BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SB 794
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Date of Hearing: July 14, 2015
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HUMAN SERVICES
Kansen Chu, Chair
SB
794 (Committee on Human Services) - As Amended July 9, 2015
SENATE VOTE: 40-0
SUBJECT: Child welfare services.
SUMMARY: Amends state law to address compliance with the
federal Preventing Sex Trafficking and Strengthening Families
Act (Public Law 113-183).
Specifically, this bill:
1)Requires licensed community care facilities that provide care
and supervision to children to designate at least one onsite
staff member to apply the reasonable and prudent parent
standards, as specified.
2)Requires a licensed or certified foster parent or facility
staff member to receive training related to the reasonable and
prudent parent standard, including knowledge and skills
relating to the standard for the participation of the child in
age and developmentally appropriate activities, as specified.
Additionally, adds the reasonable and prudent parent standard
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to training topics required for preapproval training for a
resource family applicant and annual training for an approved
resource family.
3)Redefines reasonable and prudent parent standard to mean the
standard characterized by careful and sensible parental
decisions that maintain the health, safety, and best interests
of a child while at the same time encouraging the emotional
and developmental growth of the child, that a caregiver shall
use when determining whether to allow a child in foster care
under the responsibility of the state to participate in age or
developmentally appropriate extracurricular, enrichment,
cultural, and social activities.
4)Eliminates placement of a dependent child under 16 years of
age in another planned permanent living arrangement as a
permanency option and requires the court to order a permanent
plan of return home, adoption, legal guardianship, or
placement with a fit and willing relative, as appropriate, for
such children.
5)Authorizes the court to order a planned permanent living
arrangement other than return home, adoption, legal
guardianship, or placement with a fit and willing relative, as
appropriate, for children age 16 or older and nonminor
dependents.
6)Requires permanency review hearing documents to include the
following for children 16 years of age or older and in a
planned permanent living arrangement, as specified:
a) A description of the intensive and ongoing efforts of
the child welfare agency to return the child to the home of
the parent, place the child for adoption, or establish a
legal guardianship, as appropriate; and
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b) The steps taken to: ensure the child's care provider is
following the reasonable and prudent parent standard; and
to ascertain whether the child has regular, ongoing
opportunities to engage in age or developmentally
appropriate activities, including consulting with the child
about opportunities for the child to participate in the
activities.
7)Requires such documentation for children under 16 years of age
with a permanent plan of return home, adoption, legal
guardianship, or placement with a fit and willing relative to
include any barriers to achieving the permanent plan and the
efforts made by the child welfare agency to address those
barriers.
8)Requires the case plan for a child who is 16 years of age or
older and in a planned permanent living arrangement, as
specified, to identify the intensive and ongoing efforts to
return the child to the home of the parent, place the child
for adoption, establish a legal guardianship, or place the
child or nonminor dependent with a fit and willing relative,
as appropriate. Requires such efforts to include the use of
technology, including social media, to find biological family
members of the child.
9)Expands the definition of sexual exploitation to include a
person who sexually traffics a child or commercially sexually
exploits a child, as specified.
10)Requires a county probation department or child welfare
agency to immediately, and within no more than 24 hours,
report to the appropriate law enforcement authority upon
receiving information that a child or youth who is receiving
child welfare services has been identified as the victim of
commercial sexual exploitation, as defined.
11)Requires a county probation department or child welfare
agency to immediately, and within no more than 24 hours,
notify the appropriate law enforcement authority when a child
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or youth who is receiving child welfare services and is known
or suspected to be the victim of sexual exploitation is
missing or has been abducted, so that the incident can be
entered into the National Crime Information Center database of
the FBI and to the National Center for Missing and Exploited
Children.
12)Requires the Department of Social Services (DSS) to inquire
about a dependent child's credit history at the age of 14
instead of 16 and for specified documentation to be included
in a case plan of a youth 14 years of age or older.
13)Provides that a successor kinship guardian may be appointed
by the juvenile court when death or incapacity of a child's or
youth's kinship guardian has resulted in the termination of
the kinship guardianship and the successor guardian is named
in the kinship guardianship assistance agreements, as
specified.
14)Clarifies that the foster care education training programs
provided to relative and nonrelative extended family members
under current law are aligned with the training requirements
established for licensed or certified foster parents, and
include training on the reasonable and prudent parent standard
that is redefined and provided for in this bill.
15)Requires that no less than 30% of savings realized from the
provision of new federal funding for adoption assistance
resulting from the Fostering Connections to Success and
Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008 be spent on post-adoption
services, post-guardianship services, and services to support
and sustain positive permanent outcomes for children who
otherwise might enter into foster care. Requires that at
least two-thirds of the 30% in savings be spent on post
adoption and post guardianship services.
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16)Adds to the requirement that the state reinvest adoption
incentive payments through the implementation of the Fostering
Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008 a
requirement that the state reinvest guardianship incentive
payments received through the Preventing Sex Trafficking and
Strengthening Families Act into the child welfare system, as
specified.
17)Replaces the term "independent living" with "successful
adulthood" in describing requirements pertaining to a nonminor
dependent's case plan.
18)Requires the case plan for youth 14 years of age or older and
nonminor dependents to be developed in consultation with the
youth. Provides that, at the youth's option, the consultation
may include up to two members of the case planning team who
are chosen by the youth, as specified. Permits the child
welfare agency to reject an individual under specified
circumstances.
19)Provides that for youth 14 years of age or older and nonminor
dependents, the case plan shall include both of the following:
a) A document that describes the youth's rights with
respect to education, health, visitation and court
participation, the right to be annually provided with
copies of his or her credit reports at no cost while in
foster care, and the right to stay safe and avoid
exploitation; and
b) A signed acknowledgement by the youth that he or she has
been provided a copy of the document and that the rights
described in the documents have been explained to the youth
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in an age-appropriate manner.
20)Requires the case plan for a child or nonminor dependent who
is, or who is at risk of becoming, the victim of commercial
sexual exploitation, to document the services provided to
address that issue.
21)Requires county child welfare agencies and probation
departments, on or before September 30, 2016, to develop and
implement policies and procedures that require social workers
and probation officers to do all the following:
a) Identify children receiving child welfare services,
including dependents or wards in foster care, nonminor
dependents, and youth receiving services under the John H.
Chafee Foster Care Independence Program, who are or are at
risk of becoming, victims of commercial sexual
exploitation;
b) Document those individuals identified in the Child
Welfare Services/Case Management System and any other
agency record as determined by the county;
c) Determine appropriate services for a child or youth
identified; and
d) Receive relevant training in the identification,
documentation and determination of appropriate services for
any child or youth identified.
22)Requires county child welfare agencies and probation
departments to, on or before July 1, 2016, develop and
implement specific protocols to expeditiously locate any child
missing from foster care. Specifies that these policies
shall, at a minimum, require county social workers and
probation officers to do all of the following:
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a) Describe the efforts used by county child welfare or
probation staff to expeditiously locate any child or
nonminor dependent missing from care, including, but not
limited to, the timeframe for reporting the youth missing,
the individuals or entities entitled to notice that the
youth is missing, any required initial and ongoing efforts
to locate the youth, and the plan to return the youth to
placement. County welfare agencies shall also describe how
the efforts described in this paragraph will be documented
in the Child Welfare Services/Case Management System;
b) Determine the primary factors that contributed to the
child or nonminor dependent running away or otherwise being
absent from care;
c) Respond to those factors in subsequent placements, to
the extent possible;
d) Determine the child's or nonminor dependent's
experiences while absent from care; and
e) Determine whether the child or nonminor dependent is a
possible sex trafficking victim.
23)Requires DSS, in consultation with stakeholders, as
specified, state and local law enforcement and agencies with
experience serving children and youth at risk of commercial
sexual exploitation, to develop model policies and procedures
to assist the counties in complying with the aforementioned
requirements.
24)Requires DSS to ensure the Child Welfare Services/Case
Management System is capable of collecting all of the
following information to ensure compliance with federal
reporting requirements:
a) The number of dependent children or wards in foster care
who were victims of commercial sexual exploitation before
entering foster care;
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b) The number of dependent children or wards in foster care
who became victims of commercial sexual exploitation while
in foster care;
c) The number of dependent children or wards in foster care
who go missing, run away, or are otherwise absent from care
and were commercially sexually exploited during the time
away from placement;
d) The number of dependent children or wards in foster care
who are at risk of becoming victims of commercial sexual
exploitation; and
e) Specified information for children placed in group homes
or short-term residential treatment centers and children or
nonminor dependents who are pregnant or parenting.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Establishes the Preventing Sex Trafficking and Strengthening
Families Act in federal law, which includes new requirements
for states and counties regarding sex trafficking prevention
and reporting, data collection, reasonable and prudent parent
standards, adoption incentives payments, successor
guardianship, and successful adulthood. (Public Law 113-183)
2)Requires, pursuant to federal law, that each state have a
state plan approved by the Secretary of Health and Human
Services in order to be eligible for payments under Title
IV-E, and establishes the requisite features of a state plan.
(42 U.S.C.§671)
3)Provides that a child who is sexually trafficked, as defined,
and whose parent or guardian failed to, or was unable to,
protect the child, is within the jurisdiction of the juvenile
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court. Provides that such children shall be known as
commercially sexually exploited children. (WIC 300(b)(2))
4)Establishes the California Fostering Connections to Success
Act - AB 12 (Beall and Bass), Chapter 559 Statutes of 2010 -
which corresponds with the federal Fostering Connections to
Success Act that provides an option for states to receive
federal financial participation for federally-eligible
nonminor dependents or former dependents of the juvenile court
who are between the ages of 18-21 and who satisfy certain
conditions, and provides for state-only extended benefits for
non-federally eligible youth. (WIC 11403)
5)Establishes multiple programs of support for dependent or
former dependent children and the families that care for them.
Each of the federally reimbursed programs has a corollary
state-only funded program for children who are not eligible
under Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) income
eligibility criteria from 1996 including:
a) Aid to Families with Dependent Children-Foster Care
(AFDC-FC); (WIC 11401)
b) Kinship Guardianship Assistance Payment Program
(Kin-GAP); (WIC 11360; WIC 11385)
c) Adoption Assistance Program (AAP); (WIC 16115)
d) Non Relative Legal Guardianship (NRLG), (WIC 11405); and
e) CalWORKs (for non-Title IV-E eligible children in foster
care residing with relatives). (WIC 11250)
6)Defines "reasonable and prudent parent standard" as the
standard characterized by careful and sensible parental
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decisions that maintain the child's health, safety, and best
interest. (WIC 362.04)
7)Provides that every dependent child shall be entitled to
participate in age-appropriate extracurricular, enrichment,
and social activities, as specified. Requires group homes and
specified caregivers to use the reasonable and prudent parent
standard in determining whether to permit a child to
participate in extracurricular, enrichment, and social
activities. (WIC 362.05)
8)Defines a planned permanent living arrangement as any
permanent living arrangement such as placement in a specific,
identified foster family home, program, or facility on a
permanent basis, or placement in a transitional housing
placement facility, as specified. Requires the court, when
placing a minor in a planned permanent living arrangement, to
specify the goal of the placement, which may include return
home, emancipation, guardianship, or permanent placement with
a relative. (WIC 727.3)
9)Requires a county welfare or probation department to, upon the
16th birthday of a child in foster care, request a free annual
credit check available under the Fair Credit Reporting Act,
from each of the three major credit reporting agencies and for
specified documentation pertaining to this requirement be
included in the youth's case plan, as specified. (WIC
10618.6(a) and 16501.1)
FISCAL EFFECT: According to the May 28, 2015 analysis of the
Senate Appropriations Committee, this bill is expected to have
the following fiscal impact:
1)Federal compliance: Annual costs of $4.2 million ($1.7
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million General Fund*) for new workload to child welfare
services and probation departments to comply with several
provisions of federal law including the development of case
plans, documentation related to the reasonable and prudent
parent standards, and notification of relatives.
2)CSEC protocols compliance: Annual costs to local agencies in
the millions of dollars (General Fund*/Local Fund/Federal) to
develop and implement policies and procedures that identify,
document, and determine appropriate services for youth
identified as runaways/missing or commercially sexually
exploited children (CSEC).
3)Child abuse reporting: Non-reimbursable local costs for
reporting to law enforcement within 24 hours, as required by
federal law.
4)CWS/CMS enhancements: Unknown, potentially significant
automation costs (General Fund) to enable CWS/CMS to collect
specified information on youth identified as missing/runaways
or CSEC.
5)Proposition 30*: Exempts the State from mandate reimbursement
for realigned programs, however, legislation that has an
overall effect of increasing the costs already borne by a
local agency for realigned programs including child welfare
services, apply to local agencies only to the extent that the
State provides annual funding for the cost increase. For
changes in federal law, the state is required to annually
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provide at least 50% of the nonfederal share of increased
costs to local agencies as determined by the State.
COMMENTS:
The Preventing Sex Trafficking and Strengthening Families Act:
The Preventing Sex Trafficking and Strengthening Families Act
(Public Law 113-183) was signed by the President on September
29, 2014. The Act makes numerous changes to the title IV-E
foster care program and enacts new requirements regarding sex
trafficking prevention and reporting, data collection,
reasonable and prudent parent standards, adoption incentives
payments, successor guardianship, and successful adulthood.
Commercially Sexually Exploited Children (CSEC): Commercial
sexual exploitation of children is defined as the sexual
exploitation of children at least primarily for financial or
other economic reasons. Under this definition, the economic
exchanges may be either monetary or non-monetary (e.g., for
food, shelter, drugs).<1> Sex trafficking of minors is defined
as the "recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or
obtaining of a person for the purpose of a commercial sex act"
where the person is a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident
---------------------------
<1>
Estes and Weiner. "The Commercial Sexual Exploitation of
Children In the U. S., Canada and Mexico." Univ. of PA, 2002.
http://www.sp2.upenn.edu/restes/CSEC_Files/Exec_Sum_020220.pdf
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under the age of 18.<2> While human sex trafficking was once
considered a predominantly international issue, FBI and other
local law enforcement agency initiatives have become
increasingly focused on the rapid-growing epidemic of the sexual
exploitation of minors in the U.S.
According to the National Center for Missing and Exploited
Children, one in six child runaways in 2014 were likely sex
trafficking victims, 68% of which are estimated to have been
receiving child welfare services when they ran. A March 2013
report released by the California Child Welfare Council also
made the connection between child victims of commercial sexual
exploitation and foster youth, stating that 50 to 80% of CSEC
are or were involved in the child welfare system. The report
also indicated that early adolescence (ages 11 to 13 for boys
and ages 12 to 14 for girls) is when most children fall victim
to commercial sexual exploitation, and that the abuse and
neglect they experienced that led to their involvement with
child welfare services, in addition to frequently unstable
placements, create the emotional vulnerabilities that are later
exploited. The report also reveals that children who are
commercially sexually exploited have a life expectancy of seven
years after they are first exploited, and that the leading
causes of death among exploited children are HIV/AIDS and
homicide.
The Preventing Sex Trafficking and Strengthening Families Act
requires child welfare agencies to develop policies and
procedures to strengthen child sexual exploitation prevention
and intervention efforts, which are reflected in this bill.
More specifically, it sets dates by which child welfare agencies
---------------------------
<2> Smith et al. "The National Report on Domestic Minor Sex
Trafficking: America's Prostituted Youth." Shared Hope Int'l,
2009.
http://sharedhope.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/SHI_National_Rep
ort_on_DMST_2009.pdf
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need to do the following:
a) Implement policies and procedures to identify, document,
and determine appropriate services for a child or nonminor
dependent who is or who is at risk of becoming a sex
trafficking victim, has run away from home, or is receiving
services under the Chafee Foster Care Independence Program;
b) Develop and implement protocols to locate children and
nonminor dependents missing from foster care, determine the
factors that lead to the youth's absence from foster care
and, to the extent possible, address those factors in
subsequent placements, determine the youth's experiences
while absent from care, including whether the youth is a
sex trafficking victim, and report related information as
required by the U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services; and
c) Report immediately, and within no more than 24 hours, to
law enforcement when a child or nonminor dependent is
identified to be a victim of sex trafficking. Agencies
must also develop and implement protocols to report
immediately to law enforcement, and within no more than 24
hours, information on missing or abducted youth receiving
child welfare services who are identified as being, or are
at risk of being, a victim of sex trafficking, for entry
into the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) database,
and to the National Center for Missing and Exploited
Children.
Another Planned Permanent Living Arrangement (APPLA): Among the
myriad other changes to child welfare requirements included in
the Preventing Sex Trafficking and Strengthening Families Act is
the elimination of another planned permanent living arrangement,
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or APPLA, as a permanency option for a child under 16 years of
age. APPLA is a long-term, out-of-home foster care placement
type that a child or youth is expected to remain in until
adulthood when other options such as reunification, relative
placement, adoption, or legal guardianship have been ruled out.
While it is intended to be identified as a last-resort option
for permanency, current state statute outlining APPLA
requirements is not restrictive enough to ensure certain steps
are taken to avoid use of APPLA for dependent children. In
addition to restricting the use of APPLA to youth 16 and older,
this bill requires child welfare agencies to document, at each
permanency hearing, the efforts to place a child permanently
with a parent, relative, or in a guardianship or adoptive home.
It also requires the court, during each permanency hearing, to
ask the child about his or her desired permanency outcome, make
a judicial determination that APPLA is the best permanency plan
for the child, and to identify compelling reasons why it is not
in the best interest of the child to return home, be placed for
adoption, be placed with a legal guardian, or be placed with a
fit and willing relative.
Need for this bill: This bill makes statutory changes necessary
to ensure state compliance with the federal Preventing Sex
Trafficking and Strengthening Families Act (Public Law 113-183),
as identified by the California Department of Social Services.
These include: child sex trafficking prevention and data
collection; strengthening of the state's reasonable and prudent
parent standards; additional reinvestment of state expenditure
savings to fund post-adoption and guardianship services; the
potential establishment of a successor kinship guardian for a
child when a previous kinship guardian dies or becomes
incapacitated; the elimination APPLA for children under age 16;
and an overall focus on youth being provided the necessary
services and supports to reach successful adulthood.
This bill will ensure state statute maintains conformity with
federal law and regulations, including requirements the state
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must meet in order to continue receiving federal funding
participation for its child welfare services system.
RELATED LEGISLATION:
AB 403 (Stone), 2015, implements Continuum of Care Reform
recommendations to better serve children and youth in
California's child welfare services system.
SB 855 (Budget and Fiscal Review Committee) Chapter 29, Statutes
of 2014, provided $5 million initially, and $14 million General
Fund ongoing, for county child welfare agencies to provide
services to child victims of commercial sexual exploitation.
SB 1460 (Committee on Human Services) Chapter 772, Statutes of
2014, ensured state compliance with federal statute and
regulation regarding the Multi Ethnic Placement Act, use of the
Federal Parent Locator Service, the federal Fostering
Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008, and
the Adam Walsh Act.
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REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
Junior League of San Diego
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by:Myesha Jackson / HUM. S. / (916)
319-2089
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