BILL ANALYSIS
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 1641|
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UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Bill No: SB 1641
Author: Soto (D)
Amended: 8/22/06
Vote: 21
SENATE HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE : 3-1, 3/28/06
AYES: Maldonado, Chesbro, Romero
NOES: Aanestad
NO VOTE RECORDED: Alquist
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 8-3, 4/24/06
AYES: Murray, Alarcon, Alquist, Dutton, Escutia, Florez,
Romero, Torlakson
NOES: Ashburn, Battin, Poochigian
NO VOTE RECORDED: Aanestad, Ortiz
SENATE FLOOR : 27-9, 5/11/06
AYES: Alarcon, Alquist, Bowen, Cedillo, Chesbro, Denham,
Ducheny, Dunn, Escutia, Figueroa, Florez, Kehoe,
Lowenthal, Machado, Maldonado, Margett, McClintock,
Murray, Ortiz, Perata, Romero, Scott, Simitian, Soto,
Speier, Torlakson, Vincent
NOES: Aanestad, Ackerman, Ashburn, Battin, Cox, Dutton,
Hollingsworth, Morrow, Poochigian
NO VOTE RECORDED: Kuehl, Migden, Runner, Vacancy
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 71-8, 8/28/06 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Foster care providers
SOURCE : Legal Advocates for Permanent Parenting
CONTINUED
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National Center for Youth Law
DIGEST : This bill requires the Department of Social
Services Director to report to the Legislature during the
2007-08 budget hearings on the progress of the Department
of Social Services residential regulation review group.
Assembly Amendments recast provisions relative to requiring
the Director of Social Services to convene a workshop to
review foster care provisions in existing law.
ANALYSIS : 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.
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:
1.Acknowledges that the Department of Social Services
(DSS) has convened a children's residential regulation
review workgroup which includes DSS staff and
stakeholders to review community care and foster care
statutes, regulations and polices to ensure that they
promote the safety and well-being of children and youth
in foster care and those who are leaving foster care.
2.Specifies that when a placement agency has placed a
child with a relative caregiver, nonrelative extended
family member, licensed foster family home or a foster
family agency for subsequent placement in a certified
family home or group home the placement agency shall
ensure that, to the fullest extent possible, the
placement of the child best meets the needs of a child.
3.Specifies criteria to satisfy the placement meeting the
needs of the child by promoting the least restrictive
environment, having appropriate access to household and
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personal cleaning products, having access to
over-the-counter medications and learning reasonable
self-care, having access to regular activities commonly
associated with living in a home with a family.
4.Declares the intent of the Legislature to ensure that
youth placed in out-of-home placements are given the
opportunity to live in an environment that resembles as
closely as possible non-foster care families.
5.Makes additional findings and declarations regarding
foster care licensing.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: Yes
According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee analysis
there are minor, absorbable administrative costs for the
DSS to review and clean up relevant regulations governing
the licensing of foster care facilities. In addition,
there are minor, if any, nonreimbursable local public
safety costs as this bill expands an existing crime
relating to licensing and regulation of placement agencies
and foster care providers.
SUPPORT : (Verified 4/25/06)
Legal Advocates for Permanent Parenting (co-source)
National Center for Youth Law (co-source)
AFSCME
County Welfare Directors Association of California
Foster Parent Association of Santa Cruz County
National Association of Council for Children, Los Angeles
Chapter
Straight from the Heart
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author's office,
the goal of the legislation as "all foster children should
live in the most family-like setting possible." The
author's office 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.
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1.A 17 year old is not allowed to be home alone, even
while a foster parent runs a simple errand.
2.Laundry detergent cannot be accessible to foster teens.
3.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.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR :
AYES: Aghazarian, Arambula, Baca, Bass, Benoit, Berg,
Bermudez, Blakeslee, Calderon, Canciamilla, Chan, Chavez,
Chu, Cogdill, Cohn, Coto, Daucher, De La Torre, Dymally,
Emmerson, Evans, Frommer, Garcia, Goldberg, Hancock,
Jerome Horton, Shirley Horton, Houston, Huff, Jones,
Karnette, Keene, Klehs, Koretz, Laird, Leno, Leslie,
Levine, Lieber, Lieu, Liu, Matthews, Maze, McCarthy,
Montanez, Mullin, Nation, Nava, Negrete McLeod, Niello,
Oropeza, Parra, Pavley, Plescia, Richman, Ridley-Thomas,
Sharon Runner, Ruskin, Saldana, Salinas, Spitzer,
Strickland, Torrico, Tran, Umberg, Vargas, Villines,
Wolk, Wyland, Yee, Nunez
NOES: Bogh, DeVore, Haynes, La Malfa, La Suer, Mountjoy,
Nakanishi, Walters
NO VOTE RECORDED: Vacancy
CTW:do 8/29/06 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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