BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 794|
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UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Bill No: SB 794
Author: Committee on Human Services
Amended: 9/8/15
Vote: 21
SENATE HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE: 5-0, 4/28/15
AYES: McGuire, Berryhill, Hancock, Liu, Nguyen
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: 7-0, 5/28/15
AYES: Lara, Bates, Beall, Hill, Leyva, Mendoza, Nielsen
SENATE FLOOR: 40-0, 6/4/15
AYES: Allen, Anderson, Bates, Beall, Berryhill, Block,
Cannella, De León, Fuller, Gaines, Galgiani, Glazer, Hall,
Hancock, Hernandez, Hertzberg, Hill, Hueso, Huff, Jackson,
Lara, Leno, Leyva, Liu, McGuire, Mendoza, Mitchell, Monning,
Moorlach, Morrell, Nguyen, Nielsen, Pan, Pavley, Roth, Runner,
Stone, Vidak, Wieckowski, Wolk
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 80-0, 9/10/15 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT: Child welfare services
SOURCE: Author
DIGEST: This bill brings the state into compliance with the
federal Preventing Sex Trafficking, and Strengthening Families
Act (Public Law 113-183), as required to maintain federal child
welfare funding. Specifically, it conforms state with federal
law in the areas of sex trafficking prevention and data
collection, the state's reasonable and prudent parent standards,
re-investment of savings into post-adoption and guardianship
services, elimination of the option of long-term group placement
(APPLA) for children under age 16; and other specific policies
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intended to ensure foster children achieve successful outcomes
as adults.
Assembly Amendments add additional language to conform to the
Preventing Sex Trafficking and Strengthening Families Act as
well as amendments to avoid chaptering conflicts with SB 68
(Liu), SB 238 (Mitchell) and AB 403 (Stone). Specifically, the
amendments do the following:
1)Further defines the reasonable and prudent parenting standard,
2)Further defines commercial sexual exploitation of children
(CSEC) and expands the requirement to provide services to
victims of CSEC to include children at risk of CSEC
involvement,
3)Requires that a child welfare agency or probation department
immediately report to law enforcement if a dependent or ward
of the court is the victim of CSEC,
4)Adds parents of a sibling of a child to the list of relatives
that must be contacted for the purpose of placing a child who
is removed from home, and
5)Prohibits children younger than 16 from being assigned to a
long-term group placement, requires the court to identify
barriers to permanency for older children and nonminor
dependents and sets standards for oversight of care in an
APPLA.
ANALYSIS:
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)
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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 court. Provides that such children shall be
known as commercially sexually exploited children (CSEC).
(WIC 300(b)(2))
4) 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, as specified. (WIC 11403)
5) 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," as defined, in making these determinations.
(WIC 362.04, WIC 362.05)
6) 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)
7) Requires a county welfare or probation department, upon a
dependent child's 16th birthday, to 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 to be included in the youth's
case plan, as specified. (WIC 10618.6(a) and 16501.1)
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This bill:
1) 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
emotional and developmental growth, that a caregiver shall
use when determining whether to allow a child in foster care
to participate in age- or developmentally-appropriate
extracurricular, cultural, and social activities.
2) 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, and requires training on the
standard for foster parents, facility staff and resource
families, as specified.
3) Defines "another planned permanent living arrangement"
(APPLA) as a permanent plan ordered by the court for a child
16 years of age or older or a nonminor dependent, when there
is a compelling reason to determine that it is not in the
best interest of the child or nonminor dependent to return
home, be placed for adoption, be place for tribal customary
adoption, or be placed with a fit and willing relative.
Prohibits placement in a group home or in a short-term
residential treatment facility as the identified permanent
plan.
4) Eliminates APPLA as a permanency option for a dependent
child younger than 16 years of age.
5) Requires permanency review hearing documents for children 16
years of age or older and in a planned permanent living
arrangement to include:
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;
b) Steps taken to ensure the child's care provider is
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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, as specified; and
c) Any barriers to achieving the permanent plan and the
efforts made by the child welfare agency to address those
barriers.
6) Expands the definition of sexual exploitation to include a
person who sexually traffics a child or commercially sexually
exploits a child, as specified, and 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:
a) Is identified as the victim of commercial sexual
exploitation, as defined, or
b) 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 FBI's National Crime
Information Center database and reported to the National
Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
7) Requires California Department of Social Services (CDSS) 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.
8) Permits a successor kinship guardian to 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, as specified.
9) Requires reinvestment of federal savings, as defined, be
spent on services and supports to support and sustain
positive permanent outcomes for children who otherwise might
enter into foster care.
10)Replaces the term "independent living" with "successful
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adulthood" in describing requirements related to a nonminor
dependent's case plan.
11)Requires county child welfare agencies and probation
departments, to implement policies and procedures that
require social workers and probation officers to do identify,
document and track victims and individuals at risk of
commercial sexual exploitation, as specified, as well as to
expeditiously locate any child missing from foster care, as
specified.
12)Requires CDSS to ensure the Child Welfare Services/Case
Management System is capable of collecting specific
information about dependents or wards or to ensure
compliance with federal reporting about commercial sexual
exploitation, as defined.
13)Makes a number of other conforming changes.
Background
The Preventing Sex Trafficking and Strengthening Families Act
(Public Law 113-183). The 2014 federal 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. The 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, such as in exchange for food,
shelter or drugs. 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 United States citizen or lawful permanent resident
under the age of 18. 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
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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. Nearly 7 in 10 of those children were
believed to have been receiving child welfare services when they
ran. A March 2013 report released by the California Child
Welfare Council noted that 50 to 80 percent of CSEC are or were
involved in the child welfare system and that most of these
children fall victim to commercial sexual exploitation in early
adolescence (ages 11 to 13 for boys and ages 12 to 14 for
girls). The report also found that CSEC victims were made
especially vulnerable to exploitation because of the underlying
abuse and neglect they experienced that led to their involvement
with child welfare services, as well as frequently unstable
placements once in the child welfare system. 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, including:
Implementation of 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;
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
Report immediately, and within no more than 24 hours, to law
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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. The Preventing
Sex Trafficking and Strengthening Families Act requires the
elimination of another planned permanent living arrangement, 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 APPLA is intended to be identified as a last-resort option
for permanency, current state statute is not restrictive enough
to ensure certain steps are taken to avoid use of APPLA for
dependent children, under the new federal law. 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.
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal
Com.:YesLocal: Yes
According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee, this bill
will result in annual costs of $4.2 million ($1.7 million
General Fund (GF)) for new workload to child welfare services
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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. Under Proposition 30,
these costs are not reimbursable, but this bill will apply only
to the extent the state provides annual funding for the cost
increase. These costs are funded in the 2015-16 Budget.
Additionally, this bill will result in annual costs to local
agencies in the millions of dollars (GF/Local /Federal Funds) to
develop and implement policies and procedures that identify,
document, and determine appropriate services for youth
identified as runaways/missing or CSEC. Under Proposition 30,
these costs are not reimbursable, but this bill will apply only
to the extent the state provides annual funding for the cost
increase. The 2015-16 Budget includes $20.2 million ($14
million GF) in 2015-16 to support both federally required and
elective county program activities for CSEC. It is estimated
$3.6 million GF will be utilized for federal compliance
activities. This bill also will incur non-reimbursable local
costs for reporting to law enforcement within 24 hours, as
required by federal law and unknown, potentially significant
automation costs (GF) to enable the Child Welfare Services Case
Management System to collect specified information on youth
identified as missing/runaways or CSEC.
SUPPORT: (Verified 9/10/15)
Advokids
AFSCME
California Department of Social Services
Junior League of San Diego
OPPOSITION: (Verified 9/10/15)
None received
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ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT: The California Department of Social
Services writes that this bill will bring California into
compliance with various provisions of the Preventing Sex
Trafficking and Strengthening Families Act, signed by President
Obama in September 2014. "California must comply with these
federal requirements to ensure that the state's allocation of
federal Title IV-B and Title IV-E funding for foster care and
adoption services, which is over $1 billion annually, is not
interrupted."
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 80-0, 9/10/15
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Travis Allen, Baker, Bigelow, Bloom,
Bonilla, Bonta, Brough, Brown, Burke, Calderon, Campos, Chang,
Chau, Chávez, Chiu, Chu, Cooley, Cooper, Dababneh, Dahle,
Daly, Dodd, Eggman, Frazier, Beth Gaines, 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, Perea, Quirk, Rendon, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez,
Salas, Santiago, Steinorth, Mark Stone, Thurmond, Ting,
Wagner, Waldron, Weber, Wilk, Williams, Wood, Atkins
Prepared by:Mareva Brown / HUMAN S. / (916) 651-1524
9/10/15 23:28:22
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