BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó




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          |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE            |                       AB 2767|
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                                   THIRD READING 


          Bill No:  AB 2767
          Author:   Lopez (D) 
          Amended:  6/16/16 in Senate
          Vote:     21 

           SENATE HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE:  4-0, 6/14/16
           AYES:  McGuire, Hancock, Liu, Nguyen
           NO VOTE RECORDED:  Berryhill

           ASSEMBLY FLOOR:  79-0, 5/5/16 (Consent) - See last page for  
            vote

           SUBJECT:   Foster care:  caregivers:  information


          SOURCE:    Author
          
          DIGEST:   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.

          ANALYSIS:  
          
          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  








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            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)

          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  








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            over 15 percent of the nation's children in the foster care  
            system. 

          2)Updates data in legislative findings to indicate that 33  
            percent of foster children live with relatives, as of 2014.

          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.

          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  
          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 ("Foster Care in California," Kidsdata.org, February  
          2016). 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








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          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. ("Caseload and  
          Workload Management," US Department of Health and Human  
          Services, Child Welfare Information Gateway, Issue brief April  
          2010, p. 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 (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.) users of mobile email express strong dependence  
          on that form of communication. "Despite the rise of instant  
          messaging, video 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/Prior 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.










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          FISCAL EFFECT:   Appropriation:    No          Fiscal  
          Com.:NoLocal:    No

          SUPPORT:   (Verified  6/15/16)

          None received


          OPPOSITION:   (Verified  6/15/16)


          None received


          ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT:     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 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.

          ASSEMBLY FLOOR:  79-0, 5/5/16
          AYES:  Achadjian, Alejo, Travis Allen, Arambula, Atkins, Baker,  
            Bigelow, Bloom, Bonilla, Bonta, Brough, Brown, Burke,  
            Calderon, Campos, Chang, Chau, Chávez, Chiu, Chu, Cooley,  
            Cooper, Dababneh, Dahle, Daly, Dodd, Eggman, Frazier,  
            Gallagher, Cristina Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gatto, Gipson,  
            Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gray, Grove, Hadley, Harper, Roger  
            Hernández, Holden, Irwin, Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Kim, Lackey,  
            Levine, Linder, Lopez, Low, Maienschein, Mathis, Mayes,  
            McCarty, Medina, Melendez, Mullin, Nazarian, Obernolte,  
            O'Donnell, Olsen, Patterson, Quirk, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez,  








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            Salas, Santiago, Steinorth, Mark Stone, Thurmond, Ting,  
            Wagner, Waldron, Weber, Wilk, Williams, Wood, Rendon
          NO VOTE RECORDED:  Beth Gaines

          Prepared by:Mareva Brown / HUMAN S. / (916) 651-1524
          6/30/16 9:16:16


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