BILL ANALYSIS
SENATE HUMAN
SERVICES COMMITTEE
Senator Carol Liu, Chair
BILL NO: AB 770
A
AUTHOR: Torres
B
VERSION: May 12, 2009
HEARING DATE: June 23, 2009
7
FISCAL: To Appropriations
7
0
CONSULTANT:
Lane
SUBJECT
Indian tribes: foster care and adoption programs
SUMMARY
Ensures that the state maximizes the opportunities for
Indian tribes to operate foster care programs for Indian
children pursuant to federal law.
ABSTRACT
Current federal law
1)Establishes requirements for a state plan for foster
care, transitional independent living programs, and
adoption assistance (Title IV-E of the Social Security
Act) for children meeting federal eligibility criteria,
and provides for federal participation in the cost of
implementing the state plan.
2)Establishes minimum standards for child welfare cases
involving Indian children, including requirements related
to jurisdiction, notice of and intervention in
proceedings by a tribe, and providing that the acts,
records, and judicial proceedings of tribal courts are
entitled to full faith and credit to the same extent that
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the acts, records, or judicial proceedings of another
state would be.
3)Allows Indian tribes, organizations, or consortia to
receive Title IV-E foster care funds and take on
corresponding responsibilities (placement,
administration, training, eligibility determination, and
adoption assistance), as a state would. Alternatively,
tribes can receive funds via an agreement with a state.
(42 USC 670 et seq.)
4)Requires state plans under Title IV-E to include a
commitment that the state will negotiate in good faith
with any Indian tribe, organization, or consortium that
requests to develop an agreement with the state to
administer all or part of the program on behalf of Indian
children under authority of the tribe. [42 USC
671(a)(32)]
5)Requires the state to negotiate in good faith with
respect to independent living program and education and
training voucher funds. [42 USC 677(b)(3)(G)]
Current state law
1)Establishes a system of child welfare services, including
out-of-home placement in foster care and adoption
assistance for special needs children, for children who
have been or are at risk of being abused or neglected.
2)Establishes out-of-home foster care placement options for
dependents and wards placed in foster care, including
foster homes, relative and nonrelative extended family
members' homes, homes supervised by foster family
agencies, and group homes.
3)Provides that counties function as "the arm of the state"
in arranging out-of-home foster care, some transitional
services for youth emancipating from foster care, and
adoption assistance for children who are in foster care
and who have special needs.
4)Authorizes the state to enter into agreements with tribes
to pass through IV-E funds if tribes take on child
welfare services in a manner similar to counties.
(Welfare and Institutions Code Sections10553.1 and
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10553.2)
This bill
1)Makes findings and declarations including that federal
law provides Indian tribes with the option to operate
foster care, adoption assistance and a kinship
guardianship assistance program, with a federal share of
cost for an approved program; and, that state policy will
maximize the opportunities for Indian tribes to operate
foster care programs for Indian children pursuant to new
federal law.
2)Directs the State Department of Social Services (DSS) to
negotiate in good faith with an Indian tribe,
organization, or consortium in the state that requests
development of an agreement with the state to administer
all or part of the programs under Title IV-E of the
Social Security Act on behalf of the Indian children who
are under the authority of the tribe, organization, or
consortium.
FISCAL IMPACT
According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee, this
bill has minor and absorbable costs.
BACKGROUND AND DISCUSSION
Title IV-E of the Social Security Act
Child welfare services are, in essence, prescribed by
federal law. Title IV-E of the Social Security Act
provides for foster care (which is out-of-home care),
adoption assistance, and some transitional services for
youth emancipating out of foster care. Other child
welfare services, including prevention, alternative
placements, and family reunification are found under Title
IV-B. AB 770 provides for negotiation between DSS and
tribes concerning those services provided through Title
IV-E.
New federal legislation
In October, 2008, the President signed the Fostering
Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act (P.L.
STAFF ANALYSIS OF ASSEMBLY BILL 770 (Torres) Page
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110-351). Among other provisions, the act authorizes
Indian tribes, under specified circumstances, to receive
federal funds to support the operation of child welfare
programs directly. The act also requires states to commit
to negotiating in good faith with any tribe, organization
or consortium that requests to develop an agreement with
the state to administer all or part of the child welfare
program on behalf of Indian children under authority of the
tribe. This bill would conform state law to those
requirements.
Indian child welfare laws
In response to reports that a large percentage of Indian
children had been removed from their families by courts and
child welfare agencies and placed in foster or adoptive
homes and institutions, Congress enacted the Indian Child
Welfare Act in 1978. With this landmark legislation,
Congress recognized that states "often failed to recognize
the essential tribal relations of Indian people and the
cultural and social standards prevailing in Indian
communities and families," and that the removal of Indian
children was "often unwarranted." The goal of the Indian
Child Welfare Act is to "protect the best interests of
Indian children and to promote the stability and security
of Indian tribes and families." The act provides an
overall framework that governs child welfare proceedings
involving Indian children who are subject to the
jurisdiction of states' dependency courts because of abuse
or neglect or the risk of such harm.
Related legislation
Other bills introduced this session include provisions to
implement various sections of the federal Fostering
Connections Act: SB 597 (Liu), AB 12 (Beall), AB 500
(Conway), AB 938 (Committee on Judiciary), AB 1067
(Brownley), and AB 1402 (Bass).
AB 1325 (Cook), which is before the Senate Human Services
Committee, would establish procedures to allow for the use
of tribal customary adoption as a permanency option for
Indian children in out-of-home care.
Previous votes
Assembly Floor 76-0
Assembly Appropriations 15-0
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Assembly Human Services 6-0
POSITIONS
Support: American Federation of State, County and
Municipal Employees
California Alliance of Child and Family
Services
California Commission on the Status of Women
California Communities United Institute
Oppose: None received
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