BILL ANALYSIS
AB 1743
Page 1
CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
AB 1743 (Judiciary Committee)
As Amended June 20, 2005
Majority vote
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|ASSEMBLY: |77-0 |(April 28, |SENATE: |34-0 |(August 15, |
| | |2005) | | |2005) |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Original Committee Reference: JUD.
SUMMARY : Cleans-up and expands the family reunification-child
support compromise program for foster care cases. Specifically,
this bill requires the:
1)Department of Social Services (DSS), in consultation with the
Department of Child Support Services (DCSS), to establish
regulations by which the county welfare department can
determine if it is contrary to the best interests of a child
to refer his or her case to the local child support agency
(LCSA) for child support services, to include not only
federally funded foster care cases, but all other foster care
cases, as well as Kinship Guardianship Assistance Payment
Program (Kin-GAP) cases.
2)County child welfare department to review annually the
determination that it is contrary to the best interest of the
child to refer his or her case to the LCSA for child support
collection, coinciding with required California Work
Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) and
foster-care eligibility redeterminations.
The Senate amendments clarify that the family
reunification-child support compromise program applies to
CalWORKs cases where the child is subject to the jurisdiction of
the juvenile court under Welfare & Institutions Code Section 300
and has been removed from the parental home and placed with a
caretaker relative by court order.
EXISTING LAW :
1) Requires DCSS to establish regulations for the compromise of
child support arrearages owed as reimbursement for public
assistance when the child is returned to the custody of the
AB 1743
Page 2
obligor in either of the following circumstances: a) the
child had been adjudged a dependent of the juvenile court,
but has since been reunified with the obligor pursuant to an
order of the juvenile court; or, b) the child had been placed
with a guardian or relative caregiver, who received public
assistance for the child, and the child has since been
returned to the home of the obligor.
2) Provides that the compromise is only appropriate where the
obligor parent has an income less that 250% of the federal
poverty level, and the LCSA determines, pursuant to
regulations, that the compromise is necessary for the support
of the child. Prior to compromising the debt, the LCSA is
required to consult with the county child welfare department.
3) Requires DSS to establish regulations by October 1, 2002,
defining cases in which it would be contrary to the best
interest of the child for the county welfare department to
refer a case to an LCSA for establishment of a support order
for the reimbursement of public assistance (AFDC-FC).
4) Requires DSS and DCSS to report to the Governor and the
Legislature on the results of foster care-child support
collection limitation program no later than October 1, 2003.
(Uncodified Section 5, AB 1449 (Keeley), Chapter 463,
Statutes of 2001.)
5) Directs DCSS to establish a compromise of arrears program for
compromise of state-owed child support arrears for obligors
who are unable to pay their child support debt.
6) States the legislative intent that Kin-GAP is intended to
enhance family preservation and stability by recognizing that
many children are in long-term, stable placements with
relatives, that these placements are the permanent plan for
the child, that dependencies can be dismissed with legal
guardianship granted to the relative, and that there is no
need for continued governmental intervention in the family
life through ongoing, scheduled court and social services
supervision of the placement.
AS PASSED BY THE ASSEMBLY , this bill was substantially similar,
except as set forth above.
AB 1743
Page 3
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Senate Appropriations
Committee, pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8, negligible state costs.
COMMENTS : This bill seeks to clean-up and expand the program to
limit child support collection from parents with children in
foster care if such collection efforts would interfere with
reunification efforts. According to the author:
Child support obligations can make it difficult for
parents of children in foster care to successfully
reunify with their children. This, in turn, can
result in longer stays in foster care, increasing both
the trauma to children and the costs to the state and
counties. AB 1449 (Kelley), Chapter 463 of the
Statutes of 2001, made reunification easier by
alleviating some of the burden of reimbursing the
state for public assistance when a child has returned
to the home of the obligor and the reduction of the
payments is necessary to help the parent or guardian
support the child.
In addition to the provisions regarding arrearage collections,
AB 1449 also allows county child welfare agencies to decide
up-front to forego the commencement of child support, if it is
determined that the collection of child support would conflict
with reunification efforts.
This bill seeks to clean-up and expand AB 1449 in three areas to
ensure the goals of that legislation are achieved. First, this
bill would clarify code section references to make clear that
the law applies to all types of foster care placements, not just
federally funded foster care. There is no policy rational for
applying the program to only parents with children in federally
funded foster care, rather it appears to have been an oversight
in the original legislation.
Second, this bill would align required periodic reviews with the
annual eligibility redeterminations now required for CalWORKs
and foster care under Welfare & Institutions Code Sections 11265
and 11401.5. Those review periods just changed last year, after
AB 1449, which requires six-month reviews, was already enacted.
This bill would align the review periods, eliminating
unnecessary work and providing for greater case management
efficiency.
AB 1743
Page 4
Finally, this bill would expand the program to include Kin-GAP.
Under Kin-GAP, relatives can assume permanent guardianship of
children in their care and receive financial assistance.
Kin-GAP not only saves the state, counties and courts money by
dismissing the dependency court case and eliminating case
management for the child welfare department, but it also helps
preserve ties between a child and his or her family since the
child is placed with a relative. Requiring child support in
Kin-GAP cases may make a relative who is considering whether to
assume the guardianship of a child reluctant to become a
guardian. This bill would put Kin-GAP cases on par with foster
care cases and help keep children close to their families.
The original legislation required both DCSS and DSS to report
results of the program to the Legislature by October 1, 2003.
DSS, which has only just now promulgated regulations to begin
the program, has not yet done a study. DCSS reported that from
October 2002 - June 2004 through the Family Reunification
Compromise of Assigned Arrearages Program it approved 3,137
applications for compromise. The total amount compromised was
nearly $18 million. These cases include federal and state
foster care cases, as well as Kin-GAP cases. DCSS was unable to
provide data indicating how much might have been collected if
the arrearages had not been compromised, although DCSS suggests
that would have been a very low amount, or what affect the
compromise program has had on family reunification, although
anecdotally it appears to be effective.
The County Welfare Directors Association of California, this
bill's sponsor, finds that this bill is necessary to clean-up
consensus items identified by county welfare departments and DSS
as they worked to implement AB 1449: "AB 1743 will provide the
necessary clarifications to enable CDSS and the county child
welfare agencies to fully implement the intent of AB 1449."
The Family Law Section of the State Bar supports this bill,
holding that the policy of the reunification program is to "not
burden parents with child support (that is probably
uncollectible) who are in the process of reunification with
their children. The bill extends the law to KIN GAP where a
relative such as a grandmother is receiving money to care for a
child while the parent is rehabilitated. The family law section
supports this policy."
AB 1743
Page 5
Analysis Prepared by : Leora Gershenzon / JUD. / (916)
319-2334
FN: 0011646