BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 403
Page 1
Date of Hearing: May 27, 2015
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Jimmy Gomez, Chair
AB
403 (Mark Stone) - As Amended April 21, 2015
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|Policy |Human Services |Vote:|7 - 0 |
|Committee: | | | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
|-------------+-------------------------------+-----+-------------|
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
|-------------+-------------------------------+-----+-------------|
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: YesReimbursable:
No
SUMMARY:
This bill implements Continuum of Care Reform (CCR)
recommendations to better serve children and youth in
California's child welfare services system. Specifically, this
AB 403
Page 2
bill:
1)Describes the goals of the child welfare services system and
the underlying principles of this bill.
2)Improves and expands home-based family care through additional
training and support.
3)Establishes new out-of-home care and supervision options
available for children and requirements for placement.
4)Establishes and sets forth responsibilities of Child and
Family Teams.
5)Revises rate structures for the care and supervision of
children in out-of-home care.
6)Sets forth new requirements for licensure, program integrity
and transparency.
FISCAL EFFECT:
The Governor's 2015-16 Budget includes $9.6 million ($7 million
GF) to begin implementation of the CCR reforms contained in this
bill.
COMMENTS:
AB 403
Page 3
1)Purpose. Sponsored by the Department of Social Services (DSS),
this bill establishes the framework for change in how
California provides treatment and services to children and
families involved in the state's child welfare system. This
bill is built on the efforts of child welfare stakeholders and
the Legislature, and the Continuum of Care Reform report
submitted by DSS.
The author states, "[This bill] is a comprehensive reform
effort to make sure that youth in foster care have their
day-to-day physical, mental, and emotional needs met; that
they have the greatest chance to grow up in permanent and
supportive homes; and that they have the opportunity to grow
into self-sufficient, successful adults.
"To the extent that children are provided needed services and
support, this bill transitions children away from congregate
care into home-based family care with resource families. In
addition to new services and supports for resource families,
the measure establishes targeted training and support that can
better prepare families to help care for foster youth."
"For children who are not yet ready to enter a family setting,
the bill makes changes to the existing model for group homes.
This bill is necessary to advance California's long-standing
goal to move away from the use of long-term group home care by
increasing youth placement in family settings and by
transforming existing group home care into places where youth
who are not ready to be placed with families can receive short
AB 403
Page 4
term, intensive treatment. The measure creates a timeline to
implement this shift in placement options, and it calls for
the adoption of new standards and performance measures."
2)Child Welfare Services (CWS). On January 1, 2015, there were
62,898 children in foster care in California. Most of these
children and youth were placed with relatives, extended family
members, foster family agencies, or in foster family homes.
Nearly 3,800 (6%) were placed in group homes.
There has been growing consensus in the field of child
welfare, at both the national and state levels, that
institutionalized settings for foster youth should be used
sparingly. The placement of maltreated children in group home
settings has been increasingly viewed as a temporary solution
in instances where emergency or crisis treatment is warranted.
Yet, as of January 2015, 48% of youth placed in group homes
in California via CWS had been there over two years, and 23%
had been there over five years, indicating stays longer than
what might have been necessary if appropriate, intensive
treatments had been deployed upon placement.
3)Continuum of Care Reform. Senate Bill 1013 (Senate Budget and
Fiscal Review) Chapter 35, Statutes of 2012, realigned CWS to
counties, established a moratorium on the licensing of new
group homes, and required DSS to convene a stakeholder
workgroup discuss and recommend changes to the continuum of
care within child welfare services and how to reform the use
of congregate care. In January 2015, DSS submitted the
AB 403
Page 5
Continuum of Care (CCR) workgroup report to the Legislature,
which included general and fiscal recommendations, alongside
recommendations on home-based family care, residential
treatment, and performance measures and outcomes. The report
reinforced the view that group home settings are best used
sparingly and temporarily.
This bill begins the implementation of the reforms and
recommendations developed by the working group and expressed
in the CCR report.
Analysis Prepared by:Jennifer Swenson / APPR. / (916)
319-2081