BILL ANALYSIS
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 2031|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 2031
Author: Cohn (D), et al
Amended: 3/29/06 in Assembly
Vote: 21
SENATE HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE : 5-0, 6/27/06
AYES: Alquist, Maldonado, Aanestad, Chesbro, Romero
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 80-0, 5/31/06 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Dependent children
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill requires the State Department of
Social Services to work with stakeholders to draft best
practices guidelines for using advanced technology to
assist counties in identifying all relatives and
non-relative extended family members for foster children.
ANALYSIS :
Existing Law
1.Declares the duty of the state to care for and protect
foster children.
2.Gives to the Department of Social Services (DSS) various
CONTINUED
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powers and duties relating to ensuring that the needs of
foster children are met by local child welfare agencies
and foster care providers.
3.Requires the state to encourage the development of
specified child protection approaches in order to achieve
goals for foster children.
4.Establishes the Kinship Support Services Program, which
allows counties to apply for funds to work with
community-based, public-private partnership programs
offering support services to relatives caring for foster
children and children at risk of dependency.
5.Establishes the Kinship Guardianship Assistance Payment
Program, which provides financial assistance on behalf of
foster children placed with relative caregivers under
defined circumstances.
This bill:
1.Requires DSS, in conjunction with the California Youth
Connection, the County Welfare Directors Association, and
the California Alliance of Child and Family Services
among other stakeholders, to draft guidelines outlining
best practices in the use of advanced technology to
assist counties in identifying all relatives and
non-relative extended family members at the earliest
possible time for a foster child.
2.Expands current law to require the state to encourage
the development of approaches that ensure that a search
for relatives available for placement is initiated before
placement decisions are made for children who are unable
to be reunited with their families.
3.Authorizes DSS to identify best practices for
implementing optimal foster child placement
opportunities, including those strategies reported by
designated counties that have developed kinship care
programs.
4.Makes findings and declarations noting that eight
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counties in California have initiated programs that use
new advances in technology to find a foster child's
relatives and extended families and that relative homes
offer stability to children and enhance family
reunification.
5.Specifies that while the Legislature supports
reunification of families when it can be safely
accomplished, the search for permanent homes with
relatives should be initiated before placement decisions
are made for children who cannot return to their
biological families.
Note: Last year, a nearly identical bill, AB 880 (Cohn),
passed the Legislature but was vetoed. In his veto
message, the governor said, among other things, "the bill
does not provide resources to develop the cost benefit
analysis of using locator technology." This bill, however,
does not require a cost benefit analysis.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 8/9/06)
AFSCME
California State Association of Counties
California Alliance of Child and Family Services
Children's Law Center of Los Angeles
Children's Advocacy Institute
County Welfare Directors Association
Judicial Council of California
Los Angeles County Inter-Agency Council on Child Abuse and
Neglect
National Center for Youth Law
Sacramento County Board of Supervisors
Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author's office,
"far too many children are placed with strangers or in
group homes due to the difficulty of finding available
relatives for the purposes of adoption, relative
care-giving or an established connection to the youth's
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immediate family. As a result, these youth experience
emotional trauma, inadequate education, homelessness and
often criminal behavior."
The author's office also indicates that advanced
technologies for finding relatives and non-relative family
members have proven successful in eight California counties
and in other states such as Washington and Illinois.
Internet searches and other innovative approaches are used.
The proposed best practice guidelines are intended to
promote the use of these approaches in more counties so
that more children are reunited and placed with family
members. Supporters of this bill indicate that placing
children with relatives or extended family members
increases the child's likelihood of successful outcomes.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR :
AYES: Aghazarian, Arambula, Baca, Bass, Benoit, Berg,
Bermudez, Blakeslee, Bogh, Calderon, Canciamilla, Chan,
Chavez, Chu, Cogdill, Cohn, Coto, Daucher, De La Torre,
DeVore, Dymally, Emmerson, Evans, Frommer, Garcia,
Goldberg, Hancock, Harman, Haynes, Jerome Horton, Shirley
Horton, Houston, Huff, Jones, Karnette, Keene, Klehs,
Koretz, La Malfa, La Suer, Laird, Leno, Leslie, Levine,
Lieber, Lieu, Liu, Matthews, Maze, McCarthy, Montanez,
Mountjoy, Mullin, Nakanishi, Nation, Nava, Negrete
McLeod, Niello, Oropeza, Parra, Pavley, Plescia, Richman,
Ridley-Thomas, Sharon Runner, Ruskin, Saldana, Salinas,
Spitzer, Strickland, Torrico, Tran, Umberg, Vargas,
Villines, Walters, Wolk, Wyland, Yee, Nunez
CTW:do 8/9/06 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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