BILL ANALYSIS
AB 743
Page 1
Date of Hearing: January 21, 2010
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Kevin De Leon, Chair
AB 743 (Portantino) - As Amended: January 11, 2010
Policy Committee: JudiciaryVote:10
- 0
Human Services 7 - 0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
Yes Reimbursable: Yes
SUMMARY
This bill expands the rights of dependent children to remain
with their siblings. Specifically, this bill:
1)Requires social workers to make reasonable efforts to place
siblings together when they have been removed from their
parents or guardian because of abuse or neglect.
2)Requires the social worker, if unable to place siblings
together, to facilitate frequent visits or other on-going
visitation between the siblings.
3)Requires the placing agency to notify the child's attorney and
the child's siblings' attorneys when the agency that placed
the child becomes aware of the need for a change of placement
and requires that notification to be sent by the end of the
following business day at the latest.
4)Requires, except in the event of an emergency, that the agency
provide a notice of the planned change of placement if it will
result in the separation of siblings, no less than 10 calendar
days prior to the change.
5)Requires, in the case of an emergency, that the agency notify
the child's attorney and the siblings' attorney within 24
hours of a change of placement.
FISCAL EFFECT
1)Costs likely in excess of $400,000 ($200,000 GF) for increased
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social worker workload associated with requiring a higher
standard for sibling placement and facilitating frequent
visits between separated siblings.
2)Minimal costs of less than $30,000 ($16,000 GF) for the
workload associated with notifying siblings' attorneys in the
event of a separation.
3)Potential, unknown cost pressure due to the requirement that
social workers notify attorneys by the end of the following
business day if they need to change sibling placements. Under
current law, a social worker is required to notify the
attorneys "as soon as possible." Due to the under-funding of
the child welfare system, this proposed timeline may result in
additional social worker overtime or in delaying other
mandated tasks.
COMMENTS
1)Rationale . The author identifies several issues under current
law that this bill is intended to address. Current law
requires the child welfare department to notify the child's
attorney "as soon as possible" when a child has been moved to
a new placement, but does not require the notification to
occur within any prescribed timeframe. Current law does not
require the child welfare department to notify the attorney
for the sibling of a child being removed from a placement
where the two children are placed together. In addition,
current law requiring the child welfare departments to make
efforts to place siblings together does not comport with the
"reasonable efforts" requirement of recently enacted federal
law-the Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing
Adoptions Act (Fostering Connections Act; HR 6893; Pub. L.
110-351).
The sponsor, Children's Law Center of Los Angeles (CLC),
reports that, often, a sibling group is initially placed
together but one of the children has difficulties or
demonstrates behavioral issues that the caregiver cannot
handle. Many times the remedy sought by the social worker is
to remove that child from that foster home, thus separating
the siblings. CLC believes that with the intervention of the
child's attorney who may have a different relationship with
the caregiver and/or different ideas for resources to address
the underlying issue, many of these anticipated separations
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can be avoided.
Analysis Prepared by : Julie Salley-Gray / APPR. / (916)
319-2081