BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 2813
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Date of Hearing: May 4, 2016
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Lorena Gonzalez, Chair
AB
2813 (Bloom) - As Amended April 5, 2016
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Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: YesReimbursable:
No
SUMMARY: This bill prohibits a probation officer from
considering a minor's status as a foster youth or current
availability of a placement when making the decision whether or
not to detain. This bill also requires a probation officer to
immediately release a minor to the custody of the child welfare
services department, a caregiver, or a foster parent, unless it
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can be demonstrated that the minor's detention is necessary.
FISCAL EFFECT:
Negligible state fiscal impact.
COMMENTS:
1)Purpose. According to the author, "Foster youth do not have
the same statutory protection that other children in our state
have and are often needlessly arrested and detained in
juvenile halls. Children who enter the juvenile justice
system, even briefly, are more likely to engage in deviant
behavior and more likely to get arrested as adults.
Therefore, it is imperative that foster youth not be unfairly
detained. Existing law requires minors to be released to
their parent or guardian unless they are a public safety risk
or flight risk and requires that a court's decision to detain
a minor not be based on their status as a foster youth;
however that same statutory protection does not exist for the
probation officer's decision to detain a foster youth. This
bill will extend that statutory provision to probation
officers and will require that a probation officer's decision
to detain a foster youth not be based on their status as a
dependent of the court."
2)Background. Current law authorizes counties to adopt
dual-status protocols in order to allow for better oversight
and provision of services to youth who are involved in both
the child welfare and juvenile justice systems. Counties that
elect to participate in this voluntary program are tasked with
creating a dual status protocol to permit a youth who meets
specified criteria to be designated as both a dependent child
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and a ward of the court simultaneously.
According to Judicial Council, only 18 of California's 58
counties have elected to develop these protocols, but these
include the largest counties, Los Angeles, San Diego, Santa
Clara, Riverside, and San Bernardino, so most youth involved
with both the dependency and delinquency systems in California
today live in dual-status jurisdictions.
AB 388 (Chesbro), Chapter 760, Statutes of 2014, addressed the
over-detention of foster youth at the detention hearing stage
by requiring that the court's decision to detain not be based
on a youth's status as a dependent, the bill did not apply to
a probation officer's initial decision to detain prior to the
court hearing. This bill is intended to harmonize the
criteria for detention probation with those used by the court
at the detention hearing. It is widely agreed that detention
can negatively impact a young person's mental and physical
well-being, education, and employment opportunities. Time
spent in detention can increase a youth's likelihood to
recidivate and spend time in detention as an adult.
3)Current Legislation. AB 1911(Eggman), 2016, requires the
development and implementation of standardized definitions and
defined goals for dual status youth. This bill is before this
Committee today.
4)Prior Legislation. AB 388 (Chesbro), Chapter 760, Statutes of
2014, specified that a dependent ward of the juvenile court is
not necessarily subject to detention or other sanctions
because of their status as a dependent of the court.
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Analysis Prepared by:Jennifer Swenson / APPR. / (916)
319-2081