BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



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          Date of Hearing:  April 12, 2016


                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HUMAN SERVICES


                                Susan Bonilla, Chair


          AB 2580  
          (Olsen) - As Amended March 18, 2016


          SUBJECT:  Dependency proceedings


          SUMMARY:  Requires the juvenile court to provide in writing the  
          factual bases for certain conclusions regarding a child's case  
          and requires a social worker to provide foster parents with  
          specified information.


          Specifically, this bill:  


          1)Requires the court, at various dependency review and  
            permanency hearings, to specify in writing the factual bases  
            for the following conclusions:


             a)   That returning a child to his or her parent or legal  
               guardian would be or would not be detrimental;


             b)   That there is substantial probability that a child who  
               was under three years of age when first removed or who is a  
               member of a sibling group, as specified, may be returned to  
               his or her parent or legal guardian within six months, or  
               that reasonable services have not been provided, justifying  








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               continuance to the 12-month permanency hearing; 


             c)   That it is in the best interest of each child in a  
               sibling group to schedule a hearing to determine a  
               permanent plan for some or all members of the sibling  
               group, as specified; and


             d)   That, for a child who has not been adopted and who has  
               had three or more years pass since termination of parental  
               rights, as specified, it is in the best interest of that  
               child to reinstate parental rights.


          2)Requires a social worker to, at the time a child is being  
            considered for placement in a foster home, provide foster  
            parents with all of the following:


             a)   Notification that he or she has the right to be present  
               at the dispositional hearing and at any hearing thereafter  
               at which the status of the child is at issue;


             b)   Information regarding de facto parent status and the  
               manner in which a foster parent can apply to the juvenile  
               court to become a de facto parent; and


             c)   Notification that if the child reenters foster care, the  
               foster parents of the child have the right to be provided  
               written notice from the court if the child, after being  
               reunified with his or her parents, is returned to the court  
               for further dependency proceedings.


          3)Makes technical changes.









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          EXISTING LAW:  


          1)Permits the juvenile court to adjudge a child a dependent of  
            the court for specified reasons, including, but not limited  
            to, if a child has suffered or is at substantial risk of  
            suffering serious physical harm, emotional damage, or sexual  
            abuse, as specified.  (WIC 300)


          2)States that the purpose of foster care law is to provide  
            maximum safety and protection for children who are currently  
            being physically, sexually, or emotionally abused, neglected,  
            or exploited, and to ensure the safety, protection, and  
            physical and emotional well-being of children who are at risk  
            of harm.  (WIC 300.2)


          3)Declares the intent of the Legislature to, whenever possible,  
            preserve and strengthen a child's family ties and, when a  
            child must be removed from the physical custody of his or her  
            parents, to give preferential consideration to placement with  
            relatives.  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 and as close to  
            the child's family as possible, as specified.  Further states  
            the intent of the Legislature that all children live with a  
            committed, permanent, nurturing family and states that  
            services and supports should be tailored to meet the specific  
            needs of the individual child and family being served, as  
            specified.  (WIC 16000)


          4)Requires out-of-home 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, as specified.  Further requires the  








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            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 treatment  
            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))


          5)Establishes requirements and processes for the court, and  
            further provides for various hearings to review the status of  
            the dependent child during which certain case information  
            regarding the child must be provided and reviewed.  (WIC  
            360-370) 


          FISCAL EFFECT:  Unknown.


          COMMENTS:  


          Child Welfare Services:  The purpose of California's Child  
          Welfare Services (CWS) system is to protect children from abuse  
          and neglect and provide for their health and safety.  When  
          children are identified as being at risk of abuse, neglect or  
          abandonment, county juvenile courts hold legal jurisdiction and  
          children are served by the CWS system through the appointment of  
          a social worker.  Through this system, there are multiple  
          opportunities for the custody of the child, or his or her  
          placement outside of the home, to be evaluated, reviewed and  
          determined by the judicial system, in consultation with the  
          child's social worker, to help provide the best possible  
          services to the child.  The CWS system seeks to help children  
          who have been removed from their homes reunify with their  








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          parents or guardians, whenever appropriate, or unite them with  
          other individuals they consider to be family.  





          As of October 1, 2015, there were 62,605 children in  
          California's child welfare system.  Of those, 9,079 had been in  
          foster care for five years or more; 37% of those in foster care  
          five years or more were between the ages of 18 and 20, 22%  
          between the ages of 16 and 17, 29% between the ages of 11 and  
          15, and 11% between the ages of 3 and 5.





          Need for this bill: According to the author, 


            "California has more children in foster care than any other  
            state in the nation, with over 60,000 children placed in our  
            state's foster care system.  Foster parents provide a  
            supportive and stable family for children who cannot live with  
            their parents.  They develop close bonds with the children  
            they welcome into their home, and are active participants in  
            major decisions for the children.



            Too often, however, this bond is needlessly broken to the  
            detriment of the child.  Numerous cases have seen children  
            being removed from their foster homes without any indication  
            that
            reunification will be in their best interest.  In one recent  
            case, a decision was made to reunify a disabled toddler with  
            her father who was recovering from drug addiction and living  
            in a transitional home. Sadly, the child was found dead  








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            shortly after being reunified with her father.  It is  
            difficult to measure the extent of the problem because the  
            process is mostly confidential.  This makes it difficult for  
            foster parents and other stakeholders to really know whether  
            decisions are made in the child's best interest.

            Current law does not provide a method for informing foster  
            parents of de facto parent status, nor does it inform a foster  
            parent when a child they have cared for previously returns to  
            the dependency court system after being reunified with their  
            biological/legal parent.  This leaves foster parents without  
            any way of knowing how to protect their rights to continue to  
            care for a child when a social worker or the court determines  
            that reunification should occur in the absence of concrete  
            evidence showing that this would be in the child's best  
            interest.  Courts are also not required to put into writing  
            their decision(s) when reunification should occur.  This bill  
            would provide a method to correct these deficiencies."

          The Yolo County Board of Supervisors, writing in support of this  
          bill, states that, "[This bill] will protect the best interests  
          of foster children by ensuring that foster parents have access  
          to the information they need to empower them to protect the  
          rights of the children they care for."

          Opposition:  Writing in opposition to this bill, the Juvenile  
          Court Judges of California state that:

            "?sections of the bill pose undue burden on the courts.  In  
            counties where judges handle 1,000-3,000 cases (children)  
            each, this could amount to approximately 25-40 hearings per  
            week for which judges would then have to produce additional  
            written findings, or order attorney to draft proposed factual  
            findings after the hearing.  Judges are already required to  
            make factual findings on the record, and juvenile dependency  
            courts are courts of record with transcript ability.  Many  
            juvenile courts are already impacted, and this will cause  
            further continuances and delay in placement, return, or  
            permanence, and more work for already overburdened dependency  








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            counsel."

          The Children's Law Center of California, also writing in  
          opposition, similarly argues that this bill will "impose  
          incredibly burdensome requirements on an already overburdened  
          system, which will jeopardize the court's ability to adhere to  
          the strict dependency court timelines and will cause children to  
          unnecessarily languish in foster care."  They also go on to  
          raise issues with some of the bill's requirements of social  
          workers to provide certain information, including that, "of  
          additional concern in [this bill] is the requirement that all  
          foster parents be provided of notice of their 'right' to attend  
          all court hearings, which is not an accurate statement of  
          current law," and that some of the requirements will burden  
          county welfare agencies and, in all, that the bill will have a  
          "chilling effect on reunification efforts."


           


          Staff comments:  As currently written, this bill could have the  
          effect of hampering reunification efforts and delaying and  
          truncating dependency hearings, as courts take on the burdensome  
          task of documenting findings and factual bases in writing - a  
          task that is duplicative, given that these findings are already  
          required to be on the record, and transcripts may be obtained.

          Additionally, the additional requirements this bill places on  
          social workers, and the "rights" it affords foster parents raise  
          a number of concerns and questions.  The "right" this bill  
          affords a foster parent to be notified when youth for whom they  
          previously provided care re-enters foster care is quite broad  
          and open-ended:  it has no time limit, meaning a child could  
          re-enter the system a decade after placement with that foster  
          parent, and that parent would still be notified; additionally,  
          issues of privacy are not addressed, and these provisions leave  
          no room for youth choice or voice in whether they want a former  
          foster parent notified of their re-entry into foster care.  The  








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          requirement that social workers provide information regarding de  
          facto parent status and how to apply for it may leave social  
          workers open to claims that they are giving legal advice.  And  
          some of the bill's requirements are also duplicative of current  
          law; Welfare and Institutions Code Section 16010.4 already  
          states that caregivers should have knowledge of the right to  
          receive notice of all review and permanency hearings concerning  
          the child during placement, and their right to attend those  
          hearings or submit information they deem relevant to the court  
          in writing.


          Suggested amendments:  In order to address the concerns raised  
          above, committee staff recommends deleting this bill's  
          requirements that courts provide information in writing, and  
          narrowing and revising the requirements it places on social  
          workers to provide certain information.  Therefore, committee  
          staff recommends the following amendments:
          
          1)Strike lines 1 through 12 on page 3, and pages 4 through 47 of  
            the bill.

          2)Make the following amendments to Welfare and Institutions Code  
            Section 16010.4:


          WIC 16010.4.  

          The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:

          (a) The State of California is guardian to more than 90,000  
          children in foster care, more than any other state in the  
          nation. As of 2002, California has a disproportionately high  
          number of children in foster care. While the state is home to 12  
          percent of the nation's population, it guards over 20 percent of  
          the nation's children in its foster care system. Thirty-five  
          percent of foster children live with relatives.

          (b) Foster parents are one of the most important sources of  








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          information about the children in their care. Courts, lawyers,  
          and social workers should have the benefit of caregivers'  
          perceptions. Both federal and state law recognize the importance  
          of foster parents' participation in juvenile court proceedings.  
          Federal law requires that foster parents and other caregivers  
          receive expanded opportunities for notice, the right to  
          participate in dependency court review and permanency hearings,  
          and the right to communicate concerns to the courts. State law  
          similarly provides that caregivers may submit their concerns to  
          courts in writing.

          (c) It is in the children's best interests that their caregivers  
          are privy to important information about them. This information  
          is necessary to obtain social and health services for children,  
          enroll children in school and extracurricular activities, and  
          update social workers and court personnel about important  
          developments affecting foster children.

          (d) Most school districts and extracurricular organizations  
          require proof of age before enrolling a child in their programs.  
          Moreover, caregivers are required to obtain a medical  
          appointment for their foster children within the first month of  
          receiving the children into their homes. It would therefore be  
          in both the children's and the caregivers' best interests to be  
          provided with any available medical information, medications and  
          instructions for use, and identifying information about the  
          children upon receiving the children into their homes.

          (e) Caregivers should have certain basic information in order to  
          provide for the needs of children placed in their care,  
          including all of the following:

          (1) The name, mailing address, telephone number, and facsimile  
          number of the child's social worker and the social worker's  
          supervisor.

          (2) The name, mailing address, telephone number, and facsimile  
          number of the child's attorney and court-appointed special  
          advocate (CASA), if any.








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          (3) The name, address, and department number of the juvenile  
          court in which the child's juvenile court case is pending.

          (4) The case number assigned to the child's juvenile court case.

          (5) A copy of the child's birth certificate, passport, or other  
          identifying documentation of age as may be required for  
          enrollment in school and extracurricular activities.

          (6) The child's State Department of Social Services  
          identification number.

          (7) The child's Medi-Cal identification number or group health  
          insurance plan number.

          (8) Medications or treatments in effect for the child at the  
          time of placement, and instructions for their use.

          (9) A plan outlining the child's needs and services, including  
          information on family and sibling visitation.

          (f) Caregivers should have knowledge of all of the following:

          (1) Their right to receive notice of all review and permanency  
          hearings concerning the child during the placement.

          (2) Their right to attend those hearings or submit information  
          they deem relevant to the court in writing.

          (3) The "Caregiver Information Form" (Judicial Council Form  
          JV-290), which allows the caregiver to provide information  
          directly to the court.

          (4) Information about and referrals to any existing services,  
          including transportation, translation, training, forms, and  
          other available services.

          (5) The caregiver's obligation to cooperate with any  








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          reunification, concurrent, or permanent planning for the child.

          (6) Any known siblings or half-siblings of the child, whether  
          the child has, expects, or desires to have contact or visitation  
          with any or all siblings, and how and when caregivers facilitate  
          the contact or visitation.

           (g) Courts should know, at the earliest possible date, the  
          interest of the caretaker in providing legal permanency for the  
          child.

           (h)  If a foster child is removed from the caregiver in order to  
          reunify with his or her parent or guardian, the caregiver may  
          indicate to the child's social worker at the time of removal  
          that the caregiver is interested in and willing to provide care  
          for the child should that child be removed from his or her  
          parent or guardian and in need of foster care placement.  

          

           DOUBLE REFERRAL  .  This bill has been double-referred.  Should  
          this bill pass out of this committee, it will be referred to the  
          Assembly Judiciary Committee.
          
          REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:


          Support


          County of Yolo Board of Supervisors




          Opposition


          Children's Law Center of California (CLC)








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          Juvenile Court Judges of California




          Analysis Prepared by:Daphne Hunt / HUM. S. / (916) 319-2089