BILL ANALYSIS
SENATE HUMAN
SERVICES COMMITTEE
Senator Elaine K. Alquist, Chair
BILL NO: SB 1641
S
AUTHOR: Soto
B
VERSION: February 24, 2006
HEARING DATE: March 28, 2006
1
FISCAL: Senate Judiciary
6
4
CONSULTANT:
1
Sue North
SUBJECT
Foster Care Providers
SUMMARY
Directs the Department of Social Services (DSS) to convene
a workgroup to review statutes, regulations and policies of
foster care placements to identify barriers and propose
changes whenever existing policies result in stigmatizing
effects to foster children risking their normal growth and
development in the community.
ABSTRACT
Existing law vests the legal responsibility for
establishing policies, licensing standards and regulations
for the care and supervision of all children removed from
their parents due to dependency, neglect or abuse.This bill
calls for a workgroup to be convened under the direction of
DSS to review laws, regulations and policies to determine
when they have a stigmatizing effect of the children they
are designed to protect. Proposed changes would be
forthcoming no later than December 31, 2007.
Continued---
STAFF ANALYSIS OF SENATE BILL 1641 (Soto) Page
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Existing law requires placement agencies which utilize
"foster family agencies" to require those agencies when
placing a child in a foster home to place each child in a
home that best meets the needs of the child. This bill
expands that requirement by further adding such a finding
to placements with relative caregivers, non-relative
extended family members, foster family homes as group
homes. It also defines a "home that meets the best needs
of the child" as one which meets the child's health,
safety, well-being needs in the least restrictive, most
family like environment and which allows the child to
engage in age-appropriate activities and details what those
activities include.
FISCAL IMPACT
Unknown
BACKGROUND AND DISCUSSION
The author states the goal of the legislation as "All
foster children should live in the most family-like setting
possible." The author further cites examples of current
licensing standards and regulations which cause undue
hardship on foster children by depriving them of
participation in age-appropriate normal behavior.
A 17 year old is not allowed to be home alone, even
while a foster parent runs a simple errand;
Laundry detergent cannot be accessible to foster
teens
No more than two children can occupy a bedroom even
for a single night, precluding sibling or grandparent
visitation, let alone school friends "sleeping over."
These and other such examples have also been cited as
barriers to recruiting foster parents. Many families do
not want to alter their own homes so radically that they
would not consider them to be "normal" as a result of
accepting a foster child.
This legislation follows other recent legislative efforts
to "normalize" the foster care system. AB 408 Steinberg
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(Ch.813, Statutes of 2003) and SB 358 Scott (Ch. 628,
Statutes of 2005) both established a "reasonable and
prudent parent" standard with regard to foster parent
decisions regarding extracurricular activities and the use
of babysitters respectively. This standard is necessary as
foster parents are held responsible for the health, safety
and wellbeing of their foster children. Since natural
parents enjoy more privacy from government intrusion into
incremental decisions made about their children, even when
some of those decisions lead to unintended harm or injury,
foster parents need clarity to guide how they approach
parenting decisions vis-?-vis the state's legal
responsibilities for the children involved.
Comments:
1. The enumerated changes in Section 3 of the bill
detail new explicit requirements all foster homes
would need to commit to as a condition of accepting a
foster child regarding certain aspects of living
including the commitment to allow participation in
athletic and recreational activities, remaining home
alone, having access to household and personal
cleaning products as well as over-the-counter
medications, etc. While the intent of the author is
laudable, is such statutory detail another form of
"one size fits all" which will result in yet more
nonsensical circumstances? As an example, so-called
"normal children" from intact families do not have a
guarantee of participation on athletic and
recreational activities since all families have to
gauge such decisions on available transportation,
financial support, etc. Would this section unduly
burden foster families in other ways? Some foster
children may have specific conditions which could
preclude compliance with some of these requirements
(e.g., a Prader-Willi child with access to cleaning
agents, medications, etc.). As drafted, is it clear
these normalizing aspects of daily living are to be
altered according to the specific needs of each child
regardless of age?
2. Should SB 1641 be enacted in its present form,
Section 3 will be in conflict with other existing
group home statutes and regulations during 2007 (the
STAFF ANALYSIS OF SENATE BILL 1641 (Soto) Page
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purpose of Sections 1 and 2 of the bill are to
identify such provisions and to recommend changes by
December 31, 2007). Should Section 3 of the bill be
amended to become operative January 1, 2008?
POSITIONS
Support: Co-Sponsors: Legal Advocates for Permanent
Parenting
National Center for Youth Law
County Welfare Directors
Association of California
Foster Parent Association of
Santa Cruz County
AFSCME
Oppose: None received
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