BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 2872
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Date of Hearing: April 27, 2016
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Lorena Gonzalez, Chair
AB
2872 (Patterson) - As Amended April 5, 2016
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Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: NoReimbursable: No
SUMMARY: The bill makes three non-controversial changes to
adoption laws. Specifically, this bill:
1)Clarifies that the investigation required as part of a
stepparent adoption may be, at the request of the adoption
petitioner, completed by a licensed social worker or therapist
or a private adoption agency, in which case the petitioner is
not required to pay any investigation fees.
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2)Makes the process for prospective adoptive parents to take
home a drug-exposed newborn easier by requiring, at the
request of a parent of a newborn, that appropriate hospital
personnel complete a Health Facility Minor Release (HFMR)
Report, which allows a hospital to release a minor to someone
other than the parents.
3)Ensures that specified investigators, whether court-order or
statutorily required, are able to examine the relevant child's
juvenile court case file.
FISCAL EFFECT:
Negligible fiscal impact.
COMMENTS:
1)Purpose. This is the Academy of California Adoption Lawyers'
annual bill to help better facilitate adoptions in California.
The bill makes three changes to the adoption laws. There is
no opposition.
2)Stepparent Investigation Fees. Adoption of a child by a
stepparent is generally a more simple and streamlined process
than that of a typical adoption. While an investigation is
required, the more time consuming homestudy is generally not
required. Under current law, specified individuals, including
probation officers, court investigators, licensed clinical
social workers and licensed marriage therapists and the county
welfare agency, if authorized by the county board of
supervisors, can conduct the stepparent investigation. The
court may not make an order of adoption until after a report
and recommendation on the stepparent adoption has been filed
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and considered by the court. The investigation is intended to
assure the court that the adoption is in the child's best
interest.
According to the sponsor, some counties are requiring that a
county employee do the investigation and are requiring an
investigative fee in all cases, even when a private
investigator is used. This bill clarifies that a petitioner,
at his or her option, may get the investigation performed by a
licensed clinical social worker, a licensed marriage and
family therapist or a private adoption agency. In this case,
the bill provides that the court may not charge an
investigation fee.
3)Drug-exposed Newborns. In order to prevent child protective
services agencies from unnecessarily taking drug-exposed
newborns from the hospital into the foster care system when an
adoption plan was in place and an adoptive home was waiting
for them, current law allows the newborn to be released from a
hospital upon completion of a HFMR Report, developed by the
Department of Social Services, which must be signed by a
parent and the prospective adoptive parent or representative
of a licensed adoption agency stating that the child is the
subject of a proposed adoption. The report must be completed,
in part, by hospital personnel.
According to the bill's sponsor, hospital personnel are not
always cooperative in completing the required HFMR Report. If
the hospital refuses to complete the report, it may become
impossible for prospective adoptive parents to take temporary
custody of a drug-exposed baby at the hospital and keep the
child out of the foster care system. This bill seeks to
correct this problem by requiring that hospital personnel
complete the report, even if the newborn is not yet ready for
release. This should help ensure that, when the newborn is
ready for release, the prospective adoptive parent may take
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the child home and avoid an unnecessary placement in foster
care.
4)Inspecting a Juvenile Case File. Juvenile court case files --
both dependency and delinquency files -- are closed to the
public and may only be inspected by a limited group of
individuals, including court personnel, attorneys in the case,
and the juvenile's parents. Included in that list is a
court-appointed investigator who is actively participating in
guardianship cases and acting within the scope of his or her
duties. This bill expands that list to allow a
statutorily-authorized or court-appointed investigator who is
investigating a stepparent adoption, attempting to find a
parent for purposes of adoption, or investigating matters for
purposes of emancipation of a child to inspect a juvenile
court case file, provided the investigator is acting within
the scope of his or her investigative duties for an active
case. Moreover, because existing law prohibits any party
authorized to inspect a juvenile court case file from
disseminating the file or its contents unless otherwise
permitted, the information in the file is protected.
Analysis Prepared by:Jennifer Swenson / APPR. / (916)
319-2081
AB 2872
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