BILL ANALYSIS
AB 706
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB 706 (Human Services Committee)
As Amended May 5, 2009
2/3 vote. Urgency
HUMAN SERVICES 7-0
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|Ayes:|Beall, Ammiano, Tom | | |
| |Berryhill, Hall, Logue, | | |
| |Portantino, Torres | | |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
| | | | |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY : Makes technical, clarifying, and conforming changes to
provisions related to providing reunification services and
scheduling of juvenile court review hearings concerning children
who are dependents of the juvenile court and their parents or
guardians, and includes an urgency provision.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Establishes the purpose of dependency law as the provision of
the maximum safety and protection for children who are
currently being abused, neglected or exploited, and the
protection of children who are at risk of that harm. The
focus "shall be on the preservation of the family as well as
the safety, protection, and physical and emotional well-being
of the child." (Welfare & Institutions Code Section 302.2.)
2)Provides that children and families in the child welfare
system should typically receive a full six months of
reunification services if the child is under three years of
age, and 12 months if the child is over three years of age.
3)Allows the court in limited circumstances, notwithstanding the
above provisions that state that reunification services "shall
not exceed" set timeframes, to continue court-ordered
reunification services up to a maximum time period of 24
months from the date the child was removed from his or her
parent(s).
4)Requires the juvenile court to hold periodic hearings to
review the status of a dependent child no less frequently than
AB 706
Page 2
once every six months, including a review hearing held six
months after the initial dispositional hearing in which the
court must order the return of the child to the physical
custody of his or her parent or legal guardian unless the
court makes specified findings.
5)Requires the court to hold a permanency review hearing 12
months after the date the child entered foster care, defined
as the earlier of the date of the hearing to determine that
the court has jurisdiction or 60 days after the date on which
the child was initially removed from the physical custody of
his or her parent or guardian.
6)Allows any party to petition the court to terminate
reunification services during the time periods described above
if it appears that new circumstances exist that, had they
previously existed would have led the court to bypass or not
order reunification services, or that the action or inaction
of the parent or guardian has made reunification impossible.
FISCAL EFFECT : None
COMMENTS : California's child welfare system is responsible for
ensuring the protection and safety of children at risk of abuse,
neglect or abandonment. When it is necessary for the state to
remove a child from his or her parents, the primary objective of
the child welfare and foster care systems is to safely reunify
the child with his or her family. To support that objective, in
most cases the juvenile court orders "reunification services,"
such as counseling or treatment, for the child and the child's
parent(s). If the child is under the age of three, these
reunification services are offered for a period of six months.
If the child is over the age of three, the services are offered
for twelve months. In some circumstances, the time periods for
services can be extended to a maximum of 24 months.
In 2008, AB 2341 (Maze), Chapter 457, Statutes of 2008, changed
the statutes governing reunification services to clarify that
children and families in the child welfare system should
typically receive a full six months of reunification services if
the child is under three years of age, and twelve months if the
child is over three years of age. AB 2341 also established a
clearer process for early termination of reunification services
when new evidence or a change of circumstances means that
reunification is no longer an appropriate goal. As a result,
AB 706
Page 3
children and their parents can rest assured that they will
receive reunification services pursuant to the court's order in
the absence of new evidence or a change of circumstances.
After AB 2341 was enacted, concerns were expressed that its
statutory changes may create unintended confusion about the
scheduling of review hearings in juvenile courts. There was
concern, for example, that courts would not know when to set the
six-month review hearing in the event that the dispositional
hearing is delayed beyond eight months. It was feared that
courts might interpret the law to mean that, in such
circumstances, the six-month review hearing could occur after
the 12-month permanency hearing.
This Human Services Committee bill, sponsored by the Children's
Law Center of Los Angeles, is a clean-up bill that makes
technical, non-substantive changes to minimize any potential
confusion. For example, this bill clarifies that the court
should not hold a six-month review hearing longer than 12 months
after the date the child entered foster care. This bill also
makes other technical changes--for example, moving the provision
defining when a child is considered to have entered foster care
to a more prominent, stand-alone section, which would make it
generally applicable for purposes of provisions governing
dependent children.
This bill contains an urgency provision stating that "[i]n order
to ensure uniform interpretation and application of the law
governing the timing and status of review hearings in dependency
proceedings as soon as possible, it is necessary that this act
take effect immediately."
Analysis Prepared by : Eric Gelber / HUM. S. / (916) 319-2089
FN: 0000810