BILL ANALYSIS
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair
1325 (Cook)
Hearing Date: 08/24/2009 Amended: 08/19/2009
Consultant: Jacqueline Wong-HernandezPolicy Vote: Judiciary 5-0
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BILL SUMMARY: AB 1325 establishes procedures to allow Indian
children in the child welfare system to be provided with
adoption placement without first terminating the birth parents'
rights through the use of customary tribal adoption. This bill:
1)Defines "tribal customary adoption" as adoption by and through
tribal custom, traditions, or law and specifies that
termination of parental rights is not required to effect the
adoption, with specified exemptions. Establishes the option of
tribal customary adoption, and establishes regulations
consistent with ensuring Title IV-E federal funding for
adoption assistance.
2)Requires the Department of Social Services (DSS) to develop
the regulations governing these provisions, and to inform
counties as appropriate.
3)Requires social workers to include information in their
reports to the court, as specified, after consultation with an
Indian child's tribe, on whether customary adoption is an
appropriate permanent plan for a child if reunification fails.
4)Gives to prospective and adoptive parents through a tribal
customary adoption the same rights and privileges afforded to
any other prospective and adoptive parents provided pursuant
to the laws of the state.
5)Provides for an adoptive home study prior to final approval of
the placement, as specified. Establishes that a child who has
been adopted through tribal custom shall be eligible for the
adoption assistance program (AAP).
6)Requires the Judicial Council, by July 1, 2010, to adopt rules
of court and necessary forms to implement tribal customary
adoption. Requires the Judicial Council to study California's
tribal customary adoption provision, as specified, and report
to the Legislature by January 1, 2013.
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Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
Major Provisions 2009-10 2010-11
2011-12 Fund
New tribal adoption program $34 $59
$31 General
Mandate: county social workers Unknown, potentially
significant General
AAP eligibility Very minor,
likely under $5 annually General
Judicial Council study Minor
and absorbable General
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STAFF COMMENTS: This bill meets the criteria for referral to the
Suspense File.
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AB 1325 (Cook)
This bill establishes a new policy, and extensive new
procedures, for recognizing and incorporating tribal customary
adoption into child welfare services. This bill allows, in
certain cases, for an "adoption" to occur in which a parent (or
parents) does not give up all parental rights, when a child is
placed permanently in another home, according to a tribal
custom. It tries to align tribal customary adoption procedures
and benefits as closely as possible to traditional adoption, but
because it includes adherence to tribal laws and customs,
certain provisions are necessarily different in their
implementation.
Because this bill establishes a new child welfare program,
accompanying state policies, protocols, and training to
implement it, would become the responsibility of DSS. The
workload created by this bill would require additional DSS
staffing of limited-term, two-year, Social Services Consultant
III position to develop this program and train local social
workers on their new duties. This position is 50% General Fund
and 50% federally funded, and will cost the General Fund $59,000
in each of the two calendar years. The bill allows DSS to
provide information about this new policy to counties in the
form of an All County Letter, which is a typical way of
providing policy change information to counties, but it not
sufficient for implementing an extensive new policy of tribal
customary adoption. This limited-term position would allow DSS
to provide appropriate training on the implantation of this
program.
This bill mandates new duties on social workers, some of which
will require additional training. While it is likely possible to
explain the new reporting requirements of this bill in a letter
to counties, other parts of implementation will require social
workers to become familiar with tribal customary adoption and
the tribal cultural norms. For example, in Section 12 of this
bill, it states that pre-adoption home studies will occur for
tribal customary adoptions, as they do for traditional
adoptions, and will be conducted by a tribal designee, social
worker, or (in some counties in which DSS serves as the adoption
agency) DSS. Section 12 goes on to specify that, "the standard
for the evaluation of the prospective adoptive parents' home
shall be the prevailing social and cultural standard of the
child's tribe. " In order to conduct home studies for tribal
adoption, social workers would have to understand the prevailing
social and cultural standard of the child's tribe, and DSS must
create guidelines for application of those standards to home
evaluations.
This bill increases eligibility for the Adoption Assistance
Program (AAP), by allowing a new category of placement to
qualify for the same assistance as a traditional adoption. While
this is appropriate for the program outlined to be eligible for
the same benefits as a traditional adoption, eligibility for AAP
incurs additional state costs because of the existing funding
formulas. Federal funds pay for 56% of a child's foster care
cost or adoption placement under AAP. Of the remaining
(non-federal) share, in foster care, counties pay 60% and the
state pays 40%. In AAP, the state pays 75% of the non-federal
share, and counties pay 25%. (Staff notes that the point of the
formula is to give the counties incentives to get foster
children adopted, because it is beneficial to the child). The
additional state cost is about $1,000 per year per child.
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AB 1325 (Cook)
This bill is likely to apply to a very small number of children.
According to DSS there are only approximately 50 children
statewide who are in foster care and identify as being Native
American. This bill would only impact a sub-set of those
children who ethnically identify with being Native American, and
were in some way governed by tribal custom and law. Further
limiting the number, a family must be willing to enter into a
tribal customary adoption with the children who meet the other
criteria. This bill is unlikely to apply to more than 10
children in any year. Thus, the initial costs to DSS and social
worker training are much higher than the ongoing AAP costs once
the program is implemented. Onoing costs will be very minor, and
well within the year-over-year foster care caseload fluctuation.