BILL ANALYSIS Ó ----------------------------------------------------------------- |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 1001| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- THIRD READING Bill No: AB 1001 Author: Maienschein (R) Amended: 8/18/16 in Senate Vote: 21 SENATE HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE: 5-0, 5/10/16 AYES: McGuire, Berryhill, Hancock, Liu, Nguyen SENATE PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE: 7-0, 6/14/16 AYES: Hancock, Anderson, Glazer, Leno, Liu, Monning, Stone SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: Senate Rule 28.8 ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 78-0, 1/27/16 (Consent) - See last page for vote SUBJECT: Child abuse: reporting: foster family agencies SOURCE: Childrens Advocacy Institute DIGEST: This bill requires that if the California Department of Social Services (CDSS), as a condition of licensure, requires officials of a foster family agency (FFA) to attend an orientation, then the orientation shall include specified information about the state's mandated reporter statutes. This bill requires CDSS to take action if a supervisor is found to inhibit reporting duties, as specified, and requires the department to develop a notice about complaint reporting and require the notice be posted in all foster family agencies, as specified. This bill additionally expands the definition of a mandated reporter to include a board member of a public or private organization whose duties require direct contact and supervision of children, including a foster family agency. AB 1001 Page 2 Senate Floor Amendments of 8/18/16 resolve chaptering conflicts with AB 1997 (Stone). Senate Floor Amendments of 8/2/16 add a requirement to create and post publicly a notice about interfering with mandated reporting; and delete required reports to the Legislature. ANALYSIS: Existing law: 1) Establishes the California Community Care Facilities Act to provide for the licensure and regulation of community care facilities. (HSC 1500, et seq.) 2) Defines a foster family agency to mean any public agency or private organization engaged in the recruiting, certifying, and training of, and providing professional support to, foster parents, or in finding homes or other places for placement of children for temporary or permanent care who require that level of care. Requires private foster family agencies to be organized and operated on a nonprofit basis. (HSC 1502 (a)(4)) 3) Permits CDSS to deny an application for, or suspend or revoke, any license, or any special permit, certificate of approval, or administrator certificate, for the violation of rules or regulations governing Community Care Facilities, as specified. (HSC 1550) 4) Permits CDSS to prohibit any person from being a member of the board of directors, an executive director, or an officer of a licensee, who has violated rules or regulations, engaged AB 1001 Page 3 in conduct that is inimical to health, morals, welfare or safety of the clients or others, been denied an exemption to work in the facility, or other violations. (HSC 1558) 5) Establishes within the Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act, the requirement for 44 specified categories of persons who work with children to report suspected abuse or neglect, as well as other individuals whose professions or volunteer work may include routine interactions with children. (PC 11165.7) 6) Requires mandated reporters to make a report of suspected abuse or neglect to a specified law enforcement agency or county child welfare department, prohibits agencies that are required to receive reports from refusing to accept a report and requires the receiving agency to maintain a record of all reports received. (PC 11165.9) 7) Requires that a mandated reporter who in his or her professional capacity knows or reasonably suspects a child has been the victim of child abuse or neglect that the mandated reporter must make an initial report by telephone to the agency immediately or as soon as is practicably possible, and shall prepare and send a written follow-up report within 36 hours of receiving the information about the incident, as specified. (PC 11166) 8) Establishes that failure of a mandated reporter to report an incident of known or reasonably suspected child abuse or neglect is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by up to six months confinement in a county jail or by a fine of one thousand dollars ($1,000) or by both. (PC 11166 (c)) 9) Specifies that mandated reporting duties are individual, and prohibits any supervisor or administrator from impeding or inhibiting the reporting duties; and specifies that no person making a report shall be subject to any sanction for making AB 1001 Page 4 the report, but permits internal procedures to facilitate reporting and apprise supervisors of reports to be established. (PC 11166 (i)) 10)Establishes sanctions for any supervisor who impedes or inhibits reporting duties, as specified, of not more than six months in a county jail, by a fine of up to $1,000, or by both. Establishes sanctions for any mandated reporter who willfully fails to report abuse or neglect, or any person who impedes or inhibits a report of abuse or neglect, where that abuse or neglect results in death or great bodily injury, of not more than one year in a county jail, by a fine of up to $5,000, or by both. (PC 11166.01) 11)Prohibits an employer from making, adopting or enforcing any rule, regulation or policy preventing an employee from disclosing information to a government or law enforcement agency, as specified, or from retaliating against an employee who discloses such information, as specified. (LAB 1102.5) This bill: 1) Requires CDSS to develop a notice no later than July 1, 2017, that contains the telephone number for making complaints against a community care or child care facility, provides information about the prohibition against impeding mandated reporting and provides information about the option to make a confidential complaint. 2) Requires the notice be posted conspicuously in a prominent area in all foster family agencies. 3) Adds a new section to the health and safety code to require that any orientation required by CDSS for a chief executive officer or other authorized member of the board of directors and the administrator of a foster family agency must include AB 1001 Page 5 a description of policies, procedures, or practices that violate the mandated reporting sections of state law, as specified. 4) Adds an additional requirement that it include a written plan establishing policies, procedures and practices, if a written plan of operation is required as part of an application for licensure of an FFA, to ensure that the FFA does not violate the state's mandated reporter laws, as specified. 5) Requires CDSS to take reasonable action upon finding a violation of the mandated reporter statute, including, but not limited to, prohibiting a person from being a member of the board of directors, an executive director, or an officer of a licensee of a licensed facility or certified family home, or denying an application for, or suspending or revoking, a license, special permit, certificate of approval, or administrator certificate, or other penalties, as specified. 6) Adds to the list of mandated reporters a board member of a public or private agency, and specifies that the public or private agency may include an FFA. 7) Prohibits an internal policy that permits notification to supervisors of the filing of a mandated report from directing an employee to allow his or her supervisor to file or process a mandated report under any circumstances. 8) Includes chaptering amendments that resolve conflicting language in AB 1997 (Stone). Background AB 1001 Page 6 This bill adds training for FFA administrators to include information about the state's mandated reporting laws and the criminal and administrative sanctions that exist for social workers and administrators who fail to report. Foster Care. California's county-based child welfare system is designed to protect children at risk of child abuse and neglect or exploitation by providing intensive services to families to allow children to remain in their homes, or by arranging temporary or permanent placement of the child in the safest and least restrictive environment possible. It is the legal "parent" for children in the foster care system. Approximately 62,000 children were under the custody of the child welfare system as of October 2015, according to the state's child welfare case management system. About 45,000 children were in out-of-home placements in 2016, according to data released by CDSS with the Governor's budget. Of those, approximately 14,000 are placed with FFAs. Foster Family Agencies. The state licenses a variety of foster home options for children who are determined to need out-of-home care. Children with more intensive needs may be instead referred to an FFA, which is a licensed, private, nonprofit organization that recruits and trains foster parents. Foster parents in an FFA are certified by the FFA rather than being licensed as foster parents by the county. FFAs are responsible for providing professional support to the foster parents and children, including regular monitoring and oversight of the families they certify to ensure they are meeting the needs of the children who are placed with them. As of June 2015, there were 242 FFAs statewide with 11,034 FFA-certified homes. Child Abuse. Nationally, an estimated 1,520 children died from abuse and neglect in 2013, according to data from the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS). The U.S. Administration on Children and Families translates this to a rate of 2.04 children per 100,000 children in the general population and an average of four children dying every day from abuse or neglect. NCANDS defines "child fatality" as the death of a child caused by an injury resulting from abuse or neglect or where abuse or neglect was a contributing factor. [Child AB 1001 Page 7 maltreatment 2013. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Administration on Children, Youth and Families, Children's Bureau, 2015.] In FFY 2013, an estimated 679,000 children were victims of abuse and neglect, or a rate of 9.1 victims per 1,000 children in the population, and or 1,860 victims per day. More than one-quarter of the victims were younger than three years and one in five were between three and five years old. Mandated Reporters. California's mandated reporter statutes require that certain categories of professionals who observe, have knowledge of, or reasonably suspect a child has been the victim of child abuse or neglect to make an immediate report to a law enforcement agency. The statute defines what constitutes reasonable suspicion and lists 44 specific categories of employees that are defined as mandated reporters, including teachers, coaches, child care workers, social workers and probation officers, firefighters, specific medical personnel, commercial film and photographic image processors, and others. Mandated reporters must be trained in identifying suspected abuse or neglect and on reporting requirements. The penalty for a mandated reporter who fails to report an incident in a timely manner is up to six months in jail and a fine of up to $1,000, or both. The punishment for a mandated reporter who either willfully fails to report or who impedes or inhibits a report of abuse or neglect - where the abuse or neglect results in the death or great bodily injury of a child - is up to one year in a county jail, or a fine of not more than $5,000, or both. While state statute specifies that the reporting duties are individual and that no supervisor or administrator may impede or inhibit the reporting duties and no person making a report shall be subject to any sanction for making the report, it permits internal procedures to be established to facilitate reporting and apprise supervisors and administrators of reports that will be filed. (PC 11166(i)). The bill's sponsor, Children's Advocacy Institute, argues that this permission has resulted in the privately run FFAs establishing policies that require social workers to forward reports to administrators for submission. AB 1001 Page 8 FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.:YesLocal: Yes SUPPORT: (Verified8/18/16) Children's Advocacy Institute (source) Board of Behavioral Sciences California District Attorneys Association Crime Victims United California LIUNA Locals 777 & 792 The California State PTA The Child Abuse Prevention Center The County Welfare Directors Association of California OPPOSITION: (Verified8/18/16) None received ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT: The bill's sponsor, the Children's Advocacy Institute (CAI), writes that while individual mandated reporters face stiff penalties for failing to report, there have been reports of social workers who have been directed to forward mandated reports to the supervisor for official filing or for approval, which is not forthcoming. CAI states that this bill provides statutory clarification that impeding or interfering with a mandated report is prohibited, and requires administrators of FFAs who are already receiving training to be AB 1001 Page 9 informed about this prohibition. "It is no exaggeration to observe that mandated reporting is a life or death matter for California's children," the sponsor writes. ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 78-0, 1/27/16 AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Travis Allen, Baker, Bigelow, Bloom, Bonilla, Bonta, Brough, Brown, Burke, Calderon, Campos, 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, Mayes, McCarty, Medina, Melendez, Mullin, Nazarian, Obernolte, O'Donnell, Olsen, Patterson, Quirk, Rendon, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas, Santiago, Steinorth, Mark Stone, Thurmond, Ting, Wagner, Waldron, Weber, Wilk, Williams, Wood, Atkins NO VOTE RECORDED: Mathis Prepared by: Mareva Brown / HUMAN S. / (916) 651-1524 8/19/16 18:49:17 **** END ****