Amended in Assembly April 6, 2016

California Legislature—2015–16 Regular Session

Assembly Bill No. 2359

Introduced by Assembly Member Williams

February 18, 2016

An act to add Section 16001.1 to the Welfare and Institutions Code, relating to foster care.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 2359, as amended, Williams. Foster care placement: resource family rights.

Existing law provides for the placement of certain children in foster care, relative placement, adoptive homes, or resource families under the supervision of the State Department of Social Services and county welfare departments. Existing law establishes rights for minors and nonminors in foster care, including the right to live in a safe, healthy, and comfortable home where he or she is treated with respect.

This bill would begin delete establish specified rights for foster families, kinship guardians and relative placements, adoptive families, and resource families, including the right to receive specified information from the department and the right to be treated with dignity, respect, trust, and consideration as a member of the professional team caring for foster children. end delete begin insert require the State Department of Social Services to convene a resource family rights working group made up of specified participants, including, among others, a representative of the Office of the State Foster Care Ombudsperson. The bill would require the working group, by January 1, 2018, to evaluate existing resource family rights and make recommendations to the Legislature for revising existing resource family rights and establishing new resource family rights. The bill would require the working group to consider recommending to the Legislature specified resource family rights, including, among others, the right to be treated with dignity, respect, trust, and consideration as a resource family and a member of the professional team caring for foster children. The bill would also require the working group, by July 1, 2018, to, among other things, develop standardized information regarding existing resource family rights and its proposed revisions of, and additions to, those rights. end insert

Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.  

Section 16001.1 is added to the Welfare and
Institutions Code, to read:

16001.1.  

begin delete

(a) It is the policy of the state that all caregiver
members of a foster family, adoptive family, or resource family
or a kinship guardian shall have the following rights:

end delete begin insert

(a) In order to develop resource family rights and educate
resource families and the public about those rights, the State
Department of Social Services shall convene a resource family
rights working group.

end insert begin insert

(b) The working group shall do all of the following:

end insert begin insert

(1) By January 1, 2018, evaluate existing resource family rights,
if any, and make recommendations to the Legislature for revising
existing resource family rights, if any, and establishing new
resource family rights. The working group shall consider
recommending the establishment of the resource family rights
identified in subdivision (d).

end insert begin insert

(2) By July 1, 2018, do all of the following:

end insert begin insert

(A) Develop standardized information regarding existing
resource family rights and the working group’s proposed revisions
of, and additions to, those rights.

end insert begin insert

(B) Develop recommendations regarding methods for
disseminating the information developed pursuant to subparagraph
(A).

end insert begin insert

(C) Develop recommendations for measuring, and a plan for
increasing, resource families’ knowledge of their rights.

end insert begin insert

(c) The working group shall be composed of all of the following:

end insert begin insert

(1) A representative of the Office of the State Foster Care
Ombudsperson.

end insert begin insert

(2) A representative of the County Welfare Directors Association
of California.

end insert begin insert

(3) A representative of the Chief Probation Officers of
California.

end insert begin insert

(4) A representative of the County Behavioral Health Directors
Association of California.

end insert begin insert

(5) At least one current and one former foster youth.

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(6) At least one resource family.

end insert begin insert

(7) Representatives from children’s advocacy groups.

end insert begin insert

(8) Representatives from foster care facilities’ associations.

end insert begin insert

(9) Any other parties identified by the department.

end insert begin insert

(d) Pursuant to paragraph (1) of subdivision (b), the working
group shall consider recommending to the Legislature the
establishment of all of the following resource family rights:

end insert

(1) The right to be treated with dignity, respect, trust, and
consideration as a resource family and a member of the professional
team caring for foster children.

(2) The right to receive from the department information about
available training and support for the purpose of improving skills
in providing daily care, meeting the special needs of the child in
foster care, and understanding the rights and responsibilities of a
resource family.

(3) The right to be provided a current explanation of the role of
the State Department of Social Services and a means by which the
resource family can contact the department 24 hours a day, seven
days a begin delete week end delete begin insert week, end insert for the purpose of receiving assistance.

(4) The right to work with the department to facilitate the
placement of a child who can participate in, and benefit from, the
resource family’s customs and routines.

(5) The right to refuse placement of a particular child within
their home.

(6) The right to receive the child’s needs and services plan and
health and education summary within 30 days of a first placement
and 48 hours on subsequent placements. In addition, the department
shall, prior to placement, provide available information about the
child’s characteristics and behaviors that may assist the resource
family in meeting the child’s needs and safeguarding the health
and safety of all members of the resource family.

(7) The right to receive timely financial reimbursement as per
state rate-setting guidelines found in the State Department of Social
Services Manual of Policies and Procedures for the care of a child
in foster care.

(8) The right to be provided by the department with a copy of
the child’s written case plan with timely updates as the plan
evolves, including, but not limited to, all available information
regarding the child’s contact with his or her birth family.

(9) The right to provide input to the department concerning the
child’s case plan, including issues of safety, permanency, and
well-being, and the right to have that input considered in the
ongoing development of the child’s case plan.

(10) The right to be invited and encouraged by the department
to actively participate in the case planning and decisionmaking
process regarding the child. This includes attending team
decisionmaking meetings and other meetings, as appropriate.

(11) The right to be permitted by the department to communicate
pertinent information pertaining to a child in their care with
professionals who work with the child, including the child’s
doctors, dentists, school personnel, and any other professionals
approved by the department.

(12) The right to be provided a current explanation and
understanding of the role of the department and the role of the
members of the child’s birth family in the child’s foster care, with
updates as the child’s case plan evolves.

(13) The right to be notified by the department of all court
hearings pertaining to the child. This notification shall include,
but is not limited to, notice of the date, time, and location of the
hearing, the court case number, and the caretaker statement form.
The notification shall be made according to the time frames
required by law, and at the same time that notification is issued to
birth parents.

(14) The right to be considered by the department as a permanent
placement for the child, who, after being in the resource family’s
home, becomes free for adoption or permanent foster care
placement.

(15) The right to request training, counseling, or other assistance
to preserve the child’s placement.

(16) The right, after the resource family’s and department’s
joint efforts to preserve the placement have failed, to request, upon
seven days’ notice to the department, the removal of a child for
good reason.

(17) The right to be provided by the department with timely
notification of changes to or termination of the placement and the
reasons for the changes to or termination of placement, except in
instances of immediate response for the protection of the child or
in compliance with orders of the court.

(18) The right to receive notice of termination of foster care
placement seven days prior to termination, unless the child is
physically or psychologically endangered, the court orders removal,
a parent or guardian in a voluntary placement orders removal, there
is a signed waiver from a parent member of the resource family,
or removal is from an interim placement directly into an adoptive
home. In addition, the resource family shall have the right to utilize
the department’s grievance procedures to request a hearing on the
reasons for termination of the placement.

(19) The right to be considered as the fourth in line for
placement, after a previous noncustodial parent, a family member,
or a nonrelative extended family member, when a foster child
formerly placed with the resource family is to be reentered into
foster care.

(20) The right to receive from the department, upon request,
copies of documents contained in the department’s licensing file
regarding the resource family home, except those that are deemed
confidential by state law unless released pursuant to court order.

(21) The right to confidentiality regarding contact information
in the resource family home, unless disclosure is ordered by the
court.

(22) The right to be free from discrimination, as defined by
Section 16013, coercion, and retribution by the department.

(23) The right, if a child abuse or neglect investigation against
the resource family ensues, to have the investigation initiated within
10 days of the department’s receipt of the allegation, and the right
to be kept informed of the status of the investigation.

(24) The right to be advised by the department of complaint and
grievance procedures.

(25) The right to file a complaint or, when applicable, a
grievance in response to violations of this section using the
department’s established grievance procedures.

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(b)

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begin insert (e) end insert  For purposes of this section “resource family” means a foster
family, adoptive family, relative placement or kinship guardian,
or a resource family.