BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON HEALTH
Senator Ed Hernandez, O.D., Chair
BILL NO: AB 2872
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|AUTHOR: |Patterson |
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|VERSION: |June 6, 2016 |
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|HEARING DATE: |June 15, 2016 | | |
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|CONSULTANT: |Vince Marchand |
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SUBJECT : Children
SUMMARY : Makes technical and clarifying changes related to adoption
laws, including requiring hospitals to complete a Health
Facility Minor Release Report upon the request of a birth
parent.
Existing law:
1)Provides a streamlined procedure for a stepparent to adopt a
stepchild. Requires the probation officer, qualified court
investigator, licensed clinical social worker (LCSW), licensed
marriage and family therapist (MFT), private licensed adoption
agency, or, at the option of the board of supervisors, the
county welfare department in the county in which the adoption
proceeding is pending, to make an investigation of each case
of stepparent adoption. Prohibits the court from making an
order of adoption until the person or entity making the
investigation has filed its report and recommendation and the
report has been considered by the court.
2)Permits a peace officer, without a warrant, to take into
temporary custody a minor who is in a hospital if the release
of the minor to a prospective adoptive parent or a
representative of a licensed adoption agency poses an
immediate danger to the minor's health or safety. However, a
peace officer is prohibited from taking into temporary custody
a minor who is in a hospital if all of the following
conditions exist:
a) The minor is a newborn who tested positive for
illegal drugs or whose birth mother tested positive
for illegal drugs;
AB 2872 (Patterson) Page 2 of ?
b) The minor is the subject of a proposed
adoption and a Health Facility Minor Release Report
(HFMR Report), developed by the Department of Social
Services, has been completed by the hospital;
c) Provides that the HFMR Report does not
constitute consent to adoption or relinquishment of
parental rights and that the birth parents may reclaim
the child at any time, as provided;
d) Release of the newborn to a prospective
adoptive parent or an authorized representative of a
licensed adoption agency does not pose an immediate
danger to the child; and,
e) The prospective adoptive parents or the
representative of a licensed adoption agency have
provided the peace officer in the hospital seeking to
take custody of the newborn with, among other things,
a fully executed HFMR Report.
3)Limits access to juvenile case files, as defined, to specified
individuals and officials, including the child's parent or
guardian, attorneys for the parties, court and state
personnel, including law enforcement and child protective
services, and school district officials. Allows a
court-appointed investigator when acting within the scope of
his or her duties in a guardianship case to inspect the
juvenile court case file in that case. Prohibits any party
authorized to inspect a dependency court case file from
disseminating the file or its contents unless otherwise
permitted.
This bill:
1)Revises the existing law requirement that a written
investigation be completed prior to a court approving a
stepparent adoption by specifying that the petitioner, at the
time of filing the adoption request, can elect an LCSW, an
MFT, or a private licensed adoption agency to perform the
investigation.
2)Specifies that if the petitioner chooses an LCSW, MFT, or a
private licensed adoption agency to perform the investigation,
AB 2872 (Patterson) Page 3 of ?
the petitioner is required to pay any investigation fee
directly to the investigator rather than having to pay the
court an investigative fee at the time of filing.
3)Requires the appropriate hospital personnel, upon request by a
birth parent or parents of a newborn, to complete a HFMR
Report and provide copies of the report to the birth parent or
parents, and the person or persons who will receive physical
custody of the child upon discharge.
4)Prohibits hospital personnel from refusing to complete a HFMR
Report for any reason, even if the minor is ineligible for
release at that time, but specifies that nothing in this bill
is to be construed to require hospital personnel to release a
minor contrary to the directives of a child welfare agency.
5)Eliminates a requirement that birth parents be given a notice
prior to signing the HFMR Report with specified information,
and instead requires all of the information in the notice to
be included in the HFMR Report.
6)Expands the list of investigators that are permitted to
inspect a juvenile case file to include statutorily authorized
or court-appointed investigators, who are conducting an active
investigation pursuant to specified provisions of existing law
related to the termination of parental rights and stepparent
adoptions.
FISCAL
EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee,
this bill would have negligible fiscal impact.
PRIOR
VOTES :
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|Assembly Floor: |79 - 0 |
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|Assembly Appropriations Committee: |19 - 0 |
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|Assembly Judiciary Committee: |10 - 0 |
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COMMENTS :
AB 2872 (Patterson) Page 4 of ?
1)Author's statement. According to the author, this bill
promotes the welfare of children, the efficiency and statewide
uniformity of court processes, and the fiscal well-being of
state and local public entities, by remediating the following
deficiencies in law: 1) eliminating the current backlog of
step-parent adoptions and ensuring that these cases can be
completed in a timely manner moving forward; 2) affirming a
birth parent's existing right to make an adoption plan at the
hospital by requiring hospital personnel to complete the
necessary forms upon request; and, 3) ensuring that
court-appointed or statutorily authorized investigators have
access to relevant information for completion of statutorily
mandated reports.
2)Subject. This bill address three separate issues related to
child adoption law. Below is background information provided
by the author on the three components of this bill:
a) Use of independent investigators in stepparent
adoptions.
The author states that stepparent adoptions across the
state are seriously backlogged, as much as 12-24 months
in some counties. Existing law requires that an
investigation must be completed prior to a stepparent
adoption, and despite previous amendments made to this
section of law that would allow petitioners to hire a
licensed clinical social worker, marriage and family
therapist, or a licensed adoption agency to complete the
required investigation, many courts are interpreting the
existing language to require the approval of the County
Board of Supervisors before petitioners can utilize the
statutory options. The changes proposed by this bill will
make it clear that petitioners are allowed to use
alternative professional investigators to complete the
required investigation and get the case finalized.
b) HFMR Report.
Existing law allows the birth parent of a baby who has a
positive drug screen test to make an adoption plan at the
hospital, rather than having the child detained by Child
Protective Services. According to the author, however,
many hospitals have misinterpreted this code section and
have actually prevented these voluntary placements by
refusing to complete the necessary paperwork, which is
the HFMR Report. The proposed change will require
AB 2872 (Patterson) Page 5 of ?
hospital personnel to complete the HFMR Report at the
request of a birth parent, thereby ensuring that the
underlying purpose of this statute is fulfilled. In
addition, the existing statute includes confusing
language about a separate "notice" that is actually
already included in the mandated HFMR Report, so this
bill deletes reference to the non-existent "notice" and
just ensures that the notice language is included in the
HFMR Report (which is current practice).
c) Access to juvenile records by appropriate parties.
Certain investigators in guardianship and termination cases
are not granted access to juvenile court files, despite
the clear need for them to have all information available
to present to the court in their report. According to the
author, unnecessary time and resources are expended to
file a formal petition to ensure that the records are
reviewed and the results compiled into the
statutorily-required reports. This bill ensures that
court-appointed or statutorily-authorized investigators
have access to juvenile court files for the limited
purpose of completing designated investigations on behalf
of the court.
3)Double referral. This bill is double referred. Should it pass
out of this committee, it will be referred to the Senate
Judiciary Committee.
4)Prior legislation. AB 973 (Strickland, Chapter 440, Statutes
of 2010), revised the requirements that must be met before
prospective adoptive parents may take a drug-exposed newborn
into temporary custody from the hospital.
AB 2279 (La Suer, Chapter 920, Statutes of 2002), limited the
ability of law enforcement to take custody of a child without
a warrant when the child is in a hospital and is the subject
of a prospective adoption plan.
5)Support. This bill is sponsored by the Academy of California
Adoption Lawyers/Academy of California Family Formation
Lawyers (Academy), which states that in its role as
practitioners of adoption law, it has first-hand knowledge
regarding the effects of existing law and how these laws can
be modified for the benefit of families and children. The
Academy states that this bill addresses three distinct
AB 2872 (Patterson) Page 6 of ?
subjects: the use of independent investigations in stepparent
adoptions, HFMR Reports, and access to juvenile records by
appropriate parties. With regarding to the use of independent
investigators in stepparent adoption, the Academy states that
stepparent adoptions are seriously backlogged, and that a
previous amendment to this section of law that should have
alleviated this backlog has been misconstrued and is not
currently being utilized by the courts. This bill will clarify
that the petitioner can select from a range of specified
professional investigators to complete the required report, so
that the adoption may be finalized in a timely manner. With
regard to the HFMR Report, the Academy states that existing
law allows birth parents to make an adoption plan at the
hospital for a baby with a positive drug screen, rather than
have the child detained by Child Protective Services into an
unnecessary foster care proceeding at great public cost.
However, the Academy states that many hospitals have actually
prevented these voluntary placements by refusing to complete
the necessary paperwork, and so this bill will require
hospitals to complete this paperwork at the request of a birth
parent. Finally, with regard to access to juvenile records,
the Academy states that existing law requires court-appointed
or statutorily-authorized investigators to file petitions with
the court to gain access to juvenile court files, which
results in unnecessary delays and expenditures of public funds
related to processing the petitions. This bill would revise
the law so that persons who are statutorily authorized or
court appointed to complete child custody-related
investigations that are to be filed with the court can obtain
the necessary records without first needing to file a
petition.
SUPPORT AND OPPOSITION :
Support: Academy of California Adoption Lawyers/Academy of
California Family Formation Lawyers (sponsor)
Oppose: None received
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