BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1997
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 12, 2016
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HUMAN SERVICES
Susan Bonilla, Chair
AB 1997
(Mark Stone) - As Amended April 5, 2016
SUBJECT: Foster care
SUMMARY: Adopts changes to further facilitate implementation of
Continuum of Care Reform (CCR) recommendations to better serve
children and youth in California's child welfare services
system.
Specifically, this bill:
1)Adopts changes regarding accreditation and licensure of Foster
Family Agencies (FFAs) and Short-Term Residential Treatment
Centers (STRTCs):
a) Deletes the requirement that an FFA be accredited, as
specified, on or after January 1, 2017, and deletes
language authorizing the Department of Social Services
(DSS) to issue and extend a provisional license for an FFA
in order for that FFA to secure accreditation, as
specified. Instead, requires the following:
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i) An FFA licensed before January 1, 2017, must: have
until December 31, 2018, to obtain accreditation; submit
documentation of accreditation or application for
accreditation to DSS in a time and manner determined by
the department; and provide documentation to DSS
reporting its accreditation status as of January 1, 2018,
and July 1, 2018, in a time and manner as determined by
DSS.
ii) An FFA licensed on or after January 1, 2017, must:
have up to 24 months from the date of licensure to obtain
accreditation; submit documentation of accreditation or
application for accreditation with its application for
licensure; and provide documentation to DSS reporting its
accreditation status at 12 months and 18 months after the
date of licensure.
iii) That the department be authorized to: request
additional information from an FFA regarding its
accreditation status; and revoke an FFA's license, as
specified, for failure to obtain accreditation within the
specified timeframes.
b) Provides for processes by which an STRTC may obtain
licensure prior to accreditation by:
i) Requiring an STRTC to submit proof of accreditation
or application for accreditation with its application for
licensure;
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ii) Permitting an STRTC to have up to 24 months from the
date of licensure to obtain accreditation;
iii) Requiring an STRTC to provide DSS with documentation
regarding its accreditation status at 12 months and 18
months after the date of licensure; and
iv) Authorizing DSS to revoke an STRTC's license, as
specified, for failure to obtain accreditation within
required timeframes.
c) Removes reference to extension of provisional licenses
for up to 2 years for group homes and STRTCs and FFAs.
2)Adopts changes regarding Resource Family Approval (RFA):
a) Provides for DSS licensure and oversight of resource
families, including:
i) Prohibiting DSS from accepting applications to
license foster family homes (FFHs) after January 1, 2017;
ii) Establishing criteria and requirements for the
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approved transition of FFHs to resource families by
January 1, 2018; and
iii) Forfeiting by operation of law all FFH licenses on
December 31, 2019, except as specified.
b) Requires, on and after January 1, 2017, a county to
approve resource families in lieu of licensing FFHs and
approving relative and nonrelative extended family members
and further requires the existing licensure or approval and
oversight processes to continue to be administered for FFHs
and relatives or nonrelative extended family members
licensed or approved prior to January 1, 2017, until the
license or approval is revoked or forfeited, as specified.
c) Establishes that DSS is responsible for requiring FFAs
to monitor resource families, as specified, and further
provides for the following responsibilities of FFAs
regarding resource families:
i) Requires an FFA, during its annual update of RFA,
to conduct an announced inspection of a resource family
home in order to ensure the resource family is conforming
to all applicable laws, directives, and regulations, as
specified;
ii) Requires an FFA to inspect resource family homes as
often as necessary to ensure the quality of care
provided; and
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iii) Authorizes an FFA to cooperatively match a child
under the care, custody, and control of a county with a
resource family for initial placement.
d) Requires all certified family home and foster family
home applications received prior to January 1, 2017, to be
processed and applicable certification and oversight
processes to continue for foster homes certified by an FFA
or licensed prior to January 1, 2017, until the
certification, licensure, or approval is revoked or
forfeited, as specified.
e) Stipulates that approved relatives and nonrelative
extended family members, licensed FFHs, or approved
adoptive homes that have completed the license or approval
process prior to statewide implementation of the RFA
program shall not be considered part of the program and
further requires the otherwise applicable assessment and
oversight processes to continue to be administered for
families and facilities not included in the program.
f) Prohibits a county, upon implementation of the RFA
program, from accepting new applications for the licensure
of FFHs, the approval of relative and nonrelative extended
family members, or the approval of prospective guardians
and adoptive homes.
g) Authorizes DSS to waive regulations that pose a barrier
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to the early implementation and operation of the RFA
program, as specified.
h) States that there is not fundamental right to approval
as a resource family.
i) Requires a county to conduct an unannounced inspection
of a resource family home during the annual update, as
specified, and to inspect resource family homes as often as
necessary to ensure the quality of care provided.
j) Authorizes resource families who move home locations to
retain their resource family status pending the outcome of
the annual update of their RFA.
aa) Specifies that, in addition to other placements,
children with varying designations and needs, developmental
disabilities, mental disorders, or physical disabilities
may be placed with a resource family, as specified.
bb) Adds cooperatively matching children with resource
families, as specified, to the list of activities in which
an FFA may be engaged.
3)Adopts changes regarding certification of out-of-state group
homes:
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a) Requires an out-of-state group home to have a current
license, or equivalent approval, in good standing issued by
the appropriate authority(s) in the state in which it is
operating in order to receive certification from DSS, as
specified.
4)Adopts clarifying changes regarding criminal record exemptions
and due process rights:
a) Specifies that counties are responsible for granting,
denying, or rescinding criminal records exemptions.
b) Clarifies that DSS's existing due process rights
regarding background checks extend to resource family
parents, applicants, excluded individuals, or individuals
who are a subject of a criminal record exemption decision.
5)Adopts additional changes:
a) Aligns state law with federal Generally Accepted
Government Auditing Standards.
b) Requires private STRTCs to be organized and operated on
a nonprofit basis.
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c) Specifies that, for youth 13 years old or older,
approval of placement in an STRTC by the chief probation
officer, as specified, shall take place only if the
placement is longer than 12 months.
d) Extends by one year, to January 1, 2019, the amount of
time that community treatment facility programs granted an
extension have to acquire nationally recognized
accreditation, as specified.
e) Extends by one year, to January 1, 2019, the time until
current FFA rate-setting system is repealed, as specified.
f) Makes additional technical amendments.
EXISTING LAW:
1)States that the purpose of foster care law is to provide
maximum safety and protection for children who are being
physically, sexually or emotionally abused, neglected, or
exploited and to ensure the safety, protection, and physical
and emotional well-being of children at risk of such harm.
(WIC 300.2)
2)Declares the intent of the Legislature to, whenever possible:
preserve and strengthen a child's family ties, reunify a
foster child with his or her relatives, or when family
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reunification is not possible or likely, to develop a
permanent alternative. Further states the intent of the
Legislature to reaffirm its commitment to children who are in
out-of-home placement to live in the least restrictive family
setting promoting normal childhood experiences that is suited
to meet the child's or youth's needs and is as close to the
child's family as possible, as specified. Further declares
Legislative intent that all children live with a committed,
permanent, and nurturing family and that services and supports
should be tailored to meet the needs of the individual child
and family being served, as specified. (WIC 16000)
3)Requires placement of a child in foster care to be based upon
selection of a safe setting that is the least restrictive
family setting that promotes normal childhood experiences and
the most appropriate setting that meets the child's individual
needs and is available, in close proximity to the parent's
home, the child's school, and best suited to meet the child's
special needs and best interests. Further requires the
selection of placement to consider, in order of priority,
placement with relatives, nonrelated extended family members,
and tribal members; foster family homes, resource families,
and nontreatment certified homes of foster family agencies;
followed by treatment and intensive certified homes of foster
family agencies; or multidimensional treatment foster care
homes or therapeutic foster care homes; group care placements
in the order of short-term residential treatment centers,
group homes, community treatment facilities, and out-of-state
residential treatment, as specified. (WIC 16501.1(d)(1))
4)Specifies that, if placement in a short-term intensive
treatment center is selected for a child, the case plan must
justify this placement based on the child's needs and must
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indicate the plan and timeline for transitioning the child to
a less restrictive setting. Stipulates that this section of
the case plan be reviewed and updated at least semiannually.
Further requires, as of January 1, 2017, a child and family
team meeting, as specified, to be convened by the county
placing agency for the purpose of identifying the supports and
services needed to achieve permanency and enable the child or
youth to be placed in the least restrictive family setting
that promotes normal childhood experiences. (WIC
16501.1(d)(2))
5)States the intent of the Legislature that no child or youth in
foster care reside in group care for longer than one year.
Further requires DSS to update the Legislature regarding the
outcomes of assessments of children and youth who have been in
group homes for longer than one year and the corresponding
outcomes of transitions, or plans to transition them, into
family settings. (WIC 16010.8)
6)Requires the juvenile court to make full consideration of the
proximity of a child's natural parents to the potential foster
care placement of that child in order to facilitate visitation
and family reunification, and if possible, for the placement
to be made in the home of a relative, unless as otherwise
specified. (Family Code 7950(a))
7)Requires county child welfare agencies to make diligent
efforts to locate an appropriate relative, and the juvenile
court to find that these efforts have been made, prior to any
child may be placed in long-term foster care. Further
provides that nothing may preclude a search for an appropriate
relative while the child is in foster care. (Family Code
7950(a(1) and (c))
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8)Requires DSS to establish a working group, in consultation
with stakeholders, charged with developing recommended
revisions to the current rate-setting system, services, and
programs provided by foster family agencies and group homes,
as specified. Further requires the working group to consider,
among other things, how to ensure the provision of services in
family setting that promotes normal childhood experiences and
that serves the needs of the child, including aftercare
services, and submit a report on its recommendations to the
Legislature by October 1, 2014. (WIC 11461.2)
9)Establishes the federal Preventing Sex Trafficking and
Strengthening Families Act, which places a number of
requirements on states, including a number of improvements to
the child welfare system aimed at improving outcomes for
children and youth in foster care. Includes elimination of
the Another Planned Permanent Living Arrangement as a
permanency option for youth under the age of 16. (P.L.
113-183)
10)Requires DSS, in consultation with county child welfare
agencies and other identified stakeholders, to implement a
unified, family friendly, and child-centered resource family
approval process to replace the existing multiple processes
for licensing foster family homes, approving relatives and
nonrelative extended family members as foster care providers,
and approving adoptive families. Defines resource family as
an individual or couple that a participating county of foster
family agency, as specified, determines to have successfully
met both the home environment assessment standards and
permanency assessment criteria, as specified, necessary for
providing care for a related or unrelated child who is under
the jurisdiction of the juvenile court, or otherwise in the
care of a county child welfare agency or probation department.
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(WIC 16519.5)
11)Requires DSS to promote the participation of current and
former foster youth in the development of state foster care
and child welfare policy. (WIC 16001.7)
12)Enumerates rights of minors and nonminors in foster care,
including but not limited to the right to: live in a safe,
healthy, and comfortable home where he or she is treated with
respect; be free from physical, sexual, emotional, or other
abuse, or corporal punishment; receive adequate and healthy
food, adequate clothing, and, for youth in group homes, an
allowance; receive medical, dental, vision, and mental health
services; be involved in the development of his or her own
case plan and plan for permanent placement; and 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 receive information about his or her out-of-home placement
and case plan, including being told of changes to the plan.
(WIC 16001.9)
13)States the intent of the Legislature that foster parents, and
potential foster parents, receive training in order to assist
them in being effective caregivers and to enhance the safety
and growth of children placed with them. Further states the
need to develop a basic curriculum, a program for continuing
education, and specialized training for parents caring for
children with unique needs. (HSC 1529.1)
14)Requires every licensed foster parent to complete a minimum
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of 12 hours of foster parent training, as specified, prior to
any foster youth being placed with him or her. Further
requires a licensed foster parent to complete at least 8 hours
of foster parent training, as specified, annually. (HSC
1529.2(b))
15)Requires DSS or its designee to perform initial and
continuing inspections of out-of-state group homes in order to
either certify that they meet all licensure standards required
of group homes operated in California or that the department
has granted a waiver to a specific licensing standard upon a
finding that there exists no adverse impact to health and
safety. Further stipulates that, as of January 1, 2017: a)
the licensing standards applicable to out-of-state group homes
certified by the department, as specified, shall be those
required of STRTCs operated in California; and b) an
out-of-state group home shall meet state requirements for
receipt of an AFDC-FC rate. (Family Code 7911.1)
FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown.
COMMENTS:
Challenges within the current Child Welfare Services system:
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
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2016, 48% of youth placed in group homes in California via Child
Welfare Services (CWS) had been there over two years, and 21%
had been there over five years, indicating stays longer than
what might have been necessary if appropriate, intensive
treatments had been deployed upon placement.
While the state's CWS system is charged with maintaining the
health and safety of children and providing services and
supports that lead to permanency, the flow of funding, and
therefore the availability of certain services and treatment,
have historically been associated with a child's or youth's
placement type. This often causes children and youth to have to
rotate from one placement or program to another to receive the
services they need, which can diminish any positive impact of
the services being provided. Even prior to placement in a group
home, it is common for a child to have multiple foster care
placements. This type of history can be interpreted as the
child being difficult-to-place and causes some, due to this
history, to consider the child's or youth's ability to find
permanency with a family to be limited. In actuality, ensuring
that necessary services and support are available to the child
or youth and the caregiver before considering moving the child
or youth could greatly reduce cases in which children move
multiple times. This bill emphasizes focusing necessary
services on the needs of the child or youth and seeks to meet
those needs upfront rather than counting on the placement type
to drive the decisions about services and causing a child or
youth to "fail upwards" into higher levels of care.
Continuum of Care Reform: The Legislature has worked and
continues to work with various entities in and around the CWS
system to focus on family reunification and permanency by
seeking ways to best address the needs of foster youth through
less restrictive, more supportive placements and services. SB
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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. This workgroup was charged with
examining the use of group homes in California and providing
recommendations to the Legislature and the Governor on how to
reform this use. In January 2015, DSS submitted the 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, stating that:
"The foundation of [these] recommendations is that all
children, including those in out-of-home care, deserve to grow
up in families and develop a sense of community. Their
families, including foster families, also at times need
assistance and support to address stressors to avert crises.
For those children and youth in crisis or whom otherwise
initially cannot safely get the appropriate breadth and/or
intensity of services they require in a family based setting,
they can access high quality, short term, treatment oriented
congregate care (which includes planning for a move to
home-based family care as soon as reasonably possible)."
AB 403: AB 403 (Stone), Chapter 773, Statutes of 2015, adopted
myriad changes aimed at implementing a number of recommendations
from the DSS CCR report. These included establishing a sunset
for existing licensure, rate-setting and other provisions for
group homes and FFAs and establishing interim provisions. AB
403 provided for licensure of STRTCs and FFAs and requires DSS
to develop a new payment structure for both.
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Need for this bill: According to the author:
"[This bill] builds upon comprehensive 2015 legislation that
advances 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 live with
families can receive short term, intensive treatment.
This measure continues the 2015 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 chance to
grow up in permanent and supportive homes; and that they have
the opportunity to grow into self-sufficient, successful
adults. The measure builds upon many years of policy changes
designed to improve outcomes for youth in foster care.
Due to extensive ongoing collaboration between stakeholders,
ongoing required workgroups discussing several components of
AB 403 implementation, and the substantial policy changes
created by AB 403, additional clarifying legislation is
necessary. [This bill] will clarify and address several
topics related to CCR, including mental health services,
out-of-state group homes, accreditation and licensing, federal
compliance, child and family teams (CFTs), new facility
transition processes, and further resource family approval
(RFA) statewide implementation.
Ultimately, when children enter foster care, they need a safe,
comfortable, and supportive place to stay, whether that is
with a relative, a foster family, or in a short-term center.
Recent changes to the law have been designed to provide
options along the continuum of care spectrum to meet these
needs. The technical and policy updates in this measure
follow up on the new law to provide youth with the support
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they need in foster care to return to their families or to
find a permanent home if returning to their families is not an
option."
PRIOR LEGISLATION:
AB 403 (Stone), Chapter 773, Statutes of 2015, implemented
Continuum of Care Reform (CCR) recommendations to better serve
children and youth in California's child welfare services
system.
SB 1013 (Senate Budget and Fiscal Review) Chapter 35, Statutes
of 2012, realigned the child welfare services system to
counties, established a moratorium on the licensing of new group
homes, and required the Department of Social Services to convene
a workgroup to discuss and recommend changes to the continuum of
care within child welfare services and how to reform the use of
congregate care.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
County Welfare Directors Association of CA (CWDA)
Department of Social Services - sponsor
National Association of Social Workers, CA Chapter (NASW-CA)
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Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by:Daphne Hunt / HUM. S. / (916) 319-2089