BILL ANALYSIS
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair
1048 (Torrico)
Hearing Date: 08/17/2009 Amended: 07/16/2009
Consultant: Jacqueline Wong-HernandezPolicy Vote: Judiciary 4-1
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BILL SUMMARY: AB 1048 extends the period during which a person
may safely surrender a baby at designated sites as long as the
proper procedures under the existing Safely Surrendered Baby law
are followed. Specifically, this bill:
1) Allows the safe surrender of a baby up to 30 days old,
(rather than 72 hours).
2) Permits a fire agency to designate a safe surrender
site, upon approval of the appropriate local governing
body.
3) Immunizes a safe surrender site from liability for a
surrendered child prior to taking actual physical custody
of the child, or prior to the time the surrender site or
its personnel knows, or should know, that the child has
been surrendered.
4) Require the Department of Social Services (DSS) to
report specified information to the Legislature by January
1, 2013.
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Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
Major Provisions 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12
Fund
Authorizes new sites $0
$0 $0 General
Expands safe surrender eligibility Unknown, likely very
minor new costs Local*
Expands mandate on CPS Unknown, likely very
minor** General
Requires new DSS report
$16 $32 General
*These costs are not reimbursable
**Potentially reimbursable state mandate on county child
protective services (CPS)
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STAFF COMMENTS: This bill may meet the criteria for referral to
the Suspense File.
A safe surrender site is a designated place at which, up to 72
hours after being born, a baby may be surrendered anonymously
and without legal ramifications. The intent of creating safe
surrender sites is to avoid the abandonment of babies in places
where they may not be found and/or may suffer harm. Existing law
requires that every hospital in the state of California, both
private and public, designate a safe surrender site on its
premises. Because this mandate applies equally to county
(public) and private hospitals, it is not eligible for
reimbursement by the state.
This bill allows a local fire agency to also designate a safe
surrender site, with approval of the appropriate local governing
body of the agency, but does not require any new sites. These
sites, if designated by local governing bodies, would be subject
to the
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AB 1048 (Torrico)
same intake procedures as existing hospital safe surrender
sites, as well as the same notification requirements to local
CPS agencies.
This bill increases the amount of time during which a baby is
eligible to be surrendered at a safe surrender site. Existing
law allows for surrender in the first 72 hours after birth.
Under this existing law, 280 babies have been surrendered
statewide in the past 8 years. During this same time period, 149
babies were found alive, illegally abandoned. Increasing the
length of eligibility to 30 days will likely result in some
increase of surrendered babies, but it is not clear to what
extent. Babies older than 72 hours can be put up for adoption or
otherwise turned over to local CPS agencies, and it is not
possible to determine how many babies would have remained in
their homes (instead of being turned over in another way), who
will now be surrendered at a safe surrender site. It is likely
that the same children will enter the child welfare system, but
through different avenues.
Local CPS agencies are, under existing law, required to respond
to a notification that a baby was surrendered at a safe
surrender site within its jurisdiction. To the extent that this
bill results in additional surrenders, CPS would have to respond
to those cases. Research suggests that a baby is most likely to
be abandoned in the first 7 days, which is an increase of
approximately double the current time allowed.* Considering the
limited number of children surrendered currently, approximately
35 per year, doubling the amount of time may result in doubling
the number of abandoned babies, which is still a very small
number relative to CPS caseloads. If this bill resulted in 70
babies surrendered annually, from up to 56 counties (Alpine and
Sierra counties do not have safe surrender sites), it is
unlikely the $1,000 threshold for a reimbursable mandate will be
met by more than a few counties.
This bill requires DSS to report the effects of this bill to the
Legislature by January 1, 2013. The report must include: (a) The
number of children one year of age or younger who are found
abandoned, dead or alive; (b) the number of infants surrendered
pursuant to this act, with their approximate age; (c) the number
of medical history questionnaires completed in those cases; (d)
the number of instances in which a parent or other person having
lawful custody seeks to reclaim custody of a surrendered child,
both during and after the initial period following surrender,
and the outcome; (e) whether a person seeking to reclaim custody
is the individual who surrendered the child; (f) the number of
children surrendered pursuant to this act who show signs of
neglect or abuse and the disposition of those cases; (g) the
number of parents or legal guardians eventually located and
contacted by social workers.
*There is very limited evidence of the likelihood of abandonment
at a safe surrender site between the 7th and 30th day after a
baby's birth. The author's office has indicated that post-partum
depression most often sets in during the first 30 days after the
birth. This can result in psychotic episodes and pose a great
danger to the child. It is, however, unclear if a mother
suffering from post-partum depression is more likely to abandon
her child at a safe surrender site because of the provisions of
this bill. There are numerous variables in behavior, and options
for individual mothers.
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AB 1048 (Torrico)
The topic areas required for inclusion in the specified report
will require additional information to be gathered and tracked
by DSS, which it does not currently aggregate. Because of the
small number of surrenders in a given year, the information
required to be compiled and reported will be limited. The
estimated cost to DSS, identified on Page 1, reflects PY in
additional workload.