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   |
          |          |                       |Date:      |                 |
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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  
          ---------------------------
          <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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