BILL ANALYSIS
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 706|
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CONSENT
Bill No: AB 706
Author: Assembly Human Services Committee
Amended: 6/25/09 in Senate
Vote: 27 - Urgency
SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE : 5-0, 6/23/09
AYES: Corbett, Harman, Florez, Leno, Walters
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 79-0, 5/26/09 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Dependent children
SOURCE : Childrens Law Center of Los Angeles
DIGEST : This bill 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.
ANALYSIS : Existing law 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." [Section 302.2 of the Welfare and Institutions
Code (WIC)]
CONTINUED
AB 706
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Existing law 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 twelve months if the child is over
three years of age. [WIC Section 361.5]
Existing law 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/her parent(s). [WIC Section 361.5]
Existing law requires the juvenile court to hold periodic
hearings to review the status of a dependent child no less
frequently than 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/her parent or legal
guardian unless the court makes specified findings. [WIC
Section 366.21(e)]
Existing law 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/her parent or guardian. [WIC
Section 366.21(f)]
Existing law 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. [WIC Section 388]
Existing law provides that a child may be adjudged a
dependent of the juvenile court if the child was removed
because of abandonment, voluntarily surrender by the
parent, the whereabouts of the parent are unknown, or the
parent is incarcerated and cannot arrange for the care of
the child. [WIC Section 300(g)]
AB 706
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3
This bill 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.
This bill makes the provision establishing the date a child
shall be deemed to have entered foster care generally
applicable for purposes of provisions governing children.
This bill provides that motion to terminate court-ordered
reunification services shall not be required at the six
month review hearing if the court finds by clear and
convincing evidence one of the following: (1) that the
child was removed initially under WIC Section 300(g), and
the whereabouts of the parent are still unknown, (2) the
parent has failed to contact and visit the child, or (3)
the parent has been convicted of a felony indicating
parental unfitness.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No
Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 6/25/09)
Children's Law Center of Los Angeles (source)
County Welfare Directors Association of California
Family Law Section of the State Bar
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : The author states:
"In response to the concerns raised about potential for
confusion about the timing of court hearings, a diverse
workgroup of stakeholders was formed to develop minor,
technical fixes to clean-up AB 2341's changes to the
Welfare & Institutions Code (WIC). The workgroup
unanimously agreed on technical changes that should be
made. These changes will minimize any potential
confusion by clarifying, as quickly as possible, that the
court should not hold what is known as a "[six] month"
review hearing longer than [twelve] months after the date
a child entered into foster care.
AB 706
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"AB 706 also makes other minor technical changes to [the]
WIC."
ASSEMBLY FLOOR :
AYES: Adams, Ammiano, Anderson, Arambula, Beall, Bill
Berryhill, Tom Berryhill, Blakeslee, Block, Blumenfield,
Brownley, Buchanan, Caballero, Charles Calderon, Carter,
Chesbro, Conway, Cook, Coto, Davis, De La Torre, De Leon,
DeVore, Duvall, Emmerson, Eng, Evans, Feuer, Fletcher,
Fong, Fuentes, Fuller, Furutani, Gaines, Galgiani,
Garrick, Gilmore, Hagman, Hall, Harkey, Hayashi,
Hernandez, Hill, Huber, Huffman, Jeffries, Jones, Knight,
Krekorian, Lieu, Logue, Bonnie Lowenthal, Ma, Mendoza,
Miller, Monning, Nava, Nestande, Niello, Nielsen, John A.
Perez, V. Manuel Perez, Portantino, Price, Ruskin, Salas,
Silva, Skinner, Smyth, Solorio, Audra Strickland,
Swanson, Torlakson, Torres, Torrico, Tran, Villines,
Yamada, Bass
NO VOTE RECORDED: Saldana
RJG:mw 6/25/09 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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