BILL ANALYSIS
SENATE HUMAN
SERVICES COMMITTEE
Senator Carol Liu, Chair
BILL NO: AB 2229
A
AUTHOR: Brownley
B
VERSION: April 29, 2010
HEARING DATE: June 22, 2010
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FISCAL: Public Safety/Appropriations
2
2
CONSULTANT:
9
Park
SUBJECT
Mandated child abuse reporting
SUMMARY
Establishes time-limited authority for counties to create
two-person multidisciplinary personnel teams (MDT) engaged
in the investigation of suspected child abuse or neglect,
as specified.
ABSTRACT
Existing law:
1.Authorizes members of a multidisciplinary personnel team
engaged in the prevention, identification, and treatment
of child abuse to disclose and exchange information and
writings to and with one another relating to any
incidents of child abuse that may also be part of a
juvenile court record or otherwise designated as
confidential under state law if the member of the team
having that information reasonably believes it is
generally relevant to the prevention, identification or
treatment of child abuse.
Continued---
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2.Defines "multidisciplinary personnel" as any team of
three or more persons who are trained in the prevention,
identification, and treatment of child abuse and neglect
cases and who are qualified to provide a broad range of
services related to child abuse. The team may include
but not be limited to:
a. Psychiatrists, psychologists, or other trained
counseling personnel;
b. Police officers or other law enforcement agents;
c. Medical personnel with sufficient training to
provide health services;
d. Social workers with training or experience in child
abuse prevention; and,
e. Any public or private school teacher,
administrative officer, supervisor of child welfare
and attendance, or certificated pupil personnel
employee.
3.Provides that any county may establish a computerized
data base system within that county to allow provider
agencies, as defined, to share specified identifying
information regarding families at risk for child abuse
and neglect, for the purposes of forming
multidisciplinary personnel teams.
This bill:
1.Allows a county to establish, notwithstanding any other
provision of law, a child abuse investigation and
prevention multidisciplinary personnel team within that
county to allow provider agencies, as defined, to share
confidential information in order to investigate reports
of suspected child abuse or neglect, or for the purposes
of making a child welfare services referral or detention
determination.
2.Defines "child abuse investigation and prevention
multidisciplinary personnel team," related to the
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provisions below, to mean any team of two or more persons
(current law defines as three or more persons) who are
trained in the prevention, identification, or treatment
of child abuse and neglect cases and who are qualified to
provide a broad range of services related to child abuse.
Allows this team to include, but not be limited to, the
same persons that are included in a three-person MDT,
pursuant to current law. (See list above.)
3.Defines "provider agency" to mean any governmental or
other agency that has as one of its purposes the
prevention, identification, management, or treatment of
child abuse or neglect. Specifies provider agencies to
include, but not be limited to, the following entities or
service agencies (identical to current law specifying
three-person MDTs): social services; children's services;
health services; mental health services; probation; law
enforcement; and schools.
4.Allows members of a child abuse investigation and
prevention multidisciplinary personnel team to disclose
and exchange with one another information and writings,
as specified, during the 48-hour period following a
report of suspected child abuse or neglect,
notwithstanding any other provision of law. Provides
that any discussion relative to the disclosure or
exchange of the information or writings during a team
meeting is confidential and, notwithstanding any other
provision of law, testimony concerning that discussion is
not admissible in any criminal, civil, or juvenile court
proceeding.
5.Allows disclosure and exchange of information pursuant to
the above to occur telephonically and electronically if
there is adequate verification of the identity of the
child abuse investigation and prevention
multidisciplinary personnel who are involved in that
disclosure or exchange of information.
6.Prohibits the disclosure and exchange of information to
be made to anyone other than members of the child abuse
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investigation and prevention multidisciplinary personnel
team, and those qualified to receive information, as
specified.
7.Allows the child abuse investigation and prevention
multidisciplinary personnel team to designate persons to
be a member of the team for a particular case, as
specified, and allows a person designated as a team
member to receive and disclose relevant information and
records, subject to the confidentiality provisions
specified in the bill.
8.Requires the sharing of the information above to be
governed by memoranda of understanding among the
participating service providers or provider agencies, and
requires the memoranda to specify the types of
information that may be shared, and the process to be
used to ensure that current confidentiality requirements
of the bill are met.
9.Requires every member of the child abuse investigation
and prevention multidisciplinary personnel team who
receives information or records regarding children and
families in his or her capacity as a member of the team
to be under the same privacy and confidentiality
obligations and subject to the same confidentiality
penalties as the person disclosing or providing the
information or records. Requires the information or
records obtained to be maintained in a manner that
ensures the maximum protection of privacy and
confidentiality rights. Provides that this section shall
not be construed to restrict guarantees of
confidentiality provided under federal law.
10.Provides that the information and records communicated
or provided to the team members by all providers and
agencies, as well as information and records created in
the course of a child abuse or neglect investigation,
shall be deemed private and confidential and shall be
protected from discovery and disclosure by all applicable
statutory and common law protections. Provides that
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existing civil and criminal penalties shall apply to the
inappropriate disclosure of information held by the team
members.
11.Specifies that the sharing of a computerized data base
system that a county is authorized to establish related
to child abuse and neglect be available for the purpose
of the child abuse investigation and prevention
multidisciplinary personnel team established pursuant to
these provisions, in addition to the multidisciplinary
personnel team authorized in current law.
12.Repeals the provisions above on January 1, 2014.
FISCAL IMPACT
According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee, minor
nonreimbursable local costs to the extent counties opt to
form these teams.
BACKGROUND AND DISCUSSION
Author's statement
The author states that existing law provides for the
formation of a child abuse MDT comprised of three
individuals who are trained in the prevention, treatment
and identification of child abuse; however, existing law
regarding elder abuse MDTs require only two members. The
author also states that nurses, social workers, and law
enforcement personnel report losing valuable time in
responding to an emergency child abuse problem while a
third party is sought to complete the team and allow for
the information to be shared.
The author also points out that existing statute is silent
as to telephonic and electronic communication as an
acceptable mode for the sharing of information. The author
notes that, because there is a significant amount of
confusion among members of child abuse MDTs regarding their
legal ability to communicate, it is necessary to clarify
the law to specifically permit telephonic and electronic
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communication among team members upon the proper
verification of the recipient's status as a team member.
The author notes that by bringing the law regarding child
abuse MDTs into line with existing law regarding elder
abuse MDTs, the bill will enhance the treatment and
prevention of child abuse by streamlining the ability of
qualified personnel to aid victims and ensure that no time
is lost in responding to an emergency child abuse problem.
Child abuse multidisciplinary personnel teams
Multidisciplinary teams have been authorized in California
to allow for a coordinated interagency response to elder
and child abuse cases for more than twenty years. MDTs,
formed and operated at the county level are afforded the
ability to share confidential information among team
members for the purposes of preventing, identifying, or
treating child abuse. According to the U.S. Department of
Justice Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency
Prevention's guide, "Forming a Multidisciplinary Team to
Investigate Child Abuse," MDTs are an effective tool for
conducting a timely and objective investigation while
causing as little added trauma to children and families.
Additionally, MDTs operate, not just to investigate
possible child abuse and neglect, but to facilitate
coordination among the different agencies and entities
participating on the team so that decisions can be made
through team decision-making.
According to the author, the Legislature first authorized
the use of MDTs for both child abuse and elder abuse with
the passage of AB 1049 (Bader), Chapter 353, Statutes of
1987. At that time, MDTs were a relatively new concept,
which primarily existed as pilot projects in certain
counties. In 1994, however, a comprehensive overhaul of
the elder abuse statutes was proposed by SB 1681 (Mello).
SB 1681 reduced from three to two the number of members
necessary to form an elder abuse MDT. Since that time, the
law regarding MDTs in elder abuse and child abuse cases has
no longer been consistent. Currently, all 58 California
counties operate child abuse MDTs, and counties often
operate multiple MDTs at once.
Confidentiality
Existing state and federal laws prohibit most county health
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and human services programs and educational entities from
sharing confidential patient, recipient, and student
information without the express consent of the individual,
or in the case of minors, the parent or guardian.
Confidential information may be shared in rare cases among
government agencies although written permission is often
required, and civil and criminal penalties may apply if the
information is unlawfully disclosed.
California Child Welfare Council (CWC)
The CWC, formed by AB 2216 (Bass), Chapter 384, Statutes of
2006, is a state advisory body tasked with considering
recommendations to improve child and youth outcomes through
increased collaboration and coordination among the
programs, services and processes administered by the
multiple agencies and courts that serve children and youth
in California's child welfare system. The CWC formed a
data linkage and information sharing committee, which
issued a set of recommendations to: 1) issue a policy
statement supporting data linkages and sharing; 2) perform
an inventory of existing data sharing practices; and 3)
issue policy briefs on laws related to information sharing
in the areas of health, education, and substance abuse.
The committee is expected to finalize related briefs and
policy recommendations by 2011.
Arguments in support
According to the sponsor of the measure, the Los Angeles
County District Attorney (on behalf of the Inter-Agency
Council on Child Abuse and Neglect), the bill seeks to
remedy the problem faced by members of an MDT investigating
a potential case of child abuse who are time-limited in
making detention determinations, and face barriers
accessing necessary information from other members of the
MDT because current law requires discussions among three or
more MDT members, and is unclear regarding telephonic and
electronic communications.
Related/prior legislation
AB 2322 (Feuer & Bass) of 2010, sponsored by Los Angeles
County and others, seeks to make several modifications to
existing MDT statutes, including specifying the inclusion
of CalWORKs social workers in MDTs and allowing for
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information regarding convictions related to crimes against
children, and information regarding nonrelative members of
a household to be shared and tracked in a computerized
database for the purposes of the MDT. Scheduled to be
heard in Senate Human Services Committee on June 22, 2010.
AB 1049 (Bader) Chapter 353, Statutes of 1987, authorized
the use of MDTs for both child and elder abuse.
PRIOR VOTES
Assembly Floor 76 - 0
Assembly Appropriations Committee 16 - 0
Assembly Human Services Committee 6 - 0
Assembly Public Safety Committee 7 - 0
COMMENTS
1.Double-referral. This bill is double-referred. Any
amendments agreed to in this committee will be adopted in
Senate Public Safety Committee.
2.Conflict with AB 2322 (Feuer and Bass). The author and
sponsors may wish to reconcile the language of this
measure to AB 2322 to avoid chaptering out issues. AB
2322 also deals with multidisciplinary personnel teams
and amends the same code section authorizing the
computerized database system for sharing information to
provider agencies regarding families at risk for child
abuse and neglect.
3.Forty-eight hour time frame for sharing information may
be inadequate. Staff recommends striking the 48-hour
time limitation for the two-person team to share
information. While a detention determination must be
made within this timeframe, there are likely to be cases
when such a determination is not made within 48 hours, or
cases when an immediate detention is not made and the
need to share information beyond 48 hours exists. Staff
recommends reiterating the purpose for which the
two-or-more person MDT may share information.
Page 6, lines 19-34:
(c) (1) Notwithstanding Section 827 of the Welfare and
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Institutions Code or any other provision of law, in
order to investigate reports of suspected child abuse
or neglect made pursuant to Section 11166 or 11166.05
of the Penal Code, or for the purposes of making a
child welfare services referral or detention
determination during the 48-hour period following a
report of suspected child abuse or neglect , members of
a child abuse investigation and prevention
multidisciplinary personnel team engaged in the
prevention, identification, and treatment of child
abuse may disclose to and exchange with one another
information and writings that relate to any incident
of child abuse that may also be designated as
confidential under state law if the member of the team
having that information or writing reasonably believes
it is generally relevant to the prevention,
identification, or treatment of child abuse. Any
discussion relative to the disclosure or exchange of
the information or writings during a team meeting is
confidential and, notwithstanding any other provision
of law, testimony concerning that discussion is not
admissible in any criminal, civil, or juvenile court
proceeding.
4.Outstanding issues. The author and sponsor indicate they
are continuing to work on issues raised by the American
Civil Liberties Union, the Youth Law Center, this
committee, and the Assembly Human Services committee.
The issues are:
Clarifying the purpose of the two-or-more
person MDT.
Establishing a preference for in-person
communication versus electronic communication.
Replacing the requirement to establish a
memorandum of understanding agreement with a
requirement to develop and distribute protocols that
specify the types of information to be shared and
the process to be used to ensure confidentiality.
POSITIONS
Support: Los Angeles County District Attorney
(sponsor)
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Oppose: None received
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