BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 424|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
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CONSENT
Bill No: AB 424
Author: Beth Gaines (R), et al.
Amended: 3/18/15 in Assembly
Vote: 21
SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: 7-0, 6/9/15
AYES: Jackson, Moorlach, Anderson, Hertzberg, Leno, Monning,
Wieckowski
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: Senate Rule 28.8
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 78-0, 4/23/15 (Consent) - See last page for
vote
SUBJECT: Court appointed child advocates: wards
SOURCE: The Judges of the El Dorado Superior Court
DIGEST: This bill authorizes the appointment of a court
appointed special advocate (CASA) in a juvenile delinquency
proceeding, and provides that a CASA shall be considered court
personnel for purposes of inspecting the case file of a
dependent child or ward of the juvenile court.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law:
1)Provides that the juvenile court has jurisdiction over a child
who is subject to abuse or neglect. (Welf. & Inst. Code Sec.
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300.)
2)Provides that the juvenile court has jurisdiction over a child
who persistently or habitually refuses to obey the reasonable
and proper orders or directions of his or her parents or
guardian, or who violated any local curfew ordinance for
minors. (Welf. & Inst. Code Sec. 601.)
3)Requires, if a child is both a dependent and a delinquent, the
probation department and child welfare services department to
determine which status will best serve the interests of the
child and the protection of society, and authorizes the
probation department and the child welfare services department
in any county, in consultation with the presiding juvenile
court judge, to create a dual status protocol which would
permit a minor who meets specified criteria to be designated
simultaneously as both a dependent child and a ward of the
juvenile court. (Welf. & Inst. Code Sec. 241.1.)
4)Defines a CASA as a volunteer who has been recruited,
screened, selected, trained, is being supervised and supported
by a local CASA program, and who has been appointed by the
juvenile court as a sworn officer of the court to help define
the best interest of a child or children in juvenile court
dependency and wardship proceedings. (Cal. Rule of Court Sec.
5.655(b).)
5)Allows a judge in a dependency proceeding to appoint a CASA
for a minor or nonminor dependent, and requires each CASA to
provide the court with independent, factual information about
the child or nonminor dependent, and represent the best
interests of the children involved. (Welf. & Inst. Code Sec.
102.)
6)Requires a CASA to report the results of any investigation to
the court, and requires that otherwise confidential
information reviewed by a CASA during the course of his or her
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duties remains confidential. (Welf. & Inst. Code Secs. 104,
105.)
7)Provides that the above provisions do not permit a CASA to
participate in a criminal proceeding or in a proceeding to
declare a person a ward of the juvenile court. (Welf. & Inst.
Code Sec. 109.)
8)Requires the judge making an appointment of a CASA to sign an
order, which may grant the CASA the authority to review
specific relevant documents and interview parties involved in
the case to the same extent as any other officer of the court
appointed to investigate proceedings on behalf of the court.
(Welf. & Inst. Code Sec. 103.)
9)Grants access to juvenile case files to specified individuals
and officials, including the child's parent or guardian,
attorneys for the parties, court and state personnel,
including law enforcement and child protective services, and
school district officials, and prohibits any party authorized
to inspect a juvenile court case file from disseminating the
file or its contents unless otherwise permitted. (Welf. &
Inst. Code Sec. 827(a).)
This bill:
1)Provides that a CASA may be appointed on behalf of a ward who
is subject to juvenile court jurisdiction.
2)Provides that a CASA is not prevented from appearing in a
delinquency or criminal court proceeding when the CASA is
acting as a support person to the child or is in court on
behalf of a child who is a crime victim.
3)Provides that a CASA is considered "court personnel" for
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purposes of access to court records, as provided.
4)Makes other clarifying and technical changes.
Background
When a child is removed from his or her family because of abuse
or neglect, the county child welfare agency oversees the case,
dependency counsel represents the child, and relatives, foster
parents, or group homes care for the child while the court
determines if the child will be returned to his or her family.
Unfortunately, county social workers, dependency counsel, and
courts often have too many cases to give each one the time and
attention it requires, and because foster placements often
change, many children are left without a constant adult in their
life.
In many cases, these children are served by volunteers who are
appointed by the court. These trained and supervised
volunteers, known as "court appointed special advocates"
(CASAs), represent children and aid the court in better
understanding their needs. CASAs also provide consistency for a
dependent child as he or she moves through the system. CASAs
can make a significant impact in the lives of abused or
neglected children by fostering trusting relationships, working
closely with various parties, and monitoring cases for the
court. Because CASAs usually advocate on behalf of only one or
two children at a time, they build relationships with each child
by spending time with them and gathering facts about their life
so they can report back to the judge, who is then able to make
better decisions as to what is best for the child.
Developing a strong, mentoring relationship with a CASA is
particularly important for foster youth who are statistically
far more likely than the general population to become involved
with the criminal justice system. These youths are "three times
more likely to be arrested, convicted, and imprisoned as adults
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compared to those who were allowed to remain at home. This
indicates that, after controlling for abuse severity, foster
care experience has some additional impact on future criminality
beyond the effects of abuse and neglect?. For children and
juveniles in out-of-home placements, experiences of abuse and
neglect are often compounded by other negative experiences and
factors?. The extensive needs of children who are placed in
foster care often go unmet, increasing the likelihood that youth
will engage in future delinquent behavior." (Erin McLaughlin,
Dual-System Youth: The Need for Systems Integration to Improve
Outcomes for Foster Youth Who Commit Delinquent Acts 16-17
(2009).)
Research further shows that youth who have contact with both the
dependency and delinquency systems, typically because of illegal
activity or "status offenses" while in foster care, are the
state's "most vulnerable youth," in part because of the
likelihood that these children will experience mental health and
substance abuse problems. (Nell Bernstein, Cal. State Library,
Helping Those Who Need it Most: Meeting the Mental Health Care
Needs of Youth in the Foster Care and Juvenile Justice Systems 3
(2005), available at http://www.library.ca.
gov/crb/cafis/reports/05-01/05-01.pdf [as of May, 27, 2015].)
To ensure that courts have the authority to appoint CASAs for
all children in the juvenile system, this bill expressly
authorizes courts to appoint a CASA in a delinquency proceeding,
and makes additional clarifying and technical changes to the
CASA program, including ensuring that CASAs have the authority
to access the case file of any dependent or delinquent child
they represent.
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal
Com.:YesLocal: No
SUPPORT: (Verified6/22/15)
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The Judges of the El Dorado Superior Court (sponsor)
Juvenile Judges of California
OPPOSITION: (Verified6/22/15)
None received
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT: The Judges of the El Dorado Superior
Court, sponsor of this bill, argue that like foster children,
wards benefit from the appointment of a CASA, but that many
judges are reluctant to appoint them in delinquency proceedings
because the statute does not expressly authorize such action:
The appointment of a CASA can be critical to achieving the
best possible result in a child's case. Many times the adult
appointed to advocate for the child is the only stable adult
in the child's life. Volunteers interact with the child
differently than CPS social workers and probation officers.
The attorneys in the case have many other responsibilities,
and are generally unable to develop the type of personal
connection that a CASA has with the child. This relationship
provides the child with a positive adult role model. The
interaction between the child and the advocate helps form the
basis of the reports that are provided to the court before
decisions are made that affect the future of the child.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 78-0, 4/23/15
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Travis Allen, Baker, Bigelow, Bloom,
Bonilla, Bonta, Brough, Brown, Burke, Calderon, Chang, Chau,
Chávez, Chiu, Chu, Cooley, Cooper, Dababneh, Dahle, Daly,
Dodd, Eggman, Frazier, Beth Gaines, Gallagher, Cristina
Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gatto, Gipson, Gomez, Gonzalez,
Gordon, Gray, Grove, Hadley, Harper, Roger Hernández, Holden,
Irwin, Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Kim, Lackey, Levine, Linder,
Lopez, Low, Maienschein, Mathis, Mayes, McCarty, Medina,
Melendez, Mullin, Nazarian, Obernolte, O'Donnell, Olsen,
Patterson, Perea, Quirk, Rendon, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez,
Santiago, Steinorth, Mark Stone, Thurmond, Ting, Wagner,
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Waldron, Weber, Wilk, Williams, Wood, Atkins
NO VOTE RECORDED: Campos, Salas
Prepared by:Nichole Rapier / JUD. / (916) 651-4113
6/23/15 11:41:33
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