BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 1015
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Date of Hearing: May 11, 2011
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Felipe Fuentes, Chair
AB 1015 (Calderon) - As Amended: April 28, 2011
Policy Committee: Human
ServicesVote:4 - 2
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
Yes Reimbursable: Yes
SUMMARY
This bill requires every county to include in their California
Child and Family Services Review (CFSR) a discussion of
operational improvements that can be made by the county that
will either be cost neutral or result in a savings.
FISCAL EFFECT
Counties are required to submit CCFS reviews every three years.
Working with stakeholders and developing cost neutral
operational improvements would be minor and absorbable within
existing county resources.
COMMENTS
1)Purpose . The author of this bill hopes to create a uniform
process in counties where the concerns of line social workers
can be amplified and ideas for systemic improvements be
brought before the county Board of Supervisors of each county
at the time of each county's CCFS review and update.
The author points to recent deaths involving children known to
the child welfare systems in Sacramento and Los Angeles
counties as evidence of the need for operational improvements.
In both counties, according to the author, social workers
argue that too much of an emphasis has been placed on
paperwork instead of client interactions, policies and
procedures were unclear or too cumbersome to implement, and
that basic training and equipment fell short of preparing and
enabling social workers to adequately manage their caseloads.
By requiring operational reviews and recommendations in the
AB 1015
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CCFS process, the author hopes to begin providing social
workers in the child welfare system with the basic tools they
need to do their jobs.
2)Child and Family Services Review (CFSR) . The CFSR was
established by AB 636 (Steinberg; Chapter 678, Statutes of
2001) and implemented in January of 2004. The CFSR marked a
shift from the previous oversight system which focused
exclusively on regulatory compliance, to a system aligned with
the federal standards and a focus on measuring outcomes in
safety, permanence and child and family well-being. The CFSR
seeks to integrate continuous quality improvement, interagency
partnerships, community involvement and public reporting of
program outcomes into the oversight of child welfare programs.
This is done at the state-level through Quarterly Outcome and
Accountability Reports published by DSS and a program of State
Technical Assistance and Monitoring. Counties are responsible
for three areas of the CFSR: County Self-Assessments, County
Peer Quality Case Reviews (PQCR), and County System
Improvement Plans.
The County Self-Assessment process assesses current levels of
performance and identifies procedural, systemic, practice or
resource barriers to improved performance. Counties are
encouraged by the state to use existing planning processes and
community-based groups to facilitate public input into the
self-assessment process, and are required to provide a public
comment process. Counties are also required by the state to
work with a group of core representatives in the development
of self-assessments. These core representatives include, but
are not limited to representatives of the California Youth
Connection, an organization representing current and former
foster youth, the county health and mental health departments,
child welfare services administrators, managers, social
workers, parents, local Tribes, the Local Education Agency,
probation, and adoptions. The same core representatives,
including child welfare services social workers, are involved
in creating the County System Improvement Plan.
Analysis Prepared by : Julie Salley-Gray / APPR. / (916)
319-2081
AB 1015
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