BILL ANALYSIS
SCR 20
Page 1
Date of Hearing: June 30, 2009
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY
Mike Feuer, Chair
SCR 20 (Liu) - As Amended: May 28, 2009
PROPOSED CONSENT
SENATE VOTE : 32-0
SUBJECT : Children of Incarcerated Parents: Bill of Rights
KEY ISSUE : In order to better serve children whose parents are
incarcerated, should government agencies AND non-profit
organizations that serve these CHILDREN be ENCOURAGED to
DISTRIBUTE the Children of INCARCERATED Parents Bill of Rights?
FISCAL EFFECT : As currently in print this measure is keyed
fiscal.
SYNOPSIS
This resolution, sponsored by Friends Outside and Community
Works, encourages designated government and non-profit
organizations to distribute the Children of Incarcerated Parents
Bill of Rights to children of incarcerated parents, and to
invite discussion and encourage relevant departments to use the
Bill of Rights as a framework for analysis and determination of
procedures when making decisions about services for these
children. In support of the bill, the author writes that when
parents are incarcerated their children become unintended
victims. The trauma of the arrest and the resulting separation
can have a profound effect on a child's development, lasting
well into adulthood. While the children's difficulties can
include poor school performance, use of alcohol or drugs,
delinquency, and an increased likelihood of becoming an inmate
later in life, California does little to protect these children
and mediate the impact of having an incarcerated parent. The
author believes that by working toward the goals outlined in the
bill of rights, the state can improve its rate of recidivism and
improve outcomes for youth. The resolution has is no known
opposition.
SUMMARY : Encourages designated entities to distribute the
Children of Incarcerated Parents Bill of Rights to children of
SCR 20
Page 2
incarcerated parents, and invites discussion and encourages
relevant entities to use the Bill of Rights as a framework for
analysis and determination of procedures when making decisions
about services for these children. Specifically, this bill :
1)States that as many as one in ten children has a parent who is
in jail, prison, or on parole or probation.
2)States that over the last 15 years, federal and state
governments have expanded and lengthened criminal sentences,
particularly for drug offenses, incarcerating an increasing
number of adults. Declares that an unintended consequence of
this rapid increase in adult incarceration has been the
growing number of children whose parents are, or have been, in
jail or prison.
3)States that the California sample of a national survey found
that two-thirds of the state's male prison inmates and 79
percent of the state's female prison inmates were parents,
with an average of 2.5 children for the men and 2.9 children
for the women. Declares that state law provides very limited
direction on how criminal justice authorities should interact
with the families and children of prisoners.
4)States that studies indicate that maintaining family bonds
during incarceration reduces recidivism for parents and
improves outcomes for children.
5)States that the San Francisco Children of Incarcerated Parents
Partnership (SFCIPP) has developed a bill of rights for
children of incarcerated parents and has turned it into a
resolution for the city.
6)Outlines in detail the principles set out in the San Francisco
Children of Incarcerated Parents Bill of Rights, which
include:
a) The child has the right to be kept safe and informed at
the time of his or her parent's arrest.
b) The child has the right to be heard when decisions are
made about him or her.
c) The child has the right to be considered when decisions
are made about his or her parent.
d) The child has the right to be well cared for in his or
her parent's absence.
SCR 20
Page 3
e) The child has the right to speak with, see, and touch
his or her parent.
f) The child has the right to support as he or she faces a
parent's incarceration.
g) The child has the right not to be judged, blamed, or
labeled because his or her parent is incarcerated.
h) The child has a right to a lifelong relationship with
his or her parent.
7)Encourages the State Department of Social Services, the
Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, the Office of
the State Foster Care Ombudsperson, schools, relevant
nonprofit organizations, law enforcement agencies, and other
departments that interact with children of incarcerated
parents to distribute the Bill of Rights created by the San
Francisco Children of Incarcerated Parents Partnership to
identified children of incarcerated parents, utilizing
available funds.
8)Encourages the entities in #7 to invite discussion and
encourage relevant departments to use the Bill of Rights as a
framework for analysis and determination of procedures when
making decisions about services for the children of
incarcerated parents.
COMMENTS : Over the past eight years the California Research
Bureau (CRB) has issued a series of reports focusing on the
lives of incarcerated prisoners and their children. (See, e.g.,
Charlene Wear Simmons, Children of Incarcerated Parents, CRB
Note Vol. 7, No. 2, March 2000; Clare M. Nolan, Children of
Arrested Parents: Strategies to Improve Their Safety and
Well-Being, CRB 03-011, July 2003.) These reports highlight the
state's lack of clear policies and laws on how criminal justice
authorities, as well as the child welfare system, should respond
to issues raised by incarcerated parents and their children. As
explained in these reports, there are profound social, mental,
and health implications for children whose parents are
incarcerated. These problems have become even more pressing as
the state's prison population, particularly the female
population, continues to increase dramatically.
In 2003, the San Francisco Children of Incarcerated Parents
Partnership (SFCIPP) published a Bill of Rights for children of
incarcerated parents. The Bill of Rights relies in part on the
research conducted by the CRB, as well as interviews with
SCR 20
Page 4
affected individuals.
This resolution encourages designated government and nonprofit
organizations to distribute the Children of Incarcerated Parents
Bill of Rights to children of incarcerated parents, and to
invite discussion and encourage relevant departments to use the
Bill of Rights as a framework for analysis and determination of
procedures when making decisions about services for these
children.
In support of the bill, the author writes:
When a parent is incarcerated their children become
unintended victims. The trauma of an arrest event and
the resulting parent-child separation can have a
profound effect on a child's development, lasting well
into adulthood. Child difficulties include:
difficulty sleeping, poor school performance, truancy,
use of alcohol or drugs, delinquency, and an increased
likelihood of becoming an inmate later in life.
Although this is an identified at-risk population,
California does little to protect the rights of the
child and mediate the impact of having an incarcerated
parent.
And, perhaps, most alarming - child with incarcerated
parent is 5 times more likely than peers to be
involved with the criminal justice system.
Although this is an identified at-risk population,
California does little to protect the rights of the
child and mediate the impact of having an incarcerated
parent. The purpose of this resolution is to help
maintain the well-being of children of incarcerated
parents and support their needs. By working toward
the goals outlined in the bill of rights for children
with incarcerated parents the state can improve its
rate of recidivism and improve outcomes for youth.
Bill of Rights delineates important policy objectives for
children of incarcerated parents . The SFCIPP Bill of Rights
outlines specific rights for children of incarcerated parents,
each of which have important policy implications. These rights
include:
SCR 20
Page 5
The child has the right to be heard when decisions are
made about him or her.
The child has the right to be considered when decisions
are made about his or her parent.
The child has the right to be well cared for in his or
her parent's absence.
The child has the right to speak with, see, and touch
his or her parent.
The child has the right not to be judged, blamed, or
labeled because his or her parent is incarcerated.
The child has a right to a lifelong relationship with
his or her parent.
These rights encompass important policy goals that would help
assure that children's fundamental needs for safety, security,
and support are met while their parents are incarcerated.
Children of incarcerated parents are often just victims of
circumstance, and public policy is best served by ensuring that
they are not ignored, neglected, stigmatized, or deprived of a
relationship with their parent.
This resolution does not mandate the use of the SFCIPP Bill of
Rights, but rather encourages relevant state departments,
agencies, and organizations to distribute the Bill of Rights to
children of incarcerated parents. It also encourages these
entities to use the Bill of Rights to foster discussion, and as
a framework for analysis and determination of procedures when
making decision about services for children of incarcerated
parents.
Many states have begun to use a similar Bill of Rights . To
date, more than a dozen states and cities have used a version of
the SFCIPP Bill of Rights to help guide policymaking with
respect to children of incarcerated parents. (Katherine Mason &
Nina Williams-Mbengue, A Different Kind of Jail, State
Legislatures Magazine, December 2008.) Most recently, Hawaii
enacted SB 2345 (1st Sp. Sess. 2008, c 7, Sec. 2, effective July
8, 2008) which established guiding principles to be used by
state agencies in dealing with children of incarcerated parents.
(H.R.S. Sec. 346-14.3.) This legislation incorporates many of
the principles delineated in the SFCIPP.
Related Pending Legislation : SB 118 (Liu) requires that
approaches to child safety protection include ensuring that an
incarcerated parent receives services required by the court to
SCR 20
Page 6
reunify that parent with his or her children. It would also
require that case plans for children receiving child welfare
services include, to the extent possible, information about a
parent's incarceration in determining reasonable services to be
offered or provided to that parent's children. This bill is
currently pending in the Assembly Human Services Committee.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Friends Outside (co-sponsor)
Community Works (co-sponsor)
Arkansas Voices for Children Left Behind
Building Better Bridges
Contribute
John Burton Foundation for Children Without Homes
Los Angeles Dependency Lawyers
National Bill of Rights Policy Partnership for Children of the
Incarcerated: A 14 State Coalition
Three individuals
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by : Leora Gershenzon / JUD. / (916) 319-2334