BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó




                   Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
                            Senator Kevin de León, Chair


          SB 1460 (Committee on Human Services) - Child welfare.
          
          Amended: As Introduced          Policy Vote: Human Services 4-0
          Urgency: No                     Mandate: Yes
          Hearing Date: May 5, 2014       Consultant: Jolie Onodera
          
          This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
          
          
          Bill Summary: SB 1460 would amend state law to address specified  
          federal law and regulatory provisions of the Multi-Ethnic  
          Placement Act, use of the Federal Parent Locator Service, the  
          Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of  
          2008, and the Adam Walsh Act.

          Fiscal Impact: 
              Potentially significant ongoing costs (Local*/General Fund)  
              for increased duties involving county agency recruitment  
              efforts and probation officer efforts to document sibling  
              placement and provide attorney notifications. To the extent  
              the provisions of this bill are considered necessary for  
              state compliance with changes in federal statutes or  
              regulations that alter the conditions under which federal  
              matching funds are described in the 2011 Realignment, the  
              state may be required to provide at least 50 percent of the  
              nonfederal share (General Fund) of the increase in costs.
              Potentially significant ongoing increase in workload to the  
              Department of Child Support Services (DCSS) to accept and  
              process requests from probation and county welfare  
              departments for personal information on relatives, as  
              specified. To the extent the additional workload cannot be  
              absorbed, additional resources (General Fund) would be  
              required. Staff notes that providing local agencies with the  
              specified information is not required under federal law, but  
              rather federal law provides that state child support  
              agencies  may  share information with child welfare agencies  
              for child welfare purposes.
          *Local Revenue Fund 2011
          
          Background: The Multiethnic Placement Act (MEPA) of 1994 (Public  
          Law 103-382), as amended by the interethnic adoption provisions  









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          in 1996, sought to decrease the length of time that children  
          wait for foster or adoptive placement by eliminating  
          race-related barriers to placement in permanent homes and  
          compelling child welfare agencies to adhere to existing civil  
          rights principles banning racial discrimination when making  
          foster care or adoption placement decisions. 
          
          Federal law establishes the Federal Parent Locator Service  
          (FPLS), a national automated service provided by the Office of  
          Child Support Enforcement to help states locate custodial and  
          non-custodial parents for child support and to establish,  
          modify, and enforce child support obligations. Federal law also  
          permits the service to be utilized for the purpose of finding  
          non-custodial parents and relatives of children who are in  
          juvenile dependency proceedings. State law establishes the  
          California Parent Locator Service and Central Registry (CPLS) to  
          collect and disseminate specified information for the purpose of  
          administering child and spousal support enforcement.

          The federal Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing  
          Adoptions Act of 2008 (P.L. 110-351), among other things,  
          requires that states make diligent efforts to place siblings in  
          out-of-home care together unless doing so would be detrimental  
          to the health and safety of one of the siblings. State law  
          requires an agency to explain why siblings are not placed  
          together what efforts the he or she is making to place the  
          siblings together or why making those efforts would be contrary  
          to the well being of any of the siblings. State law additionally  
          provides that a dependent child's attorney and attorney for the  
          siblings be notified by the placement agency if there is a need  
          for a change in placement that will result in the separation of  
          siblings currently placed together.

          Federal law establishes the Adam Walsh Act (P.L. 109-248)  
          requiring a fingerprint check of a national criminal records  
          database as well as a check from the state child abuse and  
          neglect registries before a prospective foster or adoptive  
          parent may be approved for placement of a child. Existing state  
          law establishes the Resource Family Approval (RFA) process to  
          replace the multiple processes that currently exist for  
          licensing foster family homes (FFHs), approving relatives and  
          nonrelative extended family members (NREFMs) as foster care  
          providers and approving adoptive families.









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          This bill seeks to make changes to state law, some changes of  
          which address compliance with specified federal provisions of  
          law, to ensure California's continued receipt of federal Title  
          IV-E funding. 

          Proposed Law: This bill amends various provisions of state law  
          to address federal law and regulatory provisions of the MEPA,  
          FPLS, Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions  
          Act of 2008, and the Adam Walsh Act, as follows:
                 Provides that the agency responsible for recruitment of  
               potential adoptive parents shall make diligent efforts to  
               recruit individuals who reflect the ethnic, racial, and  
               cultural diversity of children for whom adoptive homes are  
               needed.
                 Provides that for counties that have opted to undertake  
               comprehensive recruitment programs, the recruitment of  
               potential foster parents shall include diligent efforts to  
               recruit individuals who reflect the ethnic, racial, and  
               cultural diversity of foster children.  
                 Authorizes county welfare departments and probation  
               departments to request and receive from the Department of  
               Child Support Services, a relative's personal information,  
               including name, social security number, address, telephone  
               number, and place of employment, to identify, locate and  
               notify relatives of children who are the subject of  
               juvenile court proceedings, including all grandparents,  
               adult siblings, and other adult relatives of the child.
                 Requires a probation officer to explain why siblings are  
               not placed together and what efforts he or she is making to  
               place the siblings together or why making those efforts  
               would be contrary to the safety and well-being of any of  
               the siblings.
                 Requires a ward's attorney and the attorney for the  
               siblings of the ward be notified by the placement agency if  
               there is a need for a change in placement that will result  
               in the separation of siblings currently placed together.
                 Requires a federal criminal offender record check be  
               received, instead of merely submitted, for all adults  
               residing in a resource family home as a condition of  
               approval.

          Staff Comments: 









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           MEPA compliance
           In compliance with federal law, this bill mandates that the  
          agency responsible for recruitment of potential adoptive parents  
          to make diligent efforts to recruit individuals who reflect the  
          ethnic, racial, and cultural diversity of children for whom  
          adoptive homes are needed. It is unknown to what extent agencies  
          are already complying with the provisions of this measure, but  
          to the extent this mandate results in increased costs to local  
          and state agencies, would result in new local and state costs.

          This bill also provides that the recruitment of potential foster  
          parents shall include diligent efforts to recruit individuals  
          who reflect the ethnic, racial, and cultural diversity of foster  
          children. However, existing law authorizes, but does not  
          mandate, county welfare departments to undertake recruitment  
          programs. As a result, it is not clear that this amendment to  
          current law would comply with federal provisions of law, as it  
          appears that only those county welfare departments choosing to  
          operate recruitment programs would need to comply with MEPA  
          requirements. 

           Use of FPLS/CPLS
           This bill authorizes county welfare departments and probation  
          departments to request and receive from the DCSS a relative's  
          personal information, including name, social security number,  
          address, telephone number, and place of employment, to identify,  
          locate and notify relatives of children who are the subject of  
          juvenile court proceedings, including all grandparents, adult  
          siblings, and other adult relatives of the child. While the  
          federal Office of Child Support Enforcement of the  
          Administration for Children and Families has authorized state  
          child support agencies to share federal and state parent locator  
          and other case information with child welfare agencies, it is  
          not mandated. The DCSS has indicated the volume of increased  
          workload to accept and process an expected increase in  
          information requests as a result of this measure is unknown at  
          this time. To the extent the workload is significant, an  
          additional workload analysis will be required to determine and  
          justify resources.  

          To the extent access to this information facilitates the  
          notification of relatives of children who are subject to  
          juvenile court proceedings could result in efficiencies to the  









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          courts and local agencies.

           Adam Walsh Act compliance
           Requiring that a federal criminal offender record check be  
          received, instead of merely submitted, for all adults residing  
          in a resource family home as a condition of approval would  
          ensure compliance with federal law requiring that prospective  
          foster and adoptive parents be subject to and pass a fingerprint  
          check, and is not estimated to result in a significant fiscal  
          impact.
           
          P.L. 110-351 compliance
           This bill will increase the duties of probation officers by  
          mandating documentation of efforts to place siblings together  
          and requiring notification of attorneys, as specified. Assuming  
          two hours of probation officer time over one year at $72.60 per  
          hour for every 1,000 probation supervised cases would equate to  
          approximately $145,000 annually.

          Prior to Fiscal Year (FY) 2011-12, the state and counties  
          contributed to the non-federal share of child welfare services  
          expenditures. AB 118 (Committee on Budget) Chapter 40/2011 and  
          ABX1 16 Chapter 13/2011 realigned state funding to the counties  
          through the 2011 Local Revenue Fund (LRF) for various programs,  
          including child welfare services. As a result, beginning in FY  
          2011-12 and for each fiscal year thereafter, non-federal funding  
          and expenditures for child welfare services activities are  
          funded through the Local Revenue Fund.

          Proposition 30 was passed by the voters in November 2012, and  
          among other provisions, eliminated any potential mandate funding  
          liability for any new program or higher level of service  
          provided by counties related to the realigned programs. Although  
          the provisions of this bill create a mandate on local agencies,  
          any increased costs would not appear to be subject to  
          reimbursement by the state. Subsequent changes in federal  
          statutes or regulations that alter the conditions under which  
          federal matching funds as described in the 2011 Realignment  
          Legislation are obtained and have the overall effect of  
          increasing the costs incurred by a local agency, are potentially  
          subject to a state share of at least 50 percent of the  
          nonfederal share of those increased costs.










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          To the extent the provisions of this measure adequately satisfy  
          required provisions of federal law would serve to avert the  
          potential imposition of penalties or sanctions from federal  
          agencies related to the conditional receipt of federal funds.

          Recommended amendments: It is unclear whether the amendments to  
          Health and Safety Code § 1515 related to the recruitment of  
          potential foster parents would satisfy the requirements of  
          federal law. Existing law provides that counties are authorized  
          to undertake recruitment programs, but are not required to do  
          so. Further, in counties that have contracted with the state to  
          license foster parents, if the county undertakes a recruitment  
          program, it shall be done by the placement agency, and specifies  
          that the state shall not be required to perform any acts in  
          connection with a recruitment program. The author may wish to  
          consider an amendment to clearly indicate that recruitment  
          efforts, as specified, are required statewide, regardless of the  
          licensing agency (state or county).