BILL ANALYSIS
SENATE COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC SAFETY
Senator Mark Leno, Chair A
2009-2010 Regular Session B
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2
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AB 2229 (Brownley) 9
As Amended April 29, 2010
Hearing date: June 29, 2010
Welfare and Institutions Code
AA:mc
CHILD ABUSE AND NEGLECT:
MULTIDISCIPLINARY TEAMS
HISTORY
Source: Los Angeles County District Attorney (on behalf of the
Inter-Agency
Council on Child Abuse and Neglect)
Prior Legislation:SB 1681 (Mello) - Ch. 594, Stats. 1994
SB 219 (Petris) - Ch. 1441, Stats. 1989
AB 1049 (Bader) - Ch. 353, Stats. 1987
Support: Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department
Opposition:American Civil Liberties Union (unless amended)
Assembly Floor Vote: Ayes 76 - Noes 0
(NOTE: Amendments to this bill are described in Comment #1
below.)
KEY ISSUE
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SHOULD A SECOND STATUTE AUTHORIZING COUNTIES TO ESTABLISH CHILD
ABUSE INVESTIGATION AND PREVENTION MULTIDISCIPLINARY PERSONNEL
TEAMS BE ESTABLISHED, ALLOWING TEAMS OF 2 OR MORE MEMBERS, AS
SPECIFIED?
PURPOSE
The purpose of this bill is to enact a new section authorizing
counties to establish child abuse investigation and prevention
multidisciplinary personnel teams with 2 or more members, as
specified.
Mandated Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting; Child Abuse Central
Index
Current law establishes the Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting
Act ("CANRA"), which generally is intended to protect children
from abuse and neglect. (Penal Code 11164.)
Under current law the term "child abuse or neglect" for the
purposes of CANRA "includes physical injury or death inflicted
by other than accidental means upon a child by another person,
sexual abuse . . . , neglect . . . , the willful harming or
injuring of a child or the endangering of the person or health
of a child, . . . and unlawful corporal punishment or injury . .
. . 'Child
abuse or neglect' does not include a mutual affray between
minors. 'Child abuse or neglect' does not include an injury
caused by reasonable and necessary force used by a peace officer
acting within the course and scope of his or her employment as a
peace officer." (Penal Code 11165.6.)
Current law provides that, "(a)ny mandated reporter who has
knowledge of or who reasonably suspects that a child is
suffering serious emotional damage or is at a substantial risk
of suffering serious emotional damage, evidenced by states of
being or behavior, including, but not limited to, severe
anxiety, depression, withdrawal, or untoward aggressive behavior
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toward self or others, may make a report to an agency," as
specified. (Penal Code 11166.05.)
Current law generally provides for the content of reports made
pursuant to these provisions, and expressly provides that
"(i)nformation relevant to the incident of child abuse or
neglect
may be given to an investigator from an agency that is
investigating the known or suspected case of child abuse or
neglect." (Penal Code 11167(b).)
Current law requires that "reports of suspected child abuse or
neglect shall be made by mandated reporters . . . to any police
department or sheriff's department, not including a school
district police or security department, county probation
department, if designated by the county
to receive mandated reports, or the county welfare department,"
as specified. (Penal Code 11165.9.)
Current law generally requires agencies receiving child abuse or
neglect reports to forward to
the Department of Justice a report in writing of every case it
investigates of known or suspected child abuse or severe neglect
which is determined not to be unfounded, as specified. (Penal
Code 11169.)
Current law requires the Department of Justice to maintain the
"Child Abuse Central Index," which is an index of all reports of
child abuse and severe neglect submitted pursuant to these
provisions as "a repository of reports," as specified. (Penal
Code 11170.)
Multidisciplinary Personnel Teams
Current law includes legislative intent that "child abuse and
neglect prevention and intervention programs be encouraged by
the funding of agencies addressing needs of children at high
risk of abuse or neglect and their families." (WIC 18960(a).)
Current law includes "multidisciplinary team services" under
programs eligible for funding provided under these provisions.
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(WIC 18961(a)(4).)
Current law provides that "'Multidisciplinary personnel' means
any team of three or more
persons who are trained in the prevention, identification, and
treatment of child abuse and neglect<1> 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:
(1) Psychiatrists, psychologists, marriage and family
therapists, or other trained counseling personnel.
(2) Police officers or other law enforcement agents.
(3) Medical personnel with sufficient training to provide
health services.
(4) Social workers with experience or training in child
abuse prevention.
(5) Any public or private school teacher, administrative
officer, supervisor of child welfare and attendance, or
certificated pupil personnel employee." (WIC 18951(d).)
Current law provides that "members of a multidisciplinary
personnel team engaged in the prevention, identification, and
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<1> "Child abuse" in this context is defined as follows:
"Child abuse" "means a situation in which a child suffers from
any one or more of the following: (1) Serious physical injury
inflicted upon the child by other than accidental means. (2)
Harm by reason of intentional neglect or malnutrition or sexual
abuse. (3) Going without necessary and basic physical care.
(4) Willful mental injury, negligent treatment, or maltreatment
of a child under the age of 18 years by a person who is
responsible for the child's welfare under circumstances that
indicate that the child's health or welfare is harmed or
threatened thereby, as determined in accordance with regulations
prescribed by the Director of Social Services. (5) Any
condition that results in the violation of the rights or
physical, mental, or moral welfare of a child or jeopardizes the
child's present or future health, opportunity for normal
development or capacity for independence." (WIC 830,
cross-referencing WIC 18951.)
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treatment of child abuse may disclose and exchange information
and writings to and with one another relating to any incidents
of child abuse that may also be a part of a juvenile court
record or otherwise 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. All discussions
relative to the disclosure or exchange of any such information
or writings during team meetings are confidential and,
notwithstanding any other provision of law, testimony concerning
any such discussion is not admissible in any criminal, civil, or
juvenile court proceeding." (WIC 830.) As used in this
section, "multidisciplinary personnel team" means any team of
three or more persons, as specified in Section 18951, the
members of which are trained in the prevention, identification,
and treatment of child abuse and are qualified to provide a
broad range of services related to child abuse. (Id.)
Current law generally provides for the limited inspection of
juvenile court case files, as specified. (WIC 827.)
Current law provides that, with respect to applications and
records concerning any form of public social services for which
grants-in-aid, "the activities of a multidisciplinary personnel
team engaged in the prevention, identification, and treatment of
child abuse or the abuse of elder or dependent persons are
activities performed in the administration of public social
services, and a member of the team may disclose and exchange any
information or writing that also is kept or maintained in
connection with any program of public social services or
otherwise designated as
confidential under state law which he or she reasonably believes
is relevant to the prevention, identification, or treatment of
child abuse or the abuse of elder or dependent persons to other
members of the team. All discussions relative to the disclosure
or exchange of any such information or writing during team
meetings are confidential and, notwithstanding any other
provision of law, testimony concerning any such discussion is
not admissible in any criminal,
civil, or juvenile court proceeding." (WIC 10850.1.) "As
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used in this section, 'multidisciplinary personnel team' means
any team of three or more persons, as specified . . . , the
members of which are trained in the prevention, identification,
and treatment of child abuse or the abuse of elder or dependent
persons and are qualified to provide a broad range of services
related to child abuse or the abuse of elder or dependent
persons." (Id.)
This bill would enact a new, separate section of law authorizing
counties to "establish a child abuse investigation and
prevention multidisciplinary personnel team within that county
to allow provider agencies to share confidential information 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," with the following features and
requirements:
Definitions
This bill would provide the following definitions for purposes
of this new section:
(1) "Child abuse investigation and prevention multidisciplinary
personnel team" means any team of two 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. The team may include,
but shall not be limited to:
(A) Psychiatrists, psychologists, marriage and family
therapists, or other trained counseling personnel.
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(B) Police officers or other law enforcement agents.
(C) Medical personnel with sufficient training to provide
health services.
(D) Social service workers with experience or training in
child abuse prevention.
(E) Any public or private school teacher, administrative
officer, supervisor of child welfare attendance, or certified
pupil personnel employee.
(2) "Provider agency" means any governmental or other agency
that has as one of its purposes the prevention, identification,
management, or treatment of child abuse or neglect. The
provider agencies serving children and their families that may
share information under this section shall include, but not be
limited to, the following entities or service agencies:
(A) Social services.
(B) Children's services.
(C) Health services.
(D) Mental health services.
(E) Probation.
(F) Law enforcement.
(G) Schools."
Information Disclosure
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This bill would provide that "during the 48-hour period
following a report of suspected child abuse or neglect,<2>
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."
This bill would provide that this disclosure and exchange of
information "may 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."
This bill would provide that this disclosure and exchange of
information "shall not be made to anyone other than members of
the child abuse investigation and prevention multidisciplinary
personnel team," except those acting as team members, as
specified.
This bill would authorize persons qualified by the child abuse
investigation and prevention multidisciplinary personnel team to
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<2> See Comment 2, below. This 48-hour requirement will be
deleted from the bill in author's amendments pursuant to
agreement agreed upon in the Senate Human Services.
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designate persons qualified as described above to be a member of
the team for a particular case. A person so designated as a
team member would be authorized to receive and disclose relevant
information and records, subject to confidentiality provisions,
as specified.
This bill would require that the "sharing of information
permitted by this bill "shall be governed by memoranda of
understanding among the participating service providers or
provider agencies. These memoranda shall specify the types of
information that may be shared, and the process to be used to
ensure that current confidentiality requirements," as specified.
This bill would require that 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 shall 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. The
information or records obtained shall be maintained in a manner
that ensures the maximum protection of privacy and
confidentiality rights."
This bill would specify that its provisions "shall not be
construed to restrict guarantees of confidentiality provided
under federal law."
This bill would provide that 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
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deemed private and confidential and shall be protected from
discovery and disclosure by all applicable statutory and common
law protections. Existing civil and criminal penalties shall
apply to the inappropriate disclosure of information held by the
team members."
Sunset
This bill would provide that this new section would sunset on
January 1, 2014.
Information Sharing
Current law authorizes any county to establish a computerized
data base system within that county to allow any governmental or
other agency which has as one of its purposes the prevention,
identification, management, or treatment of child abuse or
neglect to share identifying information regarding families at
risk for child abuse or neglect, for the purpose of forming
multidisciplinary personnel teams for the prevention,
identification, management, or treatment of child abuse, as
specified. (WIC 18961.5.)
This bill would revise this section to include a cross-reference
to the new code section proposed by this bill.
RECEIVERSHIP/OVERCROWDING CRISIS AGGRAVATION IMPLICATIONS
The severe prison overcrowding problem California has
experienced for the last several years has not been solved. In
December of 2006 plaintiffs in two federal lawsuits against the
Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation sought a
court-ordered limit on the prison population pursuant to the
federal Prison Litigation Reform Act. On January 12, 2010, a
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federal three-judge panel issued an order requiring the state to
reduce its inmate population to 137.5 percent of design capacity
-- a reduction of roughly 40,000 inmates -- within two years.
In a prior, related 184-page Opinion and Order dated August 4,
2009, that court stated in part:
"California's correctional system is in a tailspin,"
the state's independent oversight agency has reported.
. . . (Jan. 2007 Little Hoover Commission Report,
"Solving California's Corrections Crisis: Time Is
Running Out"). Tough-on-crime politics have increased
the population of California's prisons dramatically
while making necessary reforms impossible. . . . As a
result, the state's prisons have become places "of
extreme peril to the safety of persons" they house, .
. . (Governor Schwarzenegger's Oct. 4, 2006 Prison
Overcrowding State of Emergency Declaration), while
contributing little to the safety of California's
residents, . . . . California "spends more on
corrections than most countries in the world," but the
state "reaps fewer public safety benefits." . . . .
Although California's existing prison system serves
neither the public nor the inmates well, the state has
for years been unable or unwilling to implement the
reforms necessary to reverse its continuing
deterioration. (Some citations omitted.)
. . .
The massive 750% increase in the California prison
population since the mid-1970s is the result of
political decisions made over three decades, including
the shift to inflexible determinate sentencing and the
passage of harsh mandatory minimum and three-strikes
laws, as well as the state's counterproductive parole
system. Unfortunately, as California's prison
population has grown, California's political
decision-makers have failed to provide the resources
and facilities required to meet the additional need
for space and for other necessities of prison
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existence. Likewise, although state-appointed experts
have repeatedly provided numerous methods by which the
state could safely reduce its prison population, their
recommendations have been ignored, underfunded, or
postponed indefinitely. The convergence of
tough-on-crime policies and an unwillingness to expend
the necessary funds to support the population growth
has brought California's prisons to the breaking
point. The state of emergency declared by Governor
Schwarzenegger almost three years ago continues to
this day, California's prisons remain severely
overcrowded, and inmates in the California prison
system continue to languish without constitutionally
adequate medical and mental health care.<3>
The court stayed implementation of its January 12, 2010, ruling
pending the state's appeal of the decision to the U.S. Supreme
Court. On Monday, June 14, 2010, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed
to hear the state's appeal in this case.
This bill would not aggravate the prison overcrowding crisis
described above.
COMMENTS
1. Amendments
To comply with a commitment to the Senate Committee on Human
Services, this bill will be amended in this Committee to delete
the 48-hour requirement, described above.
2. Stated Need for This Bill
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<3> Three Judge Court Opinion and Order, Coleman v.
Schwarzenegger, Plata v. Schwarzenegger, in the United States
District Courts for the Eastern District of California and the
Northern District of California United States District Court
composed of three judges pursuant to Section 2284, Title 28
United States Code (August 4, 2009).
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The author states:
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. The
benefit and purpose of forming a child abuse MDT is that
information that would otherwise be confidential may be shared
within the confines of the team. Unfortunately nurses, social
workers, and law enforcement personnel complain that valuable
time is lost 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. Additionally, the existing
statute is silent as to telephonic and electronic
communication as an acceptable mode for the sharing of
information upon the proper verification of the recipient's
status as a team member.
In 1987, the Legislature enacted AB 1049 (Bader) which first
authorized the use of MDTs in both child abuse and elder abuse
cases to exchange confidential information. At that time,
MDTs were a relatively new concept, which primarily existed as
pilot projects in certain counties. In 1994, however there
was a comprehensive overhaul of the elder abuse statutes
proposed by SB 1681 (Mello). SB 1681 reduced from three to
two the number of members necessary to form an elder abuse
MDT. By 1994, the change from three to two members was no
longer considered controversial because there was no
discussion of this change in the legislative history of SB
1681. However, since that time the law regarding MDTs in
elder abuse and child abuse cases has no longer been
consistent.
According to the Elder Abuse Unit in Los Angeles County, elder
abuse MDTs currently exchange information telephonically, and
there have been no problems with either the formation of elder
abuse MDTs with two members or the manner of communication
among them.
Because there is a significant amount of confusion among
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members of child abuse MDTs regarding their legal ability to
communicate by the prospect of civil liability, our office and
ICAN believes it is necessary to clarify the law to
specifically permit telephonic and electronic communication
among team members upon the proper verification of the
recipient's status as a team member.
AB 2229 would conform the membership of child abuse
multidisciplinary teams with elder abuse multidisciplinary
teams by allowing child abuse MDTs to be formed with a minimum
of two rather than three members, and would permit the
disclosure of the information gathered by a child abuse MDT to
be disclosed among team members electronically and
telephonically upon the proper verification of the recipient's
status as a team member.
The work of child abuse MDTs is very time sensitive because
county Children's Protective Service agencies only have 48
hours from the time an incident of potential child abuse is
reported to make a determination on whether or not to file a
petition under California Welfare and Institutions code 300.
Because of this short time line it is critical that
information needed by a Children's Protective Service agent
that may be in the possession of an agency represented on the
child abuse MDT be shared.
By bringing the law regarding child abuse MDTs into line with
existing law regarding elder abuse MDTs, which only require
two members, AB 2229 will enhance the treatment and prevention
of child abuse by streamlining the ability of qualified
personnel to aid victims by promptly haring relevant
information, and save time and resources by eliminating the
need for a redundant third person consulted merely to satisfy
the statute.
3. What This Bill Would Do
This bill would enact a new section authorizing counties to
establish child abuse investigation and prevention
multidisciplinary personnel teams. As explained in detail
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above, current law already authorizes these teams. The
authorization as provided in this bill compares to the
authorization provided under current law as follows:
The enumerated team members in this bill are identical
to those in current law.
Current law requires 3 or more team members; this bill
would authorize 2 or more;
Current law refers to these teams engaging in
"prevention, identification, and treatment" of child abuse;
this bill states a county may establish this newly-created
team "to allow provider agencies to share confidential
information in order to investigate reports of suspected
child abuse or neglect," made pursuant to mandated child
abuse or neglect reports.
This bill enumerates what a "provider agency" can be,
while current law does not appear to;
This bill applies a new provision that would apply
notwithstanding existing law regarding the limited
inspection of juvenile court case files with respect to the
teams proposed by this bill, and provide authority for
these teams to disclose and exchange with one another
information and writings relating to any incident of child
abuse if regarded as relevant, as specified; the sharing of
information under this provision would be required to be
governed by a memorandum of understanding among
participating service providers, as specified. Current
teams are allowed to share information with one another
that may also be a part of a juvenile court record and
otherwise designated as confidential.
This bill explicitly authorizes information sharing
between team members telephonically or electronically,
something apparently not expressly addressed under current
law;
This bill would authorize teams to designate qualified
persons to be a member of the team for a particular case,
as specified.
4. Stand-Alone Provision
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As drafted, this bill would provide a second stand-alone
statutory provision authorizing counties to create
multidisciplinary teams in the area of child abuse. Members may
wish to discuss the purpose and need for this, and whether this
approach may be unnecessarily confusing.
WHY IS IT NECESSARY TO ENACT A SECOND STATUTE AUTHORIZING
DISCRETIONARY MULTIDISCIPLINARY CHILD AND NEGLECT TEAMS?
WOULD HAVING A SECOND STATUTE BE CONFUSING?
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5. Authority
This bill would provide that counties may "establish a child
abuse investigation and prevention multidisciplinary personnel
team within that county to allow provider agencies to share
confidential information in order to investigate reports of
suspected child abuse or neglect made pursuant to Section 11166
or 11166.05 of the Penal Code," as specified. In current law,
and in some of this bill, these teams are engaged in issues
relating to the prevention, identification, or treatment of
child abuse. Members of the Committee and the author may wish
to consider revising the highlighted language above to ensure
that these teams are not being authorized in this bill to
investigate reports of suspected child abuse or neglect.
SHOULD THIS AMENDMENT BE MADE?
6. Confidentiality
This bill proposes several new provisions relating to the
sharing of confidential information with and by these teams.
Members may wish to consider the scope of these provisions,
especially with respect to their differences with current laws
providing for these teams, and discuss whether they could be
streamlined to address the telephonic/electronic communications
noted by the author. For example, with the addition of the
telephonic/electronic communications authority provided by this
bill, members may wish to consider whether assuring adequate
information sharing and confidentiality could be achieved more
simply by adding language expressly applying the same standards
applicable to the existing child abuse multidisciplinary teams
to the new teams proposed by this bill.
7. Double Referral
This bill was heard in Senate Human Services Committee on June
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23, 2010, where it passed (5-0).
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