BILL ANALYSIS �
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 528|
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UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Bill No: SB 528
Author: Yee (D), et al.
Amended: 9/3/13
Vote: 21
SENATE HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE : 6-0, 4/9/13
AYES: Yee, Berryhill, Emmerson, Evans, Liu, Wright
SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE : 6-1, 4/23/13
AYES: Evans, Walters, Corbett, Jackson, Leno, Monning
NOES: Anderson
SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE : 8-0, 5/1/13
AYES: Liu, Wyland, Block, Correa, Hancock, Hueso, Jackson,
Monning
NO VOTE RECORDED: Huff
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 6-0, 5/23/13
AYES: De Le�n, Walters, Hill, Lara, Padilla, Steinberg
NO VOTE RECORDED: Gaines
SENATE FLOOR : 34-2, 5/29/13
AYES: Beall, Berryhill, Block, Calderon, Cannella, Corbett,
Correa, DeSaulnier, Emmerson, Evans, Fuller, Galgiani,
Hancock, Hernandez, Hill, Hueso, Jackson, Lara, Leno, Lieu,
Liu, Monning, Nielsen, Padilla, Pavley, Price, Roth,
Steinberg, Torres, Walters, Wolk, Wright, Wyland, Yee
NOES: Anderson, Gaines
NO VOTE RECORDED: De Le�n, Huff, Knight, Vacancy
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 61-15, 9/9/13 - See last page for vote
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SUBJECT : Dependents: care and treatment: minor and
non-minor dependent parents
SOURCE : Children's Law Center
John Burton Foundation
Public Council
The Alliance for Children's Rights
DIGEST : This bill provides additional considerations for
foster youth in relation to the provision of supportive
services.
Assembly Amendments delete provisions granting eligibility for
specified federal and state subsidized child development
services, including granting second priority enrollment, to a
family if one or both parents are foster youth or nonminor
dependents (NMDs) under 21 years of age, or if the family needs
child care services because the parents are foster youth or
NMDs. Deletes the provision prohibiting this priority enrollment
displacing children who are currently receiving care.
ANALYSIS :
Existing law
1. States that the purpose of foster care law is to provide
maximum safety and protection for children who are currently
being physically, sexually, emotionally abused, neglected, or
exploited, and to ensure the safety, protection, and physical
and emotional well-being of children who are at risk of harm.
2. States the intent of the Legislature to preserve and
strengthen a child's family ties whenever possible and to
reunify a foster youth with his or her biological family
whenever possible, or to provide a permanent placement
alternative, such as adoption or guardianship.
3. Allows a juvenile court to adjudge a child a ward or a
dependent of the court for specified reasons, including but
not limited to if the child has been left without any
provision for support, as specified
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4. Establishes a state and local system of child welfare
services, including foster care, for children who have been
adjudged by the court to be at risk or have been abused or
neglected, as specified.
5. Establishes a process for the identification and placement
of a ward or dependent of the court with a parent, relative
or extended relative or other form of guardianship.
6. Establishes the California Child Development Services Act to
provide a comprehensive, community-based, coordinated, and
cost-effective system of child care and development services
for children from birth to age 13 with the purpose of
enhancing the social, emotional, physical, and intellectual
development of children.
7. States the intent of the Legislature that all families have
access to child care and development services, regardless of
their demographic background, in order to help them attain
financial stability through employment, while maximizing
growth and development of their children, and enhancing their
parenting skills through participation in child care and
development programs.
8. Defines child care and development services as care and
services designed to meet a wide variety of needs of children
and their families, while their parents or guardians are
working, in training, seeking employment, incapacitated, or
in need of respite.
9. Requires the State Superintendent of Public Instruction to
adopt rules and regulations on eligibility, enrollment and
priority of child care and development services for eligible
children and their families.
10.Requires a social worker to acquire the consent of a parent
or permission from the court to authorize medical, surgical,
dental or other remedial care to a child who is in temporary
custody.
This bill:
1. Adds greater specificity to the types of medical care a
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dependent minor may consent to for diagnosis and treatment,
as specified, and permits a social worker to inform a
dependent over the age of 12 of his/her right to consent to
and receive those health care services, as specified.
2. Permits social workers to provide dependent children with
age-appropriate, medically accurate information about sexual
development, reproductive health, and prevention of unplanned
pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections on an ongoing
basis.
3. Adds to the Foster Youth Bill of Rights the right of a minor
or nonminor in foster care to have access to age-appropriate
information about reproductive health, the prevention of
unplanned pregnancy, and the prevention and treatment of
sexually transmitted infections at 12 years of age or older.
4. States the intent of the Legislature to ensure that complete
and accurate data on parenting minors and NMDs and their
children is collected, and that the Department of Social
Services ensures that the following information is publicly
available on a quarterly basis by county about parenting
minor and NMDs and their children: total number of children,
their age, their ethnic group, their placement type, and
their time in care.
5. Permits child welfare agencies to provide dependents and
NMDs with access to social workers or resource specialists
who are trained on the needs of parenting teenagers and
available resources.
6. Encourages and permits child welfare agencies to update a
dependent's or NMD's case plan with specified pregnant and
parenting information in collaboration with specified
individuals within 60 days of being notified that a dependent
or NMD has become pregnant.
7. Permits child welfare agencies when updating the case plan,
to hold a specialized conference to assist pregnant or
parenting foster youth and NMD's as specified, to inform the
case plan.
8. Requires the specialized conference to include the pregnant
or parenting minor or NMD, family members and other
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supportive adults, and the specially trained social worker or
resource specialist. Permits the specialized conference to
include other individuals, as specified.
9. Requires NMD parents to be given the ability to attend
school, complete homework, and participate in age and
developmentally appropriate activities separate from
parenting.
10.Clarifies that participation in the specialized conference
is voluntary on the part of the foster youth or NMD and
assistance in identifying and accessing resources is not
dependent on participation in the conference.
11.Permits child welfare agencies, local educational agencies,
and child care resource and referral agencies to make
reasonable and coordinated efforts to ensure that minor
parents and NMD parents who have not completed high school
have access to school programs that provide onsite or
coordinated child care.
12.Requires foster care placements for NMD parents and their
children to demonstrate a willingness and ability to provide
support and assistance to NMD parents and their children.
Prior Legislation
SB 244 (Wright, 2009), would have granted priority for
eligibility of and enrollment for children of foster youth and
adopted children ages birth to five if enrolling in a licensed
child care program or one offered by a school district or county
office of education. SB 244 also addressed priorities for
enrollment of dependent children in the California State
Preschool Program. SB 244 passed the Assembly Human Services
Committee but was not heard by the Assembly Education Committee.
AB 769 (Torres, 2009), would have extended priority for
enrollment in a state preschool program 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 Governor Schwarzenegger,
whose veto message read:
This bill results in significant Proposition 98 General
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Fund costs pressures. Absent additional funding to support
this policy shift, enacting this measure would result in
denying access to state funded preschool programs to other
low income families who are currently on waiting lists for
subsidized care. Moreover, children of those under the
jurisdiction of the juvenile court system already may
access child care on a priority basis under current law, to
the extent that they are at risk of abuse or neglect.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: Yes
According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee:
Unknown, one-time significant programming/automation costs
potentially in excess of $1 million (General Fund) to capture
data in CWS/CMS specific to dependent parents, their children,
their age, ethnic group, placement type, and time in care,
should the Department of Social Services decide to comply with
the legislative intent included in this bill.
Ongoing potential moderate data reporting costs to counties on
parenting minor and nonminor dependents and their children
should counties decide to comply with the legislative intent
included in this bill. Fund source would either be local
realignment funding, GF, or a combination of both.
Significant ongoing local costs potentially in the hundreds of
thousands to low millions of dollars to the extent social
workers update case plans, provide age-appropriate health
information, provide assistance in accessing resources, and
hold specialized conferences. Fund source would either be
local realignment funding, GF, or a combination of both.
Significant ongoing costs potentially in the hundreds of
thousands to low millions of dollars for specialized training
for social workers and/or recruitment of resource specialists
to the extent counties provide parenting teens with access to
specially trained professionals. Fund source would either be
local, realignment funding, GF, or a combination of both.
Proposition 30, passed by the voters in November 2012, among
other provisions, eliminated potential mandate funding
liability for any new program or higher level of service
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provided by counties related to the realigned programs.
Although the provisions of this bill are a mandate on local
agencies, any increased costs do not appear to be subject to
reimbursement by the state.
SUPPORT : (Verified 5/23/13 - unable to reverify at time of
writing)
Children's Law Center (co-source)
John Burton Foundation (co source)
Public Council (co-source)
The Alliance for Children's Rights (co-source)
ACLU
Advancement Project
Aspiranet
Bay Area Youth Centers
Bill Wilson Center
Black Women for Wellness
California Adolescent Health Collaborative
California Alternative Payment Program Association
California Attorneys for Criminal Justice
California Coalition for Youth
California Federation of Teachers
California Latinas for Reproductive Justice
California Public Defenders Association
California State PTA
California Women's Law Center
Children's Advocacy Institute
Citizens for Choice
Crittenton Services for Children and Families
Dependency Legal Group of San Diego
East Bay Children's Law Offices
EMQ FamiliesFirst
Every Child Foundation
Family Care Networks, INC
Feminist Majority
First Place for Youth
Five Acres
Gavilan College
Goldman School of Public Policy, UC Berkeley
Hillsides
Home Start
Housing California
Larkin Street Youth Services
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League of Women Voters of California
Legal Services for Children
LIFETIME
Moorpark College
Mountain Circle Family Services
National Center for Youth Law
National Council of Jewish Women
New Alternatives, INC
NYC Children's Services
Optimist Youth Homes and Family Services
Promesa Behavioral Health
Redwood Children's Services, Inc.
Seneca Family Agencies
Twigs to Trees Inc.
University of Southern California School of Social Work
WestCoast Children's Clinic
Western Center on Law & Poverty
Youth and Family Programs
OPPOSITION : (Verified 5/23/13 - unable to reverify at time
of writing)
California Pro Life Council
California Right to Life, Inc.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 61-15, 9/9/13
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Atkins, Bloom,
Bocanegra, Bonilla, Bonta, Bradford, Brown, Buchanan, Ian
Calderon, Campos, Chau, Chesbro, Conway, Cooley, Daly,
Dickinson, Eggman, Fong, Fox, Frazier, Garcia, Gatto, Gomez,
Gonzalez, Gordon, Gorell, Gray, Hagman, Hall, Roger Hern�ndez,
Holden, Jones-Sawyer, Levine, Linder, Lowenthal, Maienschein,
Medina, Mitchell, Mullin, Muratsuchi, Nazarian, Nestande, Pan,
Perea, V. Manuel P�rez, Quirk, Quirk-Silva, Rendon, Skinner,
Stone, Ting, Wagner, Weber, Wieckowski, Williams, Yamada, John
A. P�rez
NOES: Bigelow, Ch�vez, Dahle, Donnelly, Beth Gaines, Grove,
Harkey, Jones, Logue, Mansoor, Melendez, Morrell, Olsen,
Patterson, Waldron
NO VOTE RECORDED: Salas, Wilk, Vacancy, Vacancy
JL:ej:nl 9/9/13 Senate Floor Analyses
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SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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