AB 1883, as introduced, Cooley. Child sexual abuse: prevention pilot program.
Existing law authorizes the Office of Child Abuse Prevention to fund, through allocations provided to local counties, child abuse and neglect prevention and intervention programs. Existing law creates the State Children’s Trust Fund in the State Treasury and requires money in the fund to be allocated to the State Department of Social Services for the purpose of funding child abuse and neglect prevention and intervention programs.
This bill would establish the Child Sexual Abuse Prevention Program as a pilot program in no more than 3 counties, as selected by the State Department of Social Services from among counties that volunteer to participate and based on specified criteria, to provide child sexual abuse prevention and intervention services through public or private nonprofit programs that provide those services. The bill would annually appropriate $50,000 from the General Fund to each county that is selected to conduct a pilot program, thereby making an appropriation. The bill would provide that public or private nonprofit agencies shall be eligible for this funding if specified evidence is provided and would encourage counties to give priority for funding to existing programs that have demonstrated effectiveness in child sexual abuse prevention or intervention or commercial sexual exploitation prevention or intervention. The bill would require each participating county to annually report to the State Department of Social Services, the Assembly Committee on Human Services, and the Senate Committee on Human Services specified information, including statistics on the increase or decrease of reports of child sexual abuse within the county. These provisions would be repealed on January 1, 2020.
Vote: 2⁄3. Appropriation: yes. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
Article 7 (commencing with Section 18974) is
2added to Chapter 11 of Part 6 of Division 9 of the Welfare and
3Institutions Code, to read:
4
(a) The Child Sexual Abuse Prevention Program is
9hereby established as a pilot program in no more than three
10counties to provide child sexual abuse prevention and intervention
11services through public or private nonprofit programs that provide
12child sexual abuse prevention and intervention services.
13(b) The sum of fifty thousand dollars ($50,000) is hereby
14appropriated annually from the General Fund to each county that
15voluntarily chooses and is selected to conduct a pilot program
16under this article to prevent and reduce child sexual abuse.
17(c) The State Department of Social Services shall select counties
18to participate in the Child Sexual
Abuse Prevention Program, from
19among the counties that notify the department of their intention to
20participate, based on the agency’s determination that the counties
21have significant incidences of child sexual abuse or commercially
22sexually exploited children and have a public or private nonprofit
23organization with experience in child sexual abuse issues or
24commercial sexual exploitation issues that is designated to act as
25the primary administrator for the pilot program.
P3 1(d) Each participating county is encouraged to efficiently use
2these funds by giving priority to programs currently serving the
3needs of at-risk children that meet the criteria in Section 18974.1
4and that have demonstrated effectiveness in child sexual abuse
5prevention or intervention or commercial sexual exploitation
6prevention or intervention. The funds appropriated under this
7section shall not supplant or replace any existing funding for
8programs currently serving the needs
of at-risk children, but may
9only supplement the expansion of existing programs or the
10collaboration of separate existing programs within the county, or
11fund newly created programs within the county if no current
12programs exist to serve the needs of children at risk of sexual abuse
13or commercial sexual exploitation.
(a) The county board of supervisors of a participating
15county shall allocate the pilot program funds according to the
16provisions of this article. The county board of supervisors may
17delegate the administration of the pilot program funds to the county
18social services department.
19(b) Public or private nonprofit agencies shall be eligible for
20funding provided that evidence is submitted as part of the
21application to the county that the proposed services are not
22duplicated in the community, are based on needs of children at
23risk, and are supported by a local public agency, including, but
24not limited to, one of the following:
25(1) The county welfare department.
26(2) A public law enforcement agency.
27(3) The county probation department.
28(4) The county board of supervisors.
29(5) The county public health department.
30(6) The county mental health department.
31(7) Any school district.
32(c) The administering local agency shall, with oversight and
33review from the county board of supervisors, include and integrate
34the pilot program in the county system improvement plan, county
35self-assessments, and the county plan for other federal and state
36child abuse prevention programs. To the extent applicable, the
37county
shall provide similar assurances, data, and outcome
38assessments to the Office of Child Abuse Prevention with respect
39to the pilot program as are provided regarding other federal and
40state child abuse prevention programs.
P4 1(d) Each participating county shall annually report to the State
2Department of Social Services, the Assembly Committee on
3Human Services, and the Senate Committee on Human Services
4information including, but not limited to, all of the following:
5(1) Changing public attitudes or public opinion polls showing
6increased awareness of prevention techniques for child sexual
7abuse.
8(2) The amount of educational materials distributed to
9stakeholder groups that address and promote child sexual abuse
10prevention and prevention techniques.
11(3) Statistics on the increase or decrease of reports of child
12sexual abuse within the county.
13(4) Identified best practices used by the pilot program that may
14be replicated and used by other counties, including, but not limited
15to, community outreach, data collection and analysis, and the
16creation of educational materials.
This article shall remain in effect only until January
181, 2020, and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted
19statute, that is enacted before January 1, 2020, deletes or extends
20that date.
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