BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 1067|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
|(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | |
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 1067
Author: Gipson (D)
Amended: 8/17/16 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE: 5-0, 5/10/16
AYES: McGuire, Berryhill, Hancock, Liu, Nguyen
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: Senate Rule 28.8
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 78-0, 1/27/16 (Consent) - See last page for
vote
SUBJECT: Foster children: rights
SOURCE: California Youth Connection
Humboldt County Transition Age Youth Collaboration
DIGEST: This bill requires the California Department of Social
Services (CDSS) to convene a working group, with specified
participants, to consider revising the foster youth bill of
rights and make related recommendations to the Legislature. It
additionally requires a social worker or probation officer to
provide those rights to the care provider, the child and the
child and family team, to provide a written copy of the rights
to the child and to include the signature of a foster child, as
specified, at each six-month status review.
Senate Floor Amendments of 8/17/16 resolve chaptering conflicts
with AB 1849 (Gipson) and AB 1997 (Stone).
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ANALYSIS:
Existing law:
1) Establishes a system of juvenile dependency for children who
are or are at risk of being physically, sexually or
emotionally abused, being neglected or being exploited to
ensure their safety, protection and physical and emotional
well-being. (WIC 300, et seq.)
2) Requires the status of every dependent child in foster care
to be reviewed no less often than once every six months, and
for the court to consider the continuing necessity for
placement, whether the placement is appropriate and other
factors. (WIC 366)
3) Delineates the rights of foster children:
a) To live in a safe, healthy, and comfortable home where
he or she is treated with respect.
b) To be free from physical, sexual, emotional, or other
abuse, or corporal punishment.
c) To receive adequate and healthy food, adequate
clothing, and, for youth in group homes, an allowance.
d) To receive medical, dental, vision, and mental health
services.
e) To be free of the administration of medication or
chemical substances, unless authorized by a physician.
f) To contact family members, unless prohibited by court
order, and social workers, attorneys, foster youth
advocates and supporters, Court Appointed Special
Advocates (CASAs), and probation officers.
g) To visit and contact brothers and sisters, unless
prohibited by court order.
h) To contact the Community Care Licensing Division of
CDSS or the State Foster Care Ombudsperson regarding
violations of rights, to speak to representatives of these
offices confidentially, and to be free from threats or
punishment for making complaints.
i) To make and receive confidential telephone calls and
send and receive unopened mail, unless prohibited by court
order.
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j) To attend religious services and activities of his or
her choice.
aa) To maintain an emancipation bank account and manage
personal income, consistent with the child's age and
developmental level, unless prohibited by the case plan.
bb) To not be locked in a room, building, or facility
premises, unless placed in a community treatment facility.
cc) To attend school and participate in extracurricular,
cultural and personal enrichment activities, consistent
with the child's age and developmental level, with minimal
disruptions to school attendance and educational
stability.
dd) To work and develop job skills at an age-appropriate
level, consistent with state law.
ee) To have social contacts with people outside of the
foster care system, including teachers, church members,
mentors, and friends.
ff) To attend Independent Living Program classes and
activities if he or she meets age requirements.
gg) To attend court hearings and speak to the judge.
hh) To have storage space for private use.
ii) To be involved in the development of his or her own
case plan and plan for permanent placement.
jj) To review his or her own case plan and plan for
permanent placement, if he or she is 12 years of age or
older and in a permanent placement, and to receive
information about his or her out-of-home placement and
case plan, including being told of changes to the plan.
aaa) To be free from unreasonable searches of personal
belongings.
bbb) To the confidentiality of all juvenile court records
consistent with existing law.
ccc) To have fair and equal access to all available
services, placement, care, treatment, and benefits, and to
not be subjected to discrimination or harassment on the
basis of actual or perceived race, ethnic group
identification, ancestry, national origin, color,
religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, mental
or physical disability, or HIV status.
ddd) To be placed in out-of-home care according to their
gender identity, regardless of the gender or sex listed in
their court or child welfare record.
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eee) To have caregivers and child welfare personnel who
have received instruction on cultural competency and
sensitivity relating to, and best practices for, providing
adequate care to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender
youth in out-of-home care.
fff) At 16 years of age or older, to have access to
existing information regarding the educational options
available, including, but not limited to, the coursework
necessary for vocational and postsecondary educational
programs, and information regarding financial aid for
postsecondary education.
ggg) To have access to age-appropriate, medically accurate
information about reproductive health care, the prevention
of unplanned pregnancy, and the prevention and treatment
of sexually transmitted infections at 12 years of age or
older. (WIC 16001.9)
4) Establishes required elements of a child's case plan,
including identification of specific goals, an assessment of
circumstances that required child welfare services
intervention, and a description of the schedule of the
placement agency contacts. Requires a social worker to inform
the child at least once every six months of his or her rights
as a foster child in a manner that is age- and
developmentally appropriate for the child. (WIC 16501.1)
This bill:
1) Requires CDSS to convene a working group regarding the
rights of all minors and nonminors in foster care, as
specified, in order to educate foster youth, foster care
providers, and others, and requires the group to recommend to
the Legislature any revisions to the rights, as specified.
2) Requires the group by July 1, 2018, develop standardized
information about the revised rights in an age-appropriate
manner and reflective of any relevant licensing requirements
and the foster care providers' responsibilities to adequately
supervise children in care.
3) Requires the group to recommend methods for disseminating
the information, including whether to require the signature
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of a foster child verifying that he or she has received and
understands his or her rights.
4) Additionally requires the group to develop recommendations
for measuring and improving, if necessary, the degree to
which foster youth are adequately informed of their rights.
5) Requires that working group shall be composed of all of the
following:
a) The Office of the State Foster Care Ombudsperson.
b) The bureau at the Department of Justice whose mission
is to protect the rights of children.
c) The County Welfare Directors Association of
California.
d) The Chief Probation Officers of California.
e) The County Behavioral Health Directors Association of
California.
f) Current and former foster youth.
g) Foster parents and caregivers.
h) Foster children advocacy groups.
i) Foster care provider associations.
j) Any other interested parties.
6) Requires that the supplemental report to the court
associated with the six-month status hearing include the
signature of the foster child and the date of the signature
if he or she is 12 years of age or older at the time of the
report verifying that he or she has received and understands
his or her rights, as specified.
7) Adds to the requirement that a social worker inform the
child at least once every six months of his or her rights as
a foster child the requirement that a child be notified of
his or her rights at each placement change and that a written
copy of the rights be provided to the child during each
notification as a part of the explanation.
8) Adds to the requirement that a child be notified of his or
her rights the requirement that the child's care provider and
child and family team, if applicable, be informed of the
child's rights as a foster child.
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9) Requires that a social worker or probation officer document
in the case plan that he or she has informed the child of,
and has provided the child with a written copy of, his or her
rights.
10)Resolves chaptering amendments with AB 1849 and AB 1997,
which both amend the same section of statute.
Background
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. About 14,000
youth are placed with Foster Family Agencies.
Foster youth rights. California's Foster Youth Bill of Rights
was established in 2001 (AB 899, Liu, Chapter 683) and requires
that children in out-of-home care be provided with information
by their social worker every six months. Additionally HSC
1530.91 requires that any provider of care for foster children
must provide each school age child and his or her authorized
representative with an age- and developmentally appropriate
orientation that includes an explanation of the bill of rights
and addresses the child's questions and concerns. Any facility
licensed to provide foster care for six or more children must
post a listing of a foster child's rights. The statute requires
that state Foster Care Ombudsperson design posters, which
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include the telephone number for the Ombudsman, and to provide
posters to each facility of six beds or more.
In addition, a number of other bills have established rights for
California's foster youth. AB 490 (Steinberg, Chapter 862,
Statutes of 2003) provided foster youth with specific
educational protections in the wake of studies that demonstrated
children may lose up to six months of academic and social growth
every time they change schools. Foster children have the right
to remain in their school of origin, to immediately enroll
without normally required documentation such as a birth
certificate or immunization records and the right to partial
credits, among others. Under California Education Code 51225.1,
a foster child may remain in school for a fifth year to complete
graduation requirements, exempts a foster child from some
graduation requirements and establishes other rights.
Meanwhile, the federal Preventing Sex Trafficking and
Strengthening Families Act of 2014 (HR 4980) now requires state
child welfare agencies to develop a reasonable and prudent
parenting standard for foster parents to make parental decisions
to maintain the health and safety of foster youth and also make
decisions about the youth's participation in extracurricular,
enrichment, cultural and social activities. It also requires
states to ensure that foster children age 14 or older
participate in the development or revision of the case plan
which must describe the foster child's rights and various
specific documents.
The office of the state Foster Care Ombudsman in its most recent
report identified 271 complaints of personal rights violations,
mostly from youth living in group homes complaining that the
staff did not treat them with respect or that they did not
receive adequate food and clothing. The report recommended that
social workers be required to document in court reports and
contact notes the date they reviewed the Foster Care Rights with
the foster child and youth in age-appropriate language to ensure
a review of rights occurs every six months as mandated.
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Other states. Fifteen states and Puerto Rico have enacted bills
of rights for foster children, and 17 states have enacted bills
of rights for foster parents, according to the National
Conference of State Legislators. During the 2014 legislative
session, 10 states introduced bills either seeking to enact a
bill of rights or otherwise extending or defining the rights of
foster children and parents. Some of these rights include
independent living services for older youth, educational
consistency and enrollment, foster child input into evaluations
of out-of-home care placements, and extracurricular activities.
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal
Com.:YesLocal: Yes
SUPPORT: (Verified8/2/16)
California Youth Connection (co-source)
Humboldt County Transition Age Youth Collaboration (co-source)
Office of the Attorney General Kamala Harris
All Saints Church Foster Care Project
American Academy of Pediatrics, California
Aspiranet
California Alliance of Child and Family Services
California Youth Empowerment Network
Children NOW
County Behavioral Health Directors Association
County Welfare Directors Association of California
Families NOW
Humboldt County Department of Health and Human Services
John Burton Foundation for Children without Homes
National Center for Youth Law
The American Federation of State, County, and Municipal
Employees, AFL-CIO
OPPOSITION: (Verified8/2/16)
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Department of Finance
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT: The California Youth Connection, a
sponsor of the bill, writes that the Foster Youth Bill of Rights
is a necessary tool for foster youth to access and exercise
their rights. "Updating this document to include the various
rights as they relate to both education as well as mental health
is long overdue. The current document merely reflects laws that
impact the foster care system since 2001."
ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION: The California Department of
Finance writes in opposition that this bill "is duplicative of
existing practice. DSS currently performs the prescribed
activities in collaboration with the Office of the Foster Care
Ombudsman, which is tasked with protecting the rights of foster
youth by disseminating information to foster youth, compiling
data on the rights of foster youth, and investigating complaints
of rights violations."
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
8/18/16 16:28:47
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