BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON HUMAN SERVICES
Senator McGuire, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular
Bill No: AB 2767
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|Author: |Lopez |
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|Version: |April 12, 2016 |Hearing | June 14, 2016 |
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|Urgency: |No |Fiscal: |No |
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|Consultant|Mareva Brown |
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Subject: Foster care: caregivers: information
SUMMARY
This bill adds to existing information that must be provided to
a foster caregiver the email address of the child's social
worker, the social worker's supervisor, the child's attorney,
and the court-appointed special advocate, if applicable.
ABSTRACT
Existing law:
1) Establishes a system of juvenile dependency for children
who are or are at risk of being physically, sexually or
emotionally abused, being neglected or being exploited to
ensure their safety, protection and physical and emotional
well-being. (WIC 300, et seq.)
2) Requires the status of every dependent child in foster
care to be reviewed no less often than once every six
months, and for the court to consider the continuing
necessity for placement, whether the placement is
appropriate and other factors. (WIC 366)
3) Makes Legislative findings and declarations about the
disproportionately high number of children in California in
foster care and the percent of those children living with
relatives, based on data from 2002. (WIC 16010.4)
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4) Makes Legislative findings and declarations that foster
children's caregivers should have certain basic information
to provide for the children placed in their care,
including:
a. The name, mailing address, telephone number,
and facsimile number of the child's social worker and
the social worker's supervisor.
b. The name, mailing address, telephone number,
and facsimile number of the child's attorney and
court-appointed special advocate (CASA), if any.
c. The name, address, and department number of
the juvenile court in which the child's juvenile court
case is pending.
d. The case number assigned to the child's
juvenile court case.
e. 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.
f. The child's state Department of Social
Services identification number.
g. The child's Medi-Cal identification number or
group health insurance plan number.
h. Medications or treatments in effect for the
child at the time of placement, and instructions for
their use.
i. A plan outlining the child's needs and
services, including information on family and sibling
visitation. (WIC 16010.4 (e))
This bill:
1) Replaces statistics from 2002 with statistic from 2014,
stating Legislative findings that California is home to
roughly 60,000 children in foster care and that while the
state has 12 percent of the nation's population, it guards
over 15 percent of the nation's children in the foster care
system.
2) Additionally updates data in Legislative findings to
indicate that 33 percent of foster children live with
relatives, as of 2014.
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3) Adds that caregivers should have the email address of
the child's social worker and social worker's supervisor to
the declaration about other contact information that should
be provided to caregivers.
4) Adds that caregivers should have the email address of
the child's attorney and court-appointed special advocate
(CASA), if any, to the declaration about other contact
information that should be provided.
FISCAL IMPACT
This bill has been identified as non-fiscal by Legislative
Counsel.
BACKGROUND AND DISCUSSION
Purpose of the bill:
Legislative declarations codified in Welfare and Institutions
Code state that caregivers be provided with the name mailing
address, telephone number and fax number of the child's social
worker, social worker supervisor, the child's attorney and
court-appointed special advocate (CASA), if the child has one.
However, the author states, "given that much of today's business
is conducted with the assistance of email, it is only fitting
that email addresses be added to the list of contact
information. ? Not only is email a more functional form of
communication, but it has become more accessible through many
modes, such as cellphones."
The author also states that it is important for caregivers to be
able to effectively and immediately contact those professionals
who have access to the child's case information, copies of
important documents and other critical information.
Background
California's county-based child welfare system is intended to
protect children at risk of child abuse and neglect or
exploitation by providing intensive services to families to
allow children to remain in their homes, or by arranging
temporary or permanent placement of the child in the safest and
least restrictive environment possible. Approximately 62,000
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children and youth in California are in foster care or roughly 1
in 7 foster children nationwide. The rate of first entries into
foster care has increased slightly, from 2.6 per 1,000 children
and youth in 2011 to 2.8 in 2014.<1> In California, 84 percent
of children who entered foster care for the first time in 2012
to 2014 were removed from their families due to neglect, 8
percent due to physical abuse, and 2 percent due to sexual
abuse, according to data released by Kidscount.org. For children
who entered care in the first half of 2013, 35 percent were
reunified with their families and 62 percent were in foster care
one year later. The median length of time California children
spent in foster care declined between 2001 and 2009 from 17 to
13 months, but then rose to 15 months in 2012.
Caseloads
Social worker caseloads have been an issue of concern for more
than a decade. Heavy caseloads and workloads were cited as key
reasons nationwide that workers leave the child welfare
workforce in a General Accounting Office report in 2003, and by
other researchers in 2002, 2003, 2005 and 2009.<2> Additionally
heavy caseloads were identified as having a negative impact on
the timeliness, continuity and quality of services provided by
an agency in separate studies conducted in 2005, 2006 and 2007.
Among the recommended strategies to ease caseworker workload
were mobile devices to allow caseworkers in the field access to
email and other workplace tools.
Email
Since the original legislation requiring contact information be
given to caregivers was passed in 2003, email has become an
increasingly common method of communication. According to a 2013
research article in Knowledge and Process magazine,<3> users of
mobile email express strong dependence on that form of
communication. "Despite the rise of instant messaging, video
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<1> "Foster Care in California," Kidsdata.org, February 2016
<2> "Caseload and Workload Management," US Department of Health
and Human Services, Whild Welfare Information Gateway, Issue
brief April 2010, p. 2
<3> Franssila, Helja, "Mobile Email as a Business and Personal
Performance Driver in Everyday Knowledge Work - A Multi-method
Case Study," Knowledge and Process Management, Volume 20, Number
4, pp 185-198, 2013.
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conferencing, micro-blogging and variety digital collaboration
platforms, email is still the major digital communication and
collaboration tool in work settings," the authors found.
Related legislation:
SB 591 (Scott, Chapter 812, Statutes of 2003) declared
Legislative intent to provide caregivers with information about
a child's social worker and other information, among enacting
other foster care reforms.
COMMENTS
This bill includes amendments that update statistics that were
current when the original bill was passed, changing for example
the number of youth in foster care from 90,000 in 2002 to 60,000
in 2014. Should this bill pass this committee and be ultimately
signed into law, these data also will be out of date by the time
the bill is enacted. Staff recommends deleting section (a) of
the codified Legislative intent language, as follows:
16010.4. The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
(a) The State of California is guardian to roughly 60,000
children in foster care. As of 2014, 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 15 percent of the nation's children in its foster
care system. Thirty-three percent of foster children live with
relatives.
PRIOR VOTES
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|Assembly Floor: |79 - |
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|Assembly Appropriations Committee: | |
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|Assembly Human Services Committee: |6 - |
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POSITIONS
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Support:
None.
Oppose:
None.
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