BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 1611
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Date of Hearing: May 16, 2012
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Felipe Fuentes, Chair
AB 1611 (Beall) - As Amended: April 18, 2012
Policy Committee: Human
ServicesVote:4 - 2
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
Yes Reimbursable: Yes
SUMMARY
This bill requires counties to develop and implement plans to
address racial and ethnic disparities in the child welfare
system. Specifically, this bill:
1)Requires that outcome indicators for the California Child and
Family Service Review System (C-CFSR) be examined for each
racial and ethnic population serviced within a county.
2)Requires each county in its county self-assessment (CSA) and
system improvement plan (SIP) to assess racial and ethnic
disparities and include strategies and time frames for
implementation to eliminate any disparities in services and
outcomes for children of color.
3)Requires each county CSA and SIP to include strategies for
improving and expediting permanency for children and youth
from communities of color that are overrepresented in the
child welfare system.
4)Requires the Department of Social Services (DSS) in its annual
report of information to the budget committees and the policy
to committees include information on efforts to assess and
correct disproportionality and disparities in services and
outcomes for children of color.
5)Requires DSS, using existing resources or private funding, to
contract for research evaluating the disproportionate
representations of, and inequities of services for, Latino
children and families in the child welfare system. Requires to
report to the Legislature and the governor by January 1, 2015.
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6)Gives the DSS director full authority and discretion to take
whatever action is necessary in a county that is found to be
substantially failing with the requirements of its SIP in
terms of addressing disproportionality.
7)States that it is the intent of the Legislature to eliminate
racial and ethnic disproportionality in the child welfare
system.
FISCAL EFFECT
1)One-time costs of approximately $1 million (GF) for 39
counties to update and redo their CSAs and SIPs in a year
where they would otherwise not be conducting a SIP.
2)One-time costs between $350,000 and $500,000 for an evaluation
of disproportionality among Latino children.
3)Due to years of severe budget constraints and reductions,
California's child welfare services program is underfunded by
approximately $300 million (GF). Stating the intent of the
Legislature to end all disproportionality and requiring
counties to implement plans to end disproportionality at a
minimum would likely require making the program whole and
increasing funding by $300 million (GF) per year. Only when
fully funded will county child welfare departments have the
resources necessary to ensure that all children in the state's
care receive the best possible services and equitable
treatment.
COMMENTS
1)Purpose . This bill utilizes the C-CFSR system as the basis for
individual county child welfare agencies to assess and address
issues of racial and ethnic disproportionality and
disparities. Primarily, the bill requires the C-CFSR
workgroup to include race and ethnicity as factors in
developing outcome indicators. In conducting CSAs and
developing SIPs, it requires counties to address strategies to
eliminate disparities in services and outcomes for children of
color in the county's child welfare system.
This bill also requires DSS, when it is identifying and
promoting best practices in child welfare service delivery, to
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include increasing cultural competency and eliminating
inequities in the delivery of services. It requires DSS to
include disproportionality and disparities in services and
outcomes for children of color in the findings and
recommendations for improvements in the child welfare system
report annually provided to the Legislature. This bill
authorizes DSS to take appropriate action to enforce
compliance with the requirements of this bill.
Finally, the author argues that recent state initiatives and
research evaluating the disproportionate representation of,
and inequities in services for communities of color have
omitted the Latino community; therefore this bill requires DSS
to contract for research focusing on Latino children and
families.
2)Disproportionality Pilot Project . The state is currently
conducting a pilot project in four counties in an attempt to
better understand the series of complex circumstances and
problems that lead to disproportionality in the child welfare
system. Those four counties are Humboldt, Fresno, Los Angeles,
and Santa Clara. While the pilot is not completed, it has
become clear that the answers are complicated and that it is
difficult to determine what the right outcome should be when
looking at disproportionality.
For example, a recent study examining African American
disproportionality in nine states (including California) from
the perspective of child welfare workers lists themes
identified by welfare agency participants, including:
a) Poverty and poverty-related circumstances.
b) Lack of services in resource-poor communities.
c) Visibility due to more contact with public service
systems.
d) Lack of information.
e) Over-reporting of minority parents for child abuse and
neglect.
f) Media pressure.
g) Staff racial and cultural biases.
Given the current pilot project, this bill may be premature.
Results from the project may show that the varied and complex
reasons children of color disproportionately end up in care
has little to do with county policies or SIPs. Therefore,
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requiring all counties to conduct additional SIPs may not
address the problem. In addition, data shows that not all
counties are struggling with disproportionality, so additional
planning may not be necessary for all 58 counties.
Child and Family Services Review . The performance review
system was created by the federal Adoption and Safe Families
Act (AFSA) of 1997. The principles of AFSA were designed to
achieve child safety, permanency, and well-being. Under the
requirements of AFSA the federal government created child and
family services performance measures for the states, which
include seven measures for safety, well-being, and permanency.
They also cover seven systemic measures that examine training
for foster parents and caseworkers, the status of the
statewide data system, the quality assurance process, and the
state's case review system.
AB 636 (Steinberg), Chapter 678, Statutes of 2001, established
the Child and Family Services Review process for California.
Under the C-CFSR, each county is required to conduct a
self-assessment every three years that includes an intensive
review of data surrounding the rate children are placed in
foster care, the length of time they stay in care, the number
of times they changed placements, and other data designed to
measure the well-being of children in the system. Once they
review the data, each county child welfare department conducts
a lengthy public process that includes discussions with
stakeholders and culminates with the adoption of a SIP by the
county board of supervisors. Those SIPs are then submitted to
the state for review and incorporated into the state's Program
Improvement Plan (PIP) which is then submitted to the federal
government.
Analysis Prepared by : Julie Salley-Gray / APPR. / (916)
319-2081