BILL ANALYSIS �
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 1978
Author: Jones-Sawyer (D)
Amended: 8/22/14 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE : 3-1, 6/10/14
AYES: Beall, DeSaulnier, Liu
NOES: Wyland
NO VOTE RECORDED: Berryhill
SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE : 5-2, 6/24/14
AYES: Jackson, Corbett, Lara, Leno, Monning
NOES: Anderson, Vidak
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 5-0, 8/14/14
AYES: De Le�n, Hill, Lara, Padilla, Steinberg
NO VOTE RECORDED: Walters, Gaines
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 64-9, 5/23/14 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Child welfare services
SOURCE : Childrens Advocacy Institute
SEIU California
DIGEST : This bill requires the Department of Social Services
(DSS), in consultation with counties and labor organizations, to
establish a process to receive voluntary disclosures from social
workers, if a social worker has reasonable cause to believe that
a policy, procedure, or practice related to the provision of
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child welfare services by a county child welfare agency
endangers the health or well-being of a child, as specified.
This bill prohibits DSS from disclosing the identity of a social
worker making a disclosure, unless the social worker has
consented to the disclosure or there is an immediate risk to the
health and safety of a child. This bill requires DSS to report
to the Legislature, and post on its Internet Web site, the total
number of relevant disclosures received and a summary
description of the issues raised in those disclosures, and of
the actions taken by DSS in response to those disclosures. This
bill also authorizes a county child welfare social worker to
comment on a child fatality once certain documents from the
child's case file have been released by the custodian of
records. This bill also makes several legislative findings and
declarations.
Senate Floor Amendments of 8/22/14 strike provisions of the bill
that would establish specified whistleblower protections for
county child welfare social workers; strike provisions
permitting social worker participation in the California Child
and Family Review System (C-CFSR), removing the state mandate;
add a new provision requiring DSS, in consultation with counties
and labor organizations, to establish a process to receive
voluntary disclosures from county child welfare social workers
if the social worker has reason to believe that services
delivered by a county child welfare agency endanger the health
or well-being of a child or children, as specified; prohibit DSS
from disclosing the identity of a social worker who makes a
voluntary disclosure without his/her consent; and require DSS to
report to the Legislature information regarding the voluntary
disclosure process, as specified.
ANALYSIS :
Existing law:
1.Requires the state, through DSS and child welfare agencies, to
establish and support a public system of child welfare
services to protect and promote the welfare of children.
2.Establishes the C-CFSR System to maximize compliance with
federal Social Security Act (SSA) Title IV-E Regulations and
to improve child welfare outcomes for children and their
families in the areas of child protection, foster care,
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adoption, family connections and independent living services.
3.Under federal law, establishes the Child Abuse Prevention and
Treatment Act which provides fully federal grant funding to
applicant states to improve child protective service systems
and for child abuse prevention activities. Requires the
submission of a state plan, as specified, and requires
services to be coordinated with Title IV-B services.
Additionally requires states to report specified information
regarding child fatalities.
4.Establishes the California State Child Death Review Council to
oversee the statewide coordination and integration of state
and local efforts to address fatal child abuse or neglect and
to create a body of information to prevent child deaths.
5.Provides for the establishment of county Child Death Review
Teams to assist local agencies in identifying and reviewing
suspicious child deaths and facilitating communication among
persons who perform autopsies and the various persons and
agencies involved in child abuse or neglect cases.
6.Requires each child death review team to make findings,
conclusions, recommendations and specified data available to
the public no less than once each year.
7.Provides that all applications and records maintained or kept
regarding to the administration or provision of social
services, as specified, to be confidential and not be made
open other than for the purposes of the administration or
provision of the social service programs, unless otherwise
specified.
8.Requires specified information from a child welfare case
related to the suspected death of a child caused by abuse or
neglect to be released within five days, and permits DSS and
the child welfare agency to comment on the case within the
scope of the release, as specified.
This bill:
1.States that this bill shall be known as the Child Welfare
Social Worker Empowerment and Foster Child Protection Act.
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2.Makes various legislative findings and declaration related to
California children in foster care and the need for the county
child welfare child social workers to have an avenue to
suggest cost-saving efficiencies in the delivery of services
to foster children, in a fashion that is transparent and
accountable to the public.
3.Requires DSS, in consultation with counties and labor
organizations, to establish, no later than January 1, 2016, a
process to receive voluntary disclosures from social workers,
if a social worker has reasonable cause to believe that a
policy, procedure, or practice, related to the provision of
child welfare services by a county child welfare agency, meets
any of the following conditions:
A. Endangers the health or well-being of a child or
children;
B. Is contrary to existing statute or regulation; or
C. Is contrary to public policy.
1.Prohibits DSS from disclosing to any person or entity the
identity of a social worker making a disclosure unless (A) the
social worker has consented to the disclosure or (B) there is
an immediate risk to the health and safety of a child.
2.Requires DSS to make available to counties and labor
organizations a description of the voluntary disclosure
process that is established.
3.Defines "county child welfare agency" to include a county
welfare department, child welfare department, and any other
county agency that employs social workers and is responsible
for the placement and supervision of children and youth in
foster care, including department social workers contracted by
counties to perform direct adoption services.
4.Requires DSS to no later than January 1, 2018, report to the
Legislature only the following information:
A. The total number of relevant disclosures received from
social workers, including the month and year the disclosure
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was received.
B. A summary description of both of the following:
C. The issues raised in the disclosures received from a
social worker.
D. The actions taken by DSS in response to the disclosures.
1.Requires DSS, no later than January 1, 2018, to post on its
Internet Web site, the information described in #7.
2.Makes a legislative finding and declaration that the above
provisions impose a limitation on the public's right of access
to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public
officials and agencies, as specified within the California
Constitution. Pursuant to that constitutional provision, the
Legislature makes the following findings to demonstrate the
interest protected by this limitation and the need for
protecting that interest:
In order to encourage the disclosure of policies,
procedures, or practices relating to the provision of child
welfare services by a county child welfare agency that a
social worker has reasonable cause to believe endangers the
health or well-being of a child or children, the identity
of a social worker who makes these disclosures should be
kept confidential.
Background
California has a complex child welfare system incorporating
federal, state and local funds expended for the broad purpose of
child welfare, including child abuse prevention and response.
The federal Administration of Children and Families (ACF)
administers numerous federal grants intended to assist states
with child abuse prevention and response and to support the
foster care system which provides board and care payments for
eligible dependent children. Within the statutorily established
parameters for each grant, states have substantial flexibility
in how to apportion funds but are accountable to significant
federal oversight of program administration.
DSS supervises the 58 county-administered Child Welfare Services
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system which investigates approximately 32,000 reports of severe
injury, death and life threatening neglect of children annually.
According to DSS, as of January 2014, there were nearly 61,000
children currently in foster care placement, with nearly one in
three residing in Los Angeles County.
Prior Legislation
AB 921 (Jones-Sawyer, 2013) which was vetoed. The Governor's
veto message for AB 921 stated:
Among its provisions, the bill would allow any social worker
to comment on any child welfare services policy, procedure and
practice, or any publicly released child fatality case, with
impunity.
While this bill has the best of intentions, it overreaches.
The judgment of social workers should be valued, but we don't
need a law to protect their opinions, and theirs alone.
Social workers, like other public or private employees,
already have "whistleblower" protections for illegal acts they
report. Specific county policies and practices that are legal
but problematic should be resolved at the county level, or
through legislation as a last resort, when counties cannot do
it on their own.
Social workers, the state and counties all have a duty to
protect children who are abused and neglected. We should all
work together in good faith to that end.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: Yes
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee, potential
state costs in excess of $50,000 to $100,000 (General Fund*) for
mandated activities on local agencies associated with the
current and future development of county self-assessments and
county improvement plans.
*Pursuant to Proposition 30 (November 2012) any legislation
enacted after September 30, 2012, that has an overall effect of
increasing the costs already borne by a local agency for
programs or levels of service mandated by realignment (including
child welfare services) only apply to local agencies to the
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extent that the state provides annual funding for the cost
increase.
SUPPORT : (Verified 8/25/14)
Children's Advocacy Institute (co-source)
SEIU California (co-source)
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the sponsor of the bill,
SEIU, this bill is a response to a series of tragic child deaths
as a result of abuse and neglect that occurred in two of
California's largest counties; Los Angeles and Sacramento. SEIU
writes:
Over the years, SEIU members who are social workers have
shared numerous stories of their attempts to make changes in
the child protective services systems they work in to benefit
children and families?but workers' recommendations often fall
on deaf ears, and in some cases, suggestions and concerns have
even been met with responses ranging from indifference to
hostility. AB 1978 seeks to provide protections to workers
who have firsthand experience and knowledge on how policies
and procedures affect child safety.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 64-9, 5/23/14
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Ammiano, Bigelow, Bloom, Bocanegra,
Bonta, Bradford, Brown, Buchanan, Ian Calderon, Campos, Chau,
Ch�vez, Chesbro, Cooley, Dababneh, Daly, Dickinson, Eggman,
Fong, Fox, Frazier, Garcia, Gatto, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon,
Gorell, Gray, Hagman, Hall, Holden, Jones-Sawyer, Levine,
Linder, Lowenthal, Maienschein, Medina, Melendez, Mullin,
Muratsuchi, Nazarian, Olsen, Pan, Patterson, Perea, John A.
P�rez, Quirk, Quirk-Silva, Rendon, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez,
Salas, Skinner, Stone, Ting, Waldron, Weber, Wieckowski, Wilk,
Williams, Yamada, Atkins
NOES: Allen, Conway, Dahle, Beth Gaines, Grove, Jones, Logue,
Mansoor, Wagner
NO VOTE RECORDED: Bonilla, Donnelly, Harkey, Roger Hern�ndez,
Nestande, V. Manuel P�rez, Vacancy
JL:nl:k 8/25/14 Senate Floor Analyses
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SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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