs administered by
either CDE or DSS, including after school programs, is
expected to be $2.9 billion. Youth currently in foster
care are generally not eligible for CalWORKs. Exit outcomes
reports in 2012 show that 163 out of the 203 custodial
parents exiting foster care received CalWORKs and thus may
have received Stage One child care through DSS or Stage Two
child care through CDE. Dependent parents opting to remain
in foster care rather than exit at age 18 are not eligible
to receive these child care services despite being required
to attend school or be employed.
STAFF ANALYSIS OF SENATE BILL 528 (Yee)
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Cal-Learn
The Cal-Learn program, as part of CalWORKs, provides case
management and supportive services, including subsidized
child care, to 10,500 pregnant and parenting teens
attending high school. Youth receiving CalWORKs are
required to participate in the program if they are under 19
years of age and have not graduated from high school.
Nonminor dependents receiving foster care are generally not
eligible for CalWORKs and thus are not eligible for these
services.
Comments:
1.Staff notes that parenting nonminor dependent youth are
required under the conditions of their participation in
extended foster care to attend school or vocational
programs or to be working, however no funding or services
are provided to ensure the safe care of the children of
the youth while attending mandatory activities. In other
programs, such as CalWORKs, a parent's mandatory
participation in work or educational activities is
supported by access to child care programs. Additionally,
staff notes that budget estimates provided by DSS assume
decreases in costs to CalWORKs and CalFresh as a result
of youth staying in foster care longer, including
decreases in CalWORKs child care costs.
2.The author states that an important purpose of the Foster
Care Bill of Rights is to provide foster youth with a
summarized list of many of the most essential rights that
foster youth may expect. The existing bill adds two new
provisions which are technically worded and complex. The
purpose of this section is not to establish rights but to
make existing law clear and accessible for youth and
others who may seek to exercise their rights. Staff
recommends amending Section 3 regarding the Foster Care
STAFF ANALYSIS OF SENATE BILL 528 (Yee)
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Bill of Rights to consolidate subsection (26) and (27) as
follows:
Page 12, lines 20-34, strike inclusive and add:
(26) To have access to age-appropriate information about
reproductive health care, the prevention of unplanned
pregnancy, and the prevention and treatment of sexually
transmitted infections at 12 years of age or older.
3.Staff recommends a clarifying amendment as follows. Page
13, Line 23-24 amend as follows:
(a)To the greatest extent possible, minor parents and
nonminor dependent parents and their children living in
foster care shall be
1.Based on support letters from the sponsor, a purpose of
the bill is to require child welfare agencies to develop
the case plans of pregnant or parenting teens in a way
that is modeled on a project in Los Angeles County called
the Pregnant and Parenting Teen (PPT) conference. County
requirement for the development of the case plan are
primarily established under 16500 of the WIC and
elsewhere. This bill conflicts with some provisions of
that section of law. Additionally, it is unclear to staff
whether the intent of the sponsor is achieved. Staff
recommending amending the bill as follows:
Page 13, Lines 37-40, after "development classes." strike
inclusive. Page 14, Lines 1-15, strike inclusive, and
insert:
Child welfare agencies shall update the case plans for
pregnant and parenting teens within 60 calendar days of
the date the agency is informed of a pregnancy. When
updating the case plan, child welfare agencies shall hold
a specialized conference to assist pregnant or parenting
foster youth and nonminor dependents with planning for
healthy parenting, identifying appropriate resources and
services and to inform the case plan. The specialized
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conference shall include the pregnant or parenting foster
youth or nonminor dependent, family members or other
supportive adults, and the specially trained social
worker or resource specialist. The specialized conference
may include other individuals, including, but not limited
to, a public health nurse, a community health worker, or
other personnel with comprehensive knowledge of available
maternal and child resources, including public benefit
programs. Participation in the specialized conference
shall be voluntary on the part of the foster youth or
nonminor dependent and assistance in identifying and
accessing resources shall not be dependent on
participation in the conference.
2.Pursuant to the Budget Act of 2011-2012, the state has
indefinitely suspended implementation of the Child
Welfare Services Web (CWS/Web) Project which would
modernize the states uniform case management tool
CWS/CMS. Recently the Department of Social Services
completed a statutorily mandated evaluation to determine
the best approach to upgrade the CWS/CMS system and is
currently engaging stakeholders for the purpose of
recommending functionality changes to the system.
A component of the new system is to move toward
integration of multiple data existing data sources,
rather than adding new data fields, which overburdened
social workers would be required to impute. Emerging
research linking birth records with child protective
services records, for example, has enabled researchers to
identify the number of parenting foster youth in the
state. This bill would require the new system to include
a new field to collect this data rather than providing
the department with the option of developing the
information through existing data sources. Staff
recommends amending the bill to require the Department to
track the number of parenting teens without specifying
the addition of a new field in the CWS/CMS system.
Amend Page 13, Lines 12-22, after "the child." strike
inclusive and insert:
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It is also the intent of the Legislature to ensure that
complete and accurate data on parenting minor and
nonminor dependents and their children is collected, and
that the California Department of Social Services shall
ensure that the following information is publicly
available on a quarterly basis by county about parenting
minor and nonminor dependents and their children: their
number, their age, their ethnic group, their placement
type and their time in care.
3.Existing law establishes a system of prioritization for
subsidized child care and children in immediate risk of
abuse or neglect at the highest priority, followed by
families with the lowest income. Parenting foster youth
generally qualify as very low income as it is their
income alone, not the income of their foster families,
which is considered. As drafted this bill does not place
foster youth at a higher level of priority than they may
already receive on the basis of income.
4.California's existing CAL-SAFE program providing
resources and services to pregnant and parenting youth in
a school based setting, including child care services,
was designated as a Tier 3 Categorical Flexibility item
under the Budget Act of 2009 (SBX3 4) allowing schools to
opt whether to provide the services. Most schools and
local education agencies have ended the program. This
bill may have the effect of requiring local educational
agencies to ensure that parenting foster youth have
access to, and priority for, onsite or coordinated child
care, when the services have been largely eliminated. The
author may wish to specify which onsite or coordinated
services are intended to be referenced, such as CDE
contracted preschool services.
Prior/Related Legislation:
AB 1152 (Ammiano), 2013 Exempts the California School Age
Families Education Program (Cal-SAFE) from any new
education financing proposal that would eliminate
categorical education programs beginning with the 2013-14
STAFF ANALYSIS OF SENATE BILL 528 (Yee)
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fiscal year and all subsequent fiscal years. Funding from
school districts, charter schools and county offices of
education selecting not to maintain or re-establish
Cal-SAFE programs shall be restricted to expanding existing
or establishing new Cal-SAFE programs.
AB 499 (Atkins), Chapter 652, Statutes of 2011, authorizes
a minor, who is 12 years of age or older, to consent to
medical care related to the prevention of a sexually
transmitted disease.
SB 543 (Leno), Chapter 503, Statutes of 2010, authorizes a
minor who is 12 years of age or older to consent to mental
health treatment or counseling, except as specified, on an
outpatient basis, or to residential shelter services, if
specified conditions are satisfied.
SB 244 (Wright) of 2009, would have required CDE to conduct
a study on the feasibility of providing priority enrollment
in high-quality child care and development programs for
children from birth to five years of age who are in the
foster care system, in relative care or reunification, or
were formerly in the foster care system, who are at risk of
abuse, neglect, or exploitation, are homeless, or have a
custodial parent who meets specified criteria. Prior
version prioritized children of foster youth for state
subsidized pre-school. Held in Assembly Rules.
AB 769 (Torres) of 2009, would have expanded priority
enrollment in state-funded preschool programs to children
who have a biological parent who is, or who has been within
the previous six months, under the jurisdiction of the
delinquency or dependency court. AB 769 was vetoed by the
Governor.
POSITIONS
Support: John Burton Foundation (Sponsor)
The Alliance for Children's Rights (Sponsor)
Children's Law Center (Sponsor)
Public Council (Sponsor)
Advancement Project
Aspiranet
STAFF ANALYSIS OF SENATE BILL 528 (Yee)
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Bay Area Youth Centers
Bill Wilson Center
California Adolescent Health Collaborative
California Alliance of Child and Family Services
California Attorneys for Criminal Justice
California Federation of Teachers
California Public Defenders Association
Children's Advocacy Institute
Citizens for Choice
Dependency Legal Group of San Diego
East Bay Children's Law Offices
Every Child Foundation
Family Care Networks, INC
Feminist Majority
First Place for Youth
Five Acres
Gavilan College, EOPS
Goldman School of Public Policy, UC Berkeley
Home Start
Larkin Street Youth Services
Legal Services for Children
LIFETIME
Mountain Circle Family Services
National Center for Youth Law
New Alternatives, INC
Optimist Youth Homes and Family Services
Redwood Children's Services, Inc.
Seneca Family Agencies
UCSF Research Director, Janet Malvin, Ph.D.
WestCoast Children's Clinic
Youth and Family Programs
Oppose:California ProLife Council
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