BILL ANALYSIS Ó SENATE COMMITTEE ON HUMAN SERVICES Senator McGuire, Chair 2015 - 2016 Regular Bill No: AB 2767 ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Author: |Lopez | ----------------------------------------------------------------- |----------+-----------------------+-----------+-----------------| |Version: |April 12, 2016 |Hearing | June 14, 2016 | | | |Date: | | |----------+-----------------------+-----------+-----------------| |Urgency: |No |Fiscal: |No | ---------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Consultant|Mareva Brown | |: | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- 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) AB 2767 (Lopez) PageB of? 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. AB 2767 (Lopez) PageC of? 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 AB 2767 (Lopez) PageD of? 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 --------------------------- <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. AB 2767 (Lopez) PageE of? 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 ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Assembly Floor: |79 - | | |0 | |-----------------------------------------------------------+-----| |Assembly Appropriations Committee: | | |-----------------------------------------------------------+-----| |Assembly Human Services Committee: |6 - | | |0 | ----------------------------------------------------------------- POSITIONS AB 2767 (Lopez) PageF of? Support: None. Oppose: None. -- END --