BILL ANALYSIS
------------------------------------------------------------
|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 118|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
|1020 N Street, Suite 524 | |
|(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | |
|327-4478 | |
------------------------------------------------------------
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Bill No: SB 118
Author: Liu (D), et al
Amended: 9/3/09
Vote: 21
SENATE HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE : 5-0, 4/28/09
AYES: Liu, Maldonado, Alquist, Runner, Yee
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 12-0, 5/28/09
AYES: Kehoe, Cox, Corbett, Denham, DeSaulnier, Hancock,
Leno, Oropeza, Runner, Walters, Wyland, Yee
NO VOTE RECORDED: Wolk
SENATE FLOOR : 38-0, 6/3/09
AYES: Aanestad, Alquist, Ashburn, Benoit, Calderon,
Cedillo, Cogdill, Corbett, Correa, Cox, Denham,
DeSaulnier, Ducheny, Dutton, Florez, Hancock, Harman,
Hollingsworth, Huff, Kehoe, Leno, Liu, Lowenthal,
Maldonado, Negrete McLeod, Oropeza, Padilla, Romero,
Runner, Simitian, Steinberg, Strickland, Walters,
Wiggins, Wolk, Wright, Wyland, Yee
NO VOTE RECORDED: Pavley, Vacancy
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 79-0, 9/8/09 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Child welfare services: incarcerated parents
SOURCE : Friends Outside
Los Angeles Dependency Lawyers, Inc.
CONTINUED
SB 118
Page
2
DIGEST : This bill directs counties to include
information about incarcerated parents who receive services
required by the court to reunify that parent with his/her
children.
Assembly Amendments add double-jointing language for SB 597
(Liu), and require social workers to make reasonable
efforts to collect and update data relative to incarcerated
parents.
ANALYSIS :
Existing law:
1. Establishes child welfare services, including foster
care, for children who are dependents of the juvenile
court because they have been abused or neglected and for
children who are wards of the juvenile court due to
truancy and other statutory violations.
2. Includes family reunification services among those child
welfare services to assist a parent to reunify with
his/her child if the court finds that is in the best
interests of the child.
3. Establishes that each child receiving child welfare
services have a case plan that includes information,
including any family reunification services prescribed
by the court.
4. Provides that counties shall act as the arm of the state
in providing child welfare services to dependents and
wards and their families.
This bill seeks to improve outcomes between foster care
youth and their incarcerated parents. Specifically, this
bill:
1. Requires that the 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
SB 118
Page
3
the statewide child welfare database.
3. Encourages the Department of Social Services 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.
5. Adds chaptering-out amendments to avoid code conflicts
with SB 597 (Liu).
Background
In 2003, the California Research Bureau (CRB), at the
California State Library, released a report, "California
Law and the Children of Prisoners." The CRB reported that
in California prisons, nearly 80 percent of women and
two-thirds 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.
The state's child welfare services case management system
does not necessarily record that the child has a parent in
jail or prison.
Since the release of the CRB's report, additional
organizations and individual academic researchers have
added to the information available to policy makers. The
Urban Institute's Justice Policy Center reported in 2008,
in "Broken Bonds: Understanding and Addressing the Needs
of Children with Incarcerated Parents," that "one of the
greatest needs within the policy community lies in
obtaining better records of the number of children with
incarcerated parents." The "Journal of Public Child
Welfare" included a recent article by researchers at the
University of Illinois who confirmed that emotional and
behavioral problems are more prevalent in children whose
parents have been involved with the criminal justice system
than those who have not, and they argue that child welfare
caseworkers can have success with parents who are now out
SB 118
Page
4
of jail or prison.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: Yes
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee:
Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
Major Provisions 2009-10 2010-11
2011-12 Fund
State-mandated Very minor and absorbable
General
local program
Social workers
SUPPORT : (Verified 9/9/09)
Friends Outside (co-source)
Los Angeles Dependency Lawyers, Inc. (co-source)
American Federation of State, County and Municipal
Employees
Arkansas Voices for Children Left Behind, Inc.
Building Better Bridges
California Commission on the Status of Women
California Society for Clinical Social Work
Contribute
County Welfare Directors Association of California
John Burton Foundation
Juvenile Court Judges of California
National Association of Social Workers
National Bill of Rights for Children with Incarcerated
Parents Partnership
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : The bill's sponsors argue that
incarcerated parents whose children are in the dependency
system respond positively to ongoing contact with their
children and are motivated to do well, get out and stay
out. Other supporters believe that this bill takes a first
step toward ensuring that the complex needs of the children
of incarcerated parents are met.
SB 118
Page
5
ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION : The opponent argues that this
bill gives new responsibilities to counties to provide case
management services to incarcerated parents, including
establishing a case plan, without providing funding for the
additional services.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR :
AYES: Adams, Ammiano, Anderson, Arambula, Beall, Bill
Berryhill, Tom Berryhill, Blakeslee, Block, Blumenfield,
Brownley, Buchanan, Caballero, Charles Calderon, Carter,
Chesbro, Conway, Cook, Coto, Davis, De La Torre, De Leon,
DeVore, Duvall, Emmerson, Eng, Evans, Feuer, Fletcher,
Fong, Fuentes, Fuller, Furutani, Gaines, Galgiani,
Garrick, Gilmore, Hagman, Hall, Harkey, Hayashi,
Hernandez, Hill, Huber, Huffman, Jeffries, Jones, Knight,
Krekorian, Lieu, Logue, Bonnie Lowenthal, Ma, Mendoza,
Miller, Monning, Nava, Nestande, Niello, Nielsen, John A.
Perez, V. Manuel Perez, Portantino, Ruskin, Salas,
Saldana, Silva, Skinner, Smyth, Solorio, Audra
Strickland, Swanson, Torlakson, Torres, Torrico, Tran,
Villines, Yamada, Bass
NO VOTE RECORDED: Vacancy
CTW/RJG:mw 9/9/09 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
**** END ****