BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    



                                                                  SB 118
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   August 19, 2009

                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
                                Kevin De Leon, Chair

                     SB 118 (Liu) - As Amended:  August 17, 2009 

          Policy Committee:                              Human  
          ServicesVote:7 - 0 

          Urgency:     No                   State Mandated Local Program:  
          Yes    Reimbursable:              Yes

           SUMMARY  

          This bill directs counties to include information in a child's  
          case plan about incarcerated parents who receive services to  
          reunify the parents and children.  Specifically, this bill:

          1)Requires that the child welfare case plan include information  
            about a parent's incarceration.

          2)Requires social workers to make reasonable efforts to collect  
            and update data regarding a child's incarcerated parents once  
            a data entry field has been designated in the statewide child  
            welfare database.

          3)Encourages the Department of Social Services (DSS) and  
            counties to consult on ways to incorporate this information as  
            a required field in the statewide database.

          4)Encourages the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation,  
            county welfare departments, and county sheriffs to develop  
            protocols facilitating information exchange about incarcerated  
            parents.  

           FISCAL EFFECT
           
          One-time costs of approximately $250,000 ($165,000 GF) for the  
          workload associated with updating child welfare case plans for  
          children currently in the foster care system to include the  
          required information about a parent's incarceration. On-going  
          workload costs for new entries into foster care would be in  
          excess of $100,000 ($70,000 GF) per year. 









                                                                  SB 118
                                                                  Page  2

           COMMENTS  

           1)Rationale  . This bill is follow up legislation to AB 2070  
            (Bass; Chapter 482, Statutes of 2008), which increased the  
            length of time that reunification services are available to  
            incarcerated parents of children receiving child welfare  
            services. The author of this bill believes that for AB 2070 to  
            achieve its goal of promoting the reunification of parent and  
            child, whenever possible, children's case plans need to  
            include information about whether the parent is incarcerated.

           2)Background  . In 2003, the California Research Bureau (CRB), at  
            the California State Library, released a report, entitled  
            "California Law and the Children of Prisoners."  The CRB  
            reported that in California prisons, nearly 80% of women and  
            67% of men are parents.  The CRB also found that the  
            connections between imprisoned parents and child welfare  
            services are limited and tenuous at best, even when a child is  
            in foster care and a reunification plan is in place.  

           Analysis Prepared by  :    Julie Salley-Gray / APPR. / (916)  
          319-2081