BILL ANALYSIS
SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE
Senator Ellen M. Corbett, Chair
2009-2010 Regular Session
AB 743 (Portantino)
As Amended May 17, 2010
Hearing Date: June 29, 2010
Fiscal: Yes
Urgency: No
KB:jd
SUBJECT
Foster Care: Sibling Placement
DESCRIPTION
This bill, sponsored by the Children's Law Center of Los
Angeles, would make changes to the standards for sibling
visitation, interaction, and placement for children who are
placed out-of-home, in foster care, or adoption, to create
conformity with the federal Fostering Connections Act.
Specifically, this bill would require placing agencies to notify
a dependent child's attorney of placements and changes in
placement, as specified.
(The analysis reflects author's amendments to be offered in
committee.)
BACKGROUND
As of October 1, 2009, foster children in California are placed
together with all of their siblings in only about half of all
cases. In approximately 73 percent of cases, foster youth are
placed with some of their siblings, leaving about 27 percent of
cases, where foster youth are separated from all of their
siblings. (Needell, B., Webster, D., Armijo, M., Lee, S.,
Dawson, W., Magruder, J., Exel, M., Cuccaro-Alamin, S.,
Williams, D., Zimmerman, K., Simon, V., Hamilton, D.,
Putnam-Hornstein, E., Frerer, K., Lou, C., Peng, C. & Moore, M.
(2010) Child Welfare Services Reports for California (retrieved
from University of California at Berkeley Center for Social
Services Research).)
(more)
AB 743 (Portantino)
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In October 2008, Congress passed, and President Bush signed, the
Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act
(Act), which promotes permanent families for children and youth
in foster care by providing greater assistance to relative
caregivers and improving incentives for adoption. The act also
extends assistance to foster children to age 21 and improves
education and health care for children and youth in foster care.
Further, the Act requires states to use "reasonable efforts" to
place siblings together, unless such placement is contrary to
their safety or well-being. If the siblings are not placed
together, visitation between them must occur frequently, unless
the visitation is contrary to their safety or well-being. (42
U.S.C. Sec. 671(a).)
This bill seeks to create conformity with the Fostering
Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act with respect
to sibling placement and increase notice to dependent children's
attorneys when a change in placement would result in separation
from siblings.
This bill was approved by the Senate Human Services Committee on
June 10, 2010 by a vote of 3-0.
CHANGES TO EXISTING LAW
Existing federal law requires states to use "reasonable efforts"
to place siblings together, unless such placement is contrary to
their safety or well-being. If the siblings are not placed
together, visitation between them must occur frequently, unless
it is contrary to their safety or well-being. (42 U.S.C. Sec.
671(a).)
Existing law requires a social worker, where possible and
appropriate, to place a child, who has been removed from his or
her parents or guardian because of abuse or neglect, together
with his or her siblings or half-siblings also being removed, or
to describe continuing efforts to place them together if they
are not initially placed together, or to explain why placing
them together is inappropriate. (Wel. & Inst. Code Sec. 306.5.)
Existing law requires, when the court has ordered the removal of
a child from his or her parents, to consider whether there are
siblings also under the court's jurisdiction, the nature of the
relationships between the siblings and the appropriateness of
developing or maintaining those relationships, and the impact of
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those relationships on placement and permanency planning. (Wel.
& Inst. Code Sec. 366.3.)
Existing law states the intent of the Legislature to ensure that
siblings who are removed from the home will be placed in foster
care together, unless the placement is not in the best interest
of one or more siblings. Existing law recognizes the importance
of sibling relationships and requires the responsible local
agency to develop and maintain sibling relationships. Existing
law requires the responsible local agency to make diligent
efforts to maintain sibling relationships in all out-of-home
placements of dependent children. Existing law requires that,
if siblings are not placed together in the same home, the social
worker must explain why, what efforts are being exerted to place
them together in the same home, or why those efforts are not
appropriate. (Wel. & Inst. Code Sec. 16002.)
Existing law requires a placing agency to notify the child's
attorney as soon as possible after the agency makes a decision
regarding a placement or a change of placement for the child.
(Wel. & Inst. Code Sec. 16010.6.)
Existing law requires any order placing a child in foster care
to provide for visitation between a child and any siblings,
unless the court finds by clear and convincing evidence that
sibling interaction is detrimental to either child. (Wel. &
Inst. Code Sec. 362.1.)
Existing law requires a county adoption agency or the State
Department of Social Services to take steps to facilitate
ongoing sibling contact for a dependent child placed in
adoption, except in cases where the court determines by a
preponderance of evidence that sibling interaction is
detrimental to the child. (Wel. & Inst. Code Sec. 16002.)
This bill would require court orders for foster care placement
to provide for sibling visitation, unless the court finds by
clear and convincing evidence that sibling interaction is
"contrary to the safety and well-being" of any of the siblings.
This bill would apply the same "contrary to the safety and
well-being" of either child standard to requirements to
facilitate sibling interaction in adoption cases, and to place
siblings together in out-of-home placements.
This bill would require a placing agency to notify a dependent
child's attorney and provide specified information no later than
the close of the following business day of a decision to place,
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or change the placement of, the child.
This bill would require, absent emergency circumstances, a
placing agency to notify the child's attorney, and the child's
siblings' attorneys, at least 10 calendar days prior to the
change in placement of a dependent child, if the change will
result in the separation of siblings. For changes in placement
that are initiated by a foster family agency, group home, or
other foster care provider, this bill would require the same
notice by the end of the next business day after the receipt of
the notice from the provider. In an emergency, this bill would
require a placing agency to provide notice as soon as possible,
but no later than the next business day following the change of
placement.
This bill would provide that when the required notice is given
prior to a change of placement, the notice shall include
information regarding the child's address, telephone number, and
caregiver, or any one or more of these items to the extent they
are known at the time the placing agency is providing notice.
When the required notice is given after the placement, this bill
would provide that the notice must include all of the items of
information.
COMMENT
1.Stated need for the bill
According to the author, maintaining sibling relationships is
critical to foster children's emotional stability, yet many
children in foster care in California are separated from one or
more of their siblings. The author notes that, for many foster
children already suffering the trauma of the circumstances that
brought their family into the child welfare system, along with
the additional trauma of being removed from their homes,
remaining placed with siblings is a critical lifeline that
provides emotional support. The author believes that the
state's obligation to "parent" vulnerable children goes beyond
their physical safety, and the state should do everything it can
to nurture their emotional well-being and give them every
available opportunity to be connected to the people they love
and are closest to. The author states that the child's attorney
is uniquely positioned to work with all parties involved to
ensure that wherever possible and appropriate the siblings are
able to stay together.
AB 743 (Portantino)
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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 with which the caregiver struggles to 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 can be avoided.
2.Bill would implement federal standard for sibling placement
As previously discussed, the Fostering Connections to Success
and Increasing Adoptions Act requires states to use "reasonable
efforts" to place siblings together, unless such placement is
contrary to their safety or well-being. (42 U.S.C. Sec.
671(a).) In contrast, state law contains various standards for
determining whether to place siblings together or provide for
visitation, including "detrimental to either child," "not in the
best interest of one or more siblings," and "not appropriate."
(Wel. & Inst. Code Secs. 362.1, 16002.)
This bill would codify the federal standard, thus clarifying
that sibling placement and visitation is appropriate in cases
where such placement or visitation is not contrary to the safety
or well-being of the children. This is consistent with the
recommendations of the California Blue Ribbon Commission on
Children in Foster Care, which provide that "[a]ll court
participants continuously review and make extraordinary efforts
to preserve and promote sibling connections and co-placement."
(Fostering a new future for California's children, California
Blue Ribbon Commission on Children in Foster Care, Final Report
and Action Plan, May 2008, available at
http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/jc/tflists/documents/brc-finalreport.
pdf .)
The Juvenile Court Judges of California (JCJC) writes that
currently, Welfare and Institutions Code Section 306.5 requires
a social worker to place siblings together "to the extent that
it is practical and appropriate." JCJC states that it is
unclear how to reconcile that standard with the bill's
provisions, which require a social worker to make reasonable
efforts to place siblings together unless it is contrary to the
safety or well-being of a sibling. JCJC further states that it
would support AB 743 if it were amended to avoid competing
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standards.
3.Increased notice to dependent children's attorneys
Current law requires notice to a dependent child's attorney when
a decision is made about the child's placement or change of
placement. (Wel. & Inst. Code Sec. 16010.6.) This bill would
require that, absent an emergency, a child's attorney and the
attorneys for all the child's siblings, be notified at least ten
days before a proposed separation of siblings who have been
placed together. For placement changes initiated by the foster
care provider, the notice would have to be provided by the end
of the next business day after the placing agency receives
notice from the provider. In the event of an emergency, the
placing agency would have to provide notice as soon as possible,
but no later than the close of the first business day following
the change of placement. This increased notice would provide
the children's attorney the opportunity to investigate the
circumstances of the proposed separation, and advocate for the
children to remain together in those cases where they conclude
it is appropriate.
Finally, this bill would also require the notice provided to the
children's attorneys to contain the child's address, telephone
number, and caregiver when the information is available at the
time notice is provided. If notice is provided after the change
in placement has occurred, this bill would require that it
contain all of the specified items of information. This would
ensure that the child's attorney is kept apprised of the child's
placement and information necessary to conduct an investigation
into the change of placement.
4.Opposition/Author's amendments
The Department of Child Support Services (CDSS) has taken an
"oppose unless amended" position to AB 743 and has requested
some amendments which it believes would better create conformity
between state and federal law. CDSS has also requested an
amendment to the bill's current notice provisions to provide
placing agencies with more of a margin between the time it
receives notice of the change in placement and the time it must
give notice to the children's attorneys. The author has
accordingly offered the following amendments to address CDSS'
concerns.
Author's Amendments
AB 743 (Portantino)
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On page 4, line 6, after the first comma, insert "to place
siblings together in the same placement, and"
On page 4, line 9, after "why" insert "making"
On page 4, line 9, strike "are" and insert "would be"
On page 4, line 9, strike "or" and insert "and"
On page 4, line 9, after "any" insert "of the siblings" and
strike "sibling"
On page 4, line 17, strike "or" and insert "and"
On page 4, line 17, after "any" insert "any of the siblings"
On page 4, line 18, strike "sibling"
On page 6 line 5 after "attorneys" insert "by the end of the
next business day after the receipt of the notice from the
provider" and strike "no fewer than seven days before the
planned change of placement"
Support : All Saints Church Foster Care Project; American
Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, AFL-CIO;
Aspiranet; California Alliance of Child and Family Services;
California Youth Connection; Child Abuse Prevention Council of
Contra Costa County; Children's Advocacy Institute; County
Welfare Directors Association of California; Family Law Section
of the State Bar Judicial Council of California; Junior Leagues
of California; Juvenile Court Judges of California (if amended);
National Association of Social Workers, California Chapter;
Public Counsel Law Center
Opposition : Department of Social Services (unless amended)
HISTORY
Source : Children's Law Center of Los Angeles
Related Pending Legislation : AB 12 (Beall and Bass) would make
statutory changes necessary to allow the state to participate in
the federal Kin-GAP program and draw down federal funds to allow
eligible foster youth to stay in foster care until they reach
the age of 21. This bill is scheduled to be heard in this
committee on June 22, 2010.
Prior Legislation :
AB 705 (Steinberg, Chapter 747, Statutes of 2001) ensured that
sibling relationships are considered at all appropriate hearings
and siblings are placed together when appropriate.
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AB 1987 (Steinberg, Chapter 909, Statutes of 2000) recognized
the importance of sibling relationships and required the court
to consider the existence, nature, and impact of a dependent
child's sibling relationships on the child's placement and
planning for legal permanence.
AB 740 (Steinberg, Chapter 805, Statutes of 1999) expedited the
procedure for permanent placement of a sibling group.
Prior Vote :
Assembly Judiciary Committee (Ayes 10, Noes 0)
Assembly Human Services Committee (Ayes 7, Noes 0)
Assembly Appropriations Committee (Ayes 13, Noes 0)
Assembly Floor (Ayes 67, Noes 0)
Senate Human Services Committee (Ayes 3, Noes 0)
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