BILL ANALYSIS
SENATE HUMAN
SERVICES COMMITTEE
Senator Carol Liu, Chair
BILL NO: AB 2322
A
AUTHOR: Feuer
B
VERSION: As proposed to be amended
HEARING DATE: June 30, 2010
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FISCAL: Appropriations, Urgency 2/3rds required
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CONSULTANT:
2
Hailey
SUBJECT
Abuse of children, elder, or dependent persons:
confidentiality
SUMMARY
Broadens the scope of information available -- through a
computerized database system -- to county personnel who
work in child welfare services; and, authorizes case
managers from the California Work Opportunities and
Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program to participate in
multidisciplinary personnel teams formed to prevent,
identify, manage, or treat child abuse or neglect.
ABSTRACT
Current law
1) Defines "child abuse" as a situation in which a child
suffers from:
serious physical injury inflicted by other than
accidental means,
harm caused by intentional neglect or malnutrition
Continued---
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or sexual abuse,
the absence of basic physical care,
willful mental injury or negligent treatment or
maltreatment, or
any condition which results in the violation of
rights or welfare or jeopardizes present or future
health, normal development, or capacity for
independence. [WIC 18951(e)]
2) Defines a child abuse multidisciplinary personnel team
(MDT) as any team of three or more people trained in the
prevention, identification, and treatment of child abuse
and neglect cases and who are qualified to provide a broad
range of child abuse-related services such as mental health
professionals, law enforcement personnel, social workers,
and teachers. [Welfare and Institutions Code (WIC) Section
18951(d)]
3) Permits members of an MDT, as defined in Section 18951,
to exchange confidential information and writings during
team meetings, provided the information is relevant to the
prevention, identification or treatment of child abuse and
is kept confidential. (WIC Section 830)
4) Permits members of an MDT to exchange confidential
information that includes information about voluntary and
involuntary mental health services if the information and
records are relevant to the prevention, identification,
management, or treatment of an abused child and that
child's parents. (WIC 5328)
5) Allows psychotherapists to release information to law
enforcement agencies if a patient presents a serious danger
of violence to a reasonably foreseeable victim or victims.
(WIC 5328)
6) Authorizes each county to establish a computerized
database to allow provider agencies, MDTs, and child
welfare workers to access a county database designed to
"point" these professionals toward other departments in
county government that have information about the household
in question. (WIC Section 18961.5)
7) Specifies the identifying information in the database
as:
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the name, address, telephone number, and date and
place of birth of family members,
the number assigned to the case by each provider
agency,
the name and telephone number of each employee
assigned to the case from each provider agency, and
the date or dates of contact between each provider
agency and a family member.
8) Requires that the information in the system be entered
by and disclosed to designated employees, and the heads of
provider agencies shall establish a system by which
unauthorized personnel cannot access the data contained in
the system.
9) Defines "provider agencies" for the purposes of the
computerized database as any governmental or other agency
which has as one of its purposes the prevention,
identification, management or treatment of child abuse or
neglect -- agencies including but not limited those
providing social services, children's services, health
services, mental health services, probation, law
enforcement, or education.
10) Requires each county to develop its own standards for
defining "at risk" establishing a computerized database
system for sharing information among MDT members.
11) Establishes the CalWORKs program to provide welfare to
work services and benefit payments to qualifying households
with children.
This bill
1) Establishes consistency in statutory references to
members of child abuse multidisciplinary personnel teams
(MDTs), to the teams themselves, and to the information
shared among team members: members are engaged in and
information is relevant to the prevention, identification,
management or treatment of child abuse or neglect.
2) Adds that access to the computerized database can be
for those providing child welfare services, and defines
those as "services that are directed at preventing child
abuse or neglect."
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3) Allows psychotherapists to release information to
county child welfare agencies if a patient presents a
serious danger of violence to a reasonably foreseeable
victim or victims.
4) Adds CalWORKs case managers responsible for case
planning and coordination for children and families in need
of both child welfare services and CalWORKs programs, to
the personnel authorized to participate on an MDT.
5) Requires the CalWORKs case manager to get the informed
written consent of the family receiving cross program case
planning and coordination in order to share confidential
information regarding the child and family as a member of
an MDT.
6) Allows counties to enter into the database information
about a person living in the child's home who are not a
family member.
7) Allows counties to enter into the database convictions
of family members and persons living in the child's home
for crimes that involved a child as a victim.
8) Stipulates that information related to convictions
shall be accessible only to those entities currently
entitled to obtain criminal history records; requires
counties to install system controls to ensure that this
limited access is maintained.
9) Allows conviction information to be discussed among MDT
members.
10) Stipulates that any person knowingly and intentionally
violating the confidentiality provisions of the subdivision
shall be subject to the penalties set forth in respective
statutes governing the confidentiality of the records
maintained by the agencies providing the information.
11) Requires each county that establishes a computerized
database system to develop its own standards for
determining whether a child or family is in need of child
welfare services and requires each provider agency to
develop protocols for applying the county's standards
consistently.
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12) Requires each county that establishes a computerized
database system to install system controls to monitor
system use and to detect any violations of the system
controls.
13) Adds an urgency clause.
FISCAL IMPACT
According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee, costs
would be minor and absorbable.
BACKGROUND AND DISCUSSION
This bill adds to the information contained in computerized
databases that each county can establish to assist provider
agencies (as defined), multidisciplinary personnel teams
(MDTs), and social workers in their provision of child
welfare services and child abuse prevention, investigation,
and treatment. The bill adds information regarding
unrelated persons who may live in the household of a child
receiving child welfare services or who is at risk of abuse
or neglect; and, by adding information to the database
about convictions for crimes against a child.
In addition, the bill adds CalWORKs case managers, with a
family's permission, to these child welfare and child abuse
MDTs.
Third, the bill adds consistency to the various code
sections dealing with MDTs and with the computerized
databases.
Child abuse multidisciplinary personnel teams
For about 20 years, California law has authorized
multidisciplinary teams (MDTs) to allow a coordinated
interagency response to child abuse cases. MDTs, formed
and operated at the county level, can share confidential
information among team members for the purposes of
preventing, identifying, or treating child abuse.
Currently, all 58 California counties operate child abuse
MDTs.
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Adding CalWORKs case managers to MDTs
In approximately 30 California counties, case managers in
the CalWORKs program join colleagues providing child
welfare services for the purpose of case planning and
coordination. These coordinated efforts are called the
"linkages project." This bill will allow CalWORKs case
managers to be part of MDTs working on the prevention,
investigation, management, or treatment of child abuse.
These CalWORKs case managers participate on a child welfare
MDT with the informed written consent of the family
involved.
Computerized databases
Under existing law, counties may establish computerized
databases so that provider agencies, MDTs, and child
welfare service professionals can share identifying
information regarding families receiving child welfare
services and children at risk of abuse or neglect.
At this time, Los Angeles County is the only California
county operating a computerized database for its provider
agencies, MDTs, and child welfare services personnel. This
computerized database in Los Angeles County is called the
family child index. It is a "pointer" system, telling
authorized users if another participating agency has had
contacts with a family. For example, a social worker
investigating an abuse case after providing emergency
response should be able to discover if the district
attorney's office, the sheriff's department, or another
county agency such as social services or health services
has had contact with the child or a member of the child's
family. The database includes the name and phone number of
a person in each of those departments whom the social
worker can contact for more information. Those contact
persons constitute the team that can share information.
According to the author, Los Angles County now requires its
child welfare workers to consult the family child index.
Confidentiality
Existing state and federal laws prohibit most county health
and human services programs and educational entities from
sharing confidential patient, recipient, and student
information without the express consent of the individual,
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or in the case of minors, the parent or guardian. These
laws safeguard individuals' right to privacy. Statutes
sometimes allow confidential information to be shared among
government agencies although written permission is often
required, and civil and criminal penalties may apply if the
information is unlawfully disclosed.
Federal law provides exceptions to confidentiality
protections for child abuse or neglect reports and records
under the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (42
U.S.C. 5101 et seq.), which requires federal, state, or
local government agencies to share confidential
information in order to fulfill their legal
responsibilities to protect children from abuse and
neglect.
Conviction data in Los Angeles County
The County of Los Angeles has identified 52 felonies for
which they will make conviction data available through the
family child index, the computerized database established
pursuant to WIC Section 18961.5. This conviction
information will be available to provider agencies, MDTs,
and child welfare professionals. According to the office
of the Los Angeles District Attorney, data on some of these
convictions go back to 1991.
In the past three years, approximately 5,000 defendants
have been found guilty of one or more of these crimes. In
2007, 1536 defendants convicted; in 2008, 1733 defendants
convicted; and, in 2009, 1740 defendants convicted. The
average number of convicted defendants per month for the
past three years is 140.
If the bill becomes law and allows conviction information
to be shared between a district attorney's office and
multidisciplinary personnel teams, a district attorney's
office can set up a special file into which information
about convictions for crimes against children would be
placed for 50 years. Those allowed by law will have access
to that conviction information through the family child
index.
Related legislation and a potential conflict
AB 2229 (Brownley), which passed out of the committee on
June 22 and is sponsored by the Los Angeles County District
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Attorney, also makes changes in the composition of MDTs and
the information available to them.
Arguments in support
The County Welfare Directors Association supports the bill
in general and specifically argues for allowing CalWORKs
case managers to participate on MDTs: such participation
will improve cross-program planning and coordination. The
County of Los Angeles supports the clarification of
circumstances under which information can be shared among
multidisciplinary team members. It also argues that timely
access to information about unrelated persons living in a
child's home and conviction information about those persons
and family members will assist multidisciplinary personnel
teams when making determinations about children's safety.
Arguments in opposition
Because the bill adds information about convictions to the
database, the American Civil Liberties Union recommends:
Requiring notice and the opportunity to correct to
individuals about whom conviction information is being
used by provider agencies, MDTs, and child welfare
personnel in making determinations about children's
placement.
Previous Assembly votes
Floor 77-0
Appropriations16-0
Human Services 6-0
COMMENTS AND QUESTIONS
Providing notice and an opportunity to correct
As noted above in the "arguments in opposition," the
inclusion of conviction information in the county database
raises objections from the American Civil Liberties Union.
The ACLU's recommends an amendment to give individuals an
opportunity to correct the record when conviction
information is incorrectly associated with them. The ACLU
believes that fairness demands that an individual has the
opportunity to correct a record that may be shared across a
range of county departments and schools. Per this bill,
conviction data from a district attorney's office is
matched to information in a computerized database that
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includes one or more of these identifiers: name, address,
phone number, date of birth, and place of birth.
Los Angeles County provided the committee with an estimate
of the cost of providing notice to any individual against
whom conviction information is matched and that information
is used by provider agencies, MDTs, or child welfare
workers. Los Angeles estimates that about 100 individuals
each month would have conviction information matched to
them; to provide them notice and an opportunity to correct
would cost the county between $150,000 and $250,000 per
year provide notice. (This is in the range of $130 to $210
per individual receiving notice). In addition, one time
only costs during the first year, of technical enhancements
to the family child index and training costs would cost
between $150,000 and $270,000. The county believes these
costs are prohibitive when weighed against the added
protections of providing notice.
Supervisors from the Los Angeles County Department of
Children and Family Services believe that it is in the
interests of children and families to be sure that any
conviction information is correctly matched to the
household under investigation. For these supervisors, the
importance of accurate information means that, on the
natural, social workers and other members of MDTs will take
steps to minimize mistaken identity - without the
administrative requirement that notice be provided.
The ACLU recognizes the cost burden of general notice, and,
as an alternative, recommends that social workers be
required to inform individuals that conviction information
is being used in decisions about the child and family.
This disclosure would be made at the first face-to-face
between a children's-services worker and the child's parent
or parents. If the individual in question believes the
matching of conviction data to himself or herself is in
error, he or she would be provided a way to correct that
information. This would eliminate costs of mailing but
would ensure that the individual in question knows that the
county believes that he or she matches conviction
information for a crime against a child - and ensures that
social workers pursue due diligence in checking the
validity of the match of individual with conviction
information.
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Conviction information and Los Angeles County: suggested
amendment
Los Angeles County is the only county in the state using a
computerized database per WIC 18916.5. Portions of AB 2322
that amend the provisions of this code section are based on
Los Angeles County's 18 years of experience with this
database. Given that experience and expertise, the bill
could be amended to provide that conviction information be
added to the computerized database only in Los Angeles
County. Any other county that establishes a similar
database - and the committee is not aware of any counties
that are working on such a project - would not include
conviction information in that database.
POSITIONS
Support: County Welfare Directors Association
(sponsor)
Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors
(sponsor)
Service Employees International Union
(sponsor)
Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department
State Public Affairs Committee of the Junior
Leagues of California
Oppose: American Civil Liberties Union (unless amended)
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