BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



          SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
                             Senator Ricardo Lara, Chair
                            2015 - 2016  Regular  Session

          AB 260 (Lopez) - Foster care:  parenting youth
          
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          |Version: August 17, 2015        |Policy Vote: HUMAN S. 5 - 0,    |
          |                                |          JUD. 7 - 0            |
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          |Urgency: No                     |Mandate: Yes                    |
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          |Hearing Date: August 17, 2015   |Consultant: Jolie Onodera       |
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          This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File. 

          

          Bill  
          Summary:  AB 260 would provide the following supports to  
          parenting foster youth:
                 Provide that a party seeking involuntary foster care  
               placement of, or termination of parental rights over, a  
               child with one or both parents who were minors when the  
               child was born to demonstrate that reasonable efforts using  
               available resources, as specified, were made to provide  
               services aimed at preventing the removal of the child and  
               that these efforts were unsuccessful. 
                 Require reunification services to be ordered for a child  
               with one or more dependent parents in instances where there  
               has been a termination of reunification services for, or  
               permanent severance of, parental rights over, any siblings  
               or half siblings, unless other specified circumstances  
               removing the necessity for reunification services also  
               exist.
                 Require the court clerk to maintain the court files and  
               records of a minor or nonminor dependent parent separately  







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               from the files and records of his or her child who is the  
               subject of a dependency petition.


          Fiscal  
          Impact:  
           Child welfare services  :  Potential increase in child welfare  
            services costs (General Fund*), including but not limited to  
            the provision of reunification services, to specified cases.  
            While the number of potentially applicable cases is unknown at  
            this time, for every 10 cases that would have otherwise been  
            denied reunification services, annual costs would be about  
            $100,000. 
            Dependency caseload impact  :  Unknown, potential future cost  
            savings (Local/General Fund*) in averted or reduced time spent  
            in a dependency placement to the extent youth remain or are  
            reunified with their parents sooner than otherwise would occur  
            under existing law.
            Court workload  :  Minor ongoing administrative costs (General  
            Fund) to maintain court files and records of dependent parents  
            and their children separately.
            Proposition 30*  :  Exempts the State from mandate reimbursement  
            for realigned programs, however, legislation that has an  
            overall effect of increasing the costs already borne by a  
            local agency for realigned programs including child welfare  
            services, apply to local agencies only to the extent that the  
            State provides annual funding for the cost increase.  


          Background:  The significant challenges faced by parenting foster youth  
          face have been described, as follows:
             Parenting foster youth fall into the double  
             cross-hairs of foster care and teen parenthood.  
             Educationally, they fall far behind their peers, with  
             a rate of high school graduation 13 percent lower than  
             non-parenting foster youth and 25 percent lower than  
             their non-foster youth peers. As young, often single  
             parents, two out of three will live at, or below the  
             poverty line in adulthood. Most troubling, children of  
             parenting foster youth are a full five times more  
             likely to be maltreated and placed into foster care  
             themselves. (Moving Parenting Foster Youth Out of the  
             Shadows, March 13, 2013, Amy Lemley, The John Burton  
             Foundation.)








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          This bill seeks to address some of the particular barriers  
          facing parenting foster youth whose children are placed, or are  
          at risk of being placed, in foster care, and seeks to connect  
          these parenting youth with available services so that they may  
          safely retain custody of their children. 


          Proposed Law:  
           This bill declares that a child of a minor parent or nonminor  
          dependent parent is not considered at risk of abuse or neglect  
          based solely on information regarding the parent's placement  
          history, past behaviors, or health or mental health diagnoses  
          prior to the pregnancy, although such information may be taken  
          into account when considering whether other factors exist that  
          place the child at risk of abuse or neglect. Additionally, this  
          bill:
                 Requires that the court clerk maintain the court files  
               and records of a dependent parent separately from the files  
               and records of his or her child who is the subject of a  
               dependency petition.
                 Allows a dependent parent's dependency court records to  
               be disclosed to the county in his or her child's dependency  
               proceedings, but prevents those records from being admitted  
               as evidence in the child's dependency proceeding except by  
               court order stating that those files and records contain  
               information materially relevant to the case, as specified.
                 Requires that foster care placements for dependent  
               parents and their children support the preservation of the  
               family unit and refer a dependent parent to services, as  
               specified, to help prevent, whenever possible, the filing  
               of a petition to declare a child a dependent of the  
               juvenile court.
                 For a child with one or more dependent parents, would  
               enact exceptions to the provision that reunification  
               services need not be ordered in instances where there has  
               been a termination of reunification services for, or  
               permanent severance of, parental rights over, any siblings  
               or half siblings unless other specified circumstances  
               removing the necessity for reunification services also  
               exist.
                 Requires a party seeking foster care placement of, or  
               termination of parental rights over, a child with one or  
               both parents who were minors when the child was born to  
               demonstrate that reasonable efforts using available  
               resources, as specified, were made to provide services  







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               aimed at preventing the removal of the child and that these  
               efforts were unsuccessful.


          Related  
          Legislation:  SB 68 (Liu) 2015 requires the court in making its  
          determination whether to return a child, who was removed from  
          his or her parent's custody, back to the physical custody of his  
          or her parents, to take into account the particular barriers to  
          a minor parent or nonminor dependent parent. This bill also  
          authorizes the court to continue a case for an additional six  
          months for the provision of additional reunification services  
          for a minor parent or nonminor dependent parent who is making  
          significant and consistent progress in establishing a safe home  
          for the child's return. This bill is pending on the Assembly  
          Floor.


          Staff  
          Comments:  By increasing the circumstances in which  
          reunification and other services must be provided by county  
          welfare agencies, this bill could require a subvention of funds  
          from the state as provided under Proposition 30 (2012). 
          This bill would remove the discretion of the court to not order  
          reunification services in specified situations if the parent was  
          a minor at the time when the facts that gave rise to the  
          condition for the court to deny reunification services occurred  
          , unless other specified circumstances removing the necessity  
          for reunification services also exist. This bill also requires a  
          local agency seeking foster care placement of, or termination of  
          parental rights over, a child with one or both parents who were  
          minors when the child was born to demonstrate that reasonable  
          efforts using available resources, as specified, were made to  
          provide services aimed at preventing the removal of the child  
          and that these efforts were unsuccessful.

          It is unknown how many cases would be impacted under the  
          provisions of this bill. While the exact number of parenting  
          foster youth that have children in the dependency system is  
          estimated to be less than 100, it is unknown how many of these  
          cases would be eligible for services under the provisions of  
          this measure. For every 10 cases that otherwise would have been  
          denied reunification services due to the specified conditions in  
          this bill, increased services costs for 12 months would cost  
          approximately $100,000. To the extent the actual number of  







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          impacted cases is greater or less, costs would be impacted  
          accordingly.

          Prior to Fiscal Year (FY) 2011-12, the state and counties  
          contributed to the non-federal share of various social service  
          programs. 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 foster care and child welfare services. As a result,  
          beginning in FY 2011-12 and for each fiscal year thereafter,  
          non-federal funding and expenditures for these activities  
          including child foster care and child welfare services are  
          funded through the LRF.

          Proposition 30, passed by the voters in November 2012, among  
          other provisions, eliminated any potential mandate funding  
          liability for any new program or higher level of service  
          provided by counties related to realigned programs. Although the  
          provisions of this bill are a mandate on local agencies, any  
          increased costs would not be subject to reimbursement by the  
          state. Rather, Proposition 30 specifies that for legislation  
          enacted after September 30, 2012, that has an overall effect of  
          increasing the costs already borne by a local agency for  
          realigned programs, which would include child welfare services  
          and foster care, the provisions shall apply to local agencies  
          only to the extent that the state provides annual funding for  
          the cost increase.  
          
          To the extent the provisions of this bill result in additional  
          cases of successful reunification and/or prevention of removal  
          of a child from his or her dependent parent, significant future  
          cost savings could be realized to the extent youth have reduced  
          lengths of stay in the dependency system.


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