BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1997
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB
1997 (Mark Stone)
As Amended May 27, 2016
Majority vote
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|Committee |Votes|Ayes |Noes |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
|----------------+-----+----------------------+--------------------|
|Human Services |7-0 |Bonilla, Grove, | |
| | |Calderon, Lopez, | |
| | |Maienschein, | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | |Mark Stone, Thurmond | |
| | | | |
|----------------+-----+----------------------+--------------------|
|Appropriations |20-0 |Gonzalez, Bigelow, | |
| | |Bloom, Bonilla, | |
| | |Bonta, Calderon, | |
| | |Chang, Daly, Eggman, | |
| | |Gallagher, Eduardo | |
| | |Garcia, Roger | |
| | |Hernández, Holden, | |
| | |Jones, Obernolte, | |
| | |Quirk, Santiago, | |
| | |Wagner, Weber, Wood | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
AB 1997
Page 2
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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) in order to allow sufficient time for
accreditation, as specified.
2)Adopts changes regarding Resource Family Approval (RFA):
a) Provides for the Department of Social Services (DSS)
licensure and oversight of resource families, as specified.
b) Requires, on and after January 1, 2017, a county to
approve resource families in lieu of licensing foster
family homes (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) Provides for FFA RFA application and approval/denial
processes, as specified.
d) Defines "Resource Family Approval" to mean that the
applicant or resource family successfully meets the home
environment assessment and permanency assessment standards
and states that such approval is in lieu of a certification
of approval issued by a licensed FFA, as specified.
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e) Establishes that the DSS is responsible for requiring
FFAs to monitor resource families, as specified, and
further provides for specified responsibilities of FFAs
regarding resource families.
f) 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.
g) 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.
h) 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.
i) Authorizes DSS to waive regulations that pose a barrier
to the early implementation and operation of the RFA
program, as specified.
j) States that there is not fundamental right to approval
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as a resource family, and that approval as a resource
family does not guarantee an initial, continued, or
adoptive placement of a child or the establishment of legal
guardianship of a child with a resource family.
aa) 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.
bb) 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.
cc) States Legislative intent that public and private
efforts to recruit foster parents not be competitive and
that the total number of foster parents be increased.
dd) Provides for consistency and parity for all resource
families with basic rates to be developed by DSS and
requires the basic rate for resource families to be
annually adjusted by the change in the California
Necessities Index (CNI), as specified.
3)Adopts additional changes:
a) Requires private Short-Term Residential Treatment
Centers (STRTCs) to be organized and operated on a
nonprofit basis and further, includes STRTCs in existing
statute pertaining to the monitoring and oversight of the
use of psychotropic medications in group homes.
b) 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 and
further, clarifies that out-of-state group homes, as with
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in-state group homes, may be granted an extension, as
specified.
c) Includes in the definition of "mandated reporter" an
individual certified by a licensed FFA as a certified
family home and an individual approved as a resource
family, as specified.
d) Provides for the establishment of interim, provisional,
and probationary rates for STRTCs and FFAs, as specified.
e) 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.
f) Adopts clarifying changes regarding criminal record
exemptions and due process rights, as specified.
g) 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.
h) Extends by one year, to January 1, 2019, the time until
current FFA rate-setting system is repealed, as specified.
i) Makes additional technical amendments, including changes
to conform to state and federal law.
EXISTING LAW:
1)States that the purpose of foster care law is to provide
maximum safety and protection for children who are being
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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)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))
FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, the Governor's 2016-17 Budget (including May
Revision) includes $182 million ($127 million General Fund) to
continue to implement Continuum of Care Reform (CCR) contained
in AB 403 (Stone), Chapter 773, Statutes of 2015, including all
of the provisions of this bill.
COMMENTS:
Continuum of Care Reform: The Legislature has worked and
continues to work with various entities in and around the Child
Welfare Services (CWS) system to focus on family reunification
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and permanency by seeking ways to best address the needs of
foster youth through less restrictive, more supportive
placements and services. SB 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 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.
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.
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. 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 they need in foster care to return to
their families or to find a permanent home if returning to their
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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 DSS 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.
Analysis Prepared by:
Daphne Hunt / HUM. S. / (916) 319-2089 FN:
0003367