BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 2001
Page A
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB 2001 (Ammiano)
As Amended April 22, 2014
Majority vote
HUMAN SERVICES 5-0 APPROPRIATIONS 17-0
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|Ayes:|Stone, Maienschein, |Ayes:|Gatto, Bigelow, |
| |Ammiano, | |Bocanegra, Bradford, Ian |
| |Ian Calderon, Garcia | |Calderon, Campos, |
| | | |Donnelly, Eggman, Gomez, |
| | | |Holden, Jones, Linder, |
| | | |Pan, Quirk, |
| | | |Ridley-Thomas, Wagner, |
| | | |Weber |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
| | | | |
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SUMMARY : Creates an opt-in pilot program to provide
comprehensive services to homeless youth. Specifically, this
bill :
1)Authorizes counties that participate in the federal Title IV-E
Child Welfare Waiver Demonstration Project to establish a
pilot program, with the approval of the Department of Social
Services (DSS), to develop and implement alternative child
welfare services to meet the individual needs of homeless
youth.
2)Requires each pilot program to conclude no later than July 1,
2019.
3)Specifies that a homeless youth is eligible to participate in
the pilot program if he or she is at least 14 years old and
has been homeless for at least 21 consecutive days, and the
county child welfare agency determines that long-term
intensive support services are needed and the youth would best
be served by these intensive services through the pilot
program.
4)Authorizes each participating county to use Title IV-E funds
and state foster care funds.
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5)Requires a county child welfare agency, upon placement of a
homeless youth into a shelter, to provide case management
services, identify appropriate long-term housing placement
opportunities and wraparound services for the youth, and
recommend whether the youth should continue in the pilot
program or petition to become a dependent child of the court.
6)Requires DSS, in consultation with the California Welfare
Directors Association and youth advocates to develop by March
31, 2015, standards and criteria for the pilot program
regarding the use of Title IV-E funding, requirements for
casework, placements and youth assessments.
7)Requires DSS to evaluate the pilot program and report its
findings to the Legislature by January 1, 2019, along with a
recommendation as to whether the program should continue.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee:
1)One-time costs potentially in the range of $200,000 to DSS to
establish standards and criteria for the pilot program and to
evaluate the pilot program and report to the Legislature.
2)On-going minor costs to DSS to screen county participation in
the pilot program.
COMMENTS :
Maintaining the Family: Historically, it has been the stated
policy of California that when a child is removed from the home,
first preference should be given to placing the child with
another parent, or with his or her relatives whenever possible
and appropriate. This has helped to preserve and strengthen the
social bedrock of our society, by keeping families together and
reducing society's reliance on its social welfare system.
Child Welfare Services: The purpose of California's Child
Welfare Services (CWS) system is to provide for the protection
and the health and safety of children. Within this purpose, the
desired outcome is to reunite children with their biological
parents, when appropriate, to help preserve and strengthen
families. However, if reunification with the biological family
is not appropriate, children are placed in the best environment
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possible, whether that is with a relative, through adoption, or
with a guardian, such as a nonrelated extended family member, as
specified. In the case of children who are at risk of abuse,
neglect or abandonment, county juvenile courts hold legal
jurisdiction and children are served by the CWS system through
the appointment of a social worker. Through this system, there
are multiple stages where the custody of the child or his or her
placement are evaluated, reviewed and determined by the judicial
system, in consultation with the child's social worker to help
provide the best possible services to the child.
At the time a child is identified as needing child welfare
services and is in the temporary custody of a social worker, the
social worker is required to identify whether there is a
relative or guardian to whom a child may be released, unless the
social worker believes that the child would be at risk of abuse,
neglect or abandonment if placed with that relative or guardian.
The Welfare and Institutions Code also lays out the conditions
under which a court may deem a child a dependent or ward of the
court, including when the parent has been incarcerated or
institutionalized and is unable to arrange for care for the
child, such as placement with a known relative or nonrelative
extended family member (NREFM). If the child is deemed a
dependent or ward of the court, the court may maintain the child
in his or her home, remove the child from the home but with the
goal of reunifying the child with his or her family, or identify
another form of permanent placement. Unless the child is unable
to be placed with the parent, the court is required to give
preference to a relative of the child in order to preserve the
child's association with his or her family. Associated with the
placement, the assigned social worker shall develop a case plan
for the child, which outlines the placement for the child, sets
forth services necessary for the child, and outlines the
provision of reunification services, if necessary and
appropriate.
Custody and out-home-placement of children in foster care: When
it is suspected that a child is a victim of physical, sexual, or
emotional abuse, or neglect or exploitation, any person may
report that abuse or neglect to child protective services.
Additionally certain individuals, such as physicians and
teachers, are mandated under state and federal law to
immediately report any suspicion or identification of child
abuse or neglect to child protective services. After the report
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of abuse or neglect is made, a county welfare agency's (CWA)
child protective services social worker is required to
immediately investigate the complaint to determine its validity.
If the complaint is found to be valid, the social worker may
remove the child from the family and place the child into
temporary custody.
This allows for the immediate removal of the child from harm,
while the CWA and the court investigate whether the child should
remain in temporary custody or be ruled a dependent of the
state. Temporary custody does not eliminate all rights of the
parent; rather removal of parental rights depends on what "care,
custody and control" rights the parent(s) may retain, as
determined by the court on a case by case basis. Typically, the
parent retains educational and health rights over the child,
which, again, depends on the ruling of the court. The timelines
and requirements to address custody and the placement of the
child in an out-of-home placement, such as with the home of a
relative, a foster parent or a group home are laid out in the
W&I Code and provide an adjudicatory process that must be
conducted expeditiously to limit, to the extent possible, any
harm to the child. This includes limiting undue harm due to the
removal of the child from the family for health and safety
purposes, as well as avoiding emotional harm to the child due to
separation from his or her parent(s).
Reunification Services: When children are removed from the
home, but the court determines, in consultation with a child's
social worker, that the child would ultimately benefit from
being returned to the family, the court may order reunification
services for the parents. Reunification services are generally
developed on a case-by-case basis to accommodate and respond to
the needs of the child and the parents to better facilitate the
child's reunification with his or her parent(s).
Reunifications services can include family therapy, parenting
classes, drug and alcohol abuse treatment, respite care, parent
support groups, home visiting programs, and other coordinated
and tailored services necessary to assist the child and the
family with reunification. Under current law, for children
under the age of three, reunification services are offered for
six months and offered for 12 months for children over the age
of three. A six-month extension may be made if the court finds
there is substantial probability that the child will be returned
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to the physical custody of his or her parent(s) within the
extended time period or that reasonable services have not been
provided to the parent(s).<1>
Homeless Youth: Established by the California Research Bureau
(CRB) in 2006 in collaboration with the Council on Youth
Relations (CYR), the Homeless Youth Project (HYP) is a
multi-year research and policy initiative tasked with
highlighting and raising awareness about the homeless youth
population and its challenges, and presenting solutions to help
address California's homeless youth population.
According to the HYP, based upon national survey estimates and
California's youth population, it is estimated that there are
200,000 youth under the age of 18 and potentially thousands of
persons aged 18 to 24 who are homeless. While this is an
approximation of the number of homeless youth in California, the
number is likely to be greater given the challenges involved in
the identification of homeless youth. For purpose of this
population, "homeless youth" typically describes minors under
the age of 18, and 18 to 24-year-olds who are economically
and/or emotionally detached from their families and have an
unstable and inadequate living environment, or are periodically
homeless or homeless.
The causes of youth homelessness are varied and complex. They
range from runaway youth to emancipated foster youth to
disengaged youth due to the lack of an adult figure in their
life or a lack of access to appropriate services. Due to their
unique circumstances, research has shown that homeless youth are
at a greater risk of physical and sexual abuse, sexual
exploitation, alcohol and drug abuse, mental health
disabilities, and death. Additionally, the social, emotional,
medical, economic and personal challenges homeless youth face,
when coupled with the lack of effective, coordinated services to
help them find and keep stable housing and reach
self-sufficiency, can lead to ongoing and chronic cycles of
homelessness throughout their lifetime.
In a 2010 survey of local, state and federal programs, the HYP
was able to identify 53 programs that offered just over 1,000
beds for homeless youth throughout the state. Given that the
current estimate of homeless youth amounts to more than 200,000
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<1> Welfare and Institutions Code 361.5
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individuals, this demonstrates a significant gap between the
size of California's homeless youth population and the number of
programs and services available to meet their needs.
There are a number of scenarios that could lead to a child
becoming chronically homeless; the child has runaway due to
abuse in the home, has fallen in with 'the wrong crowd,' the
child suffers from psychological trauma or has mental health
needs, etc. The circumstances that cause a youth to become
homeless are as varied as the types of treatment and services
that the child will need to not be homeless. As a result, each
child is different and requires tailored services to meet his or
her needs. One of the concerns voiced by the author is that the
current CWS system fails to meet the needs of homeless youth,
especially youth who have been on the streets for three months
or more, where the survival and adaptation skills to being
homeless become more pronounced than the reasons why they became
homeless. Because of this, the author argues, the state should
take a more direct approach to ensuring that homeless youth, who
are engaged by the state's social safety net, either through
interactions with law enforcement or CWS, are served by those
entities that have the expertise in meeting their needs.
Need for this bill: Stating the need for the bill, the author
writes:
There are only 2 available paths for chronically
homeless youth - the child welfare system or the
juvenile justice system, and neither serves the
population sufficiently. For this subsection of
homeless youth, a group home placement that provides a
specialized set of skills has been the proven model
for success. The problem herein lies with the funding
of these successful homeless youth programs. Currently
funding is not guaranteed and typically come from a
variety of sources - foundations, city and county
governments, state and federal funds, and mostly
private contributions.
Unaccompanied minors, particularly the young people
who have been kicked out of their homes by their
families fall within the purview of the child welfare
system. California's complicated Community Care
Licensing laws make it difficult to access child
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welfare funds to serve this population of young
people. AB 2001 fills this service gap by clarifying
that Runaway and Homeless Youth Centers can
additionally run separately licensed group homes and
the courts may order chronically homeless youth be
placed in these specialty group homes specializing in
services for chronically homeless youth.
Analysis Prepared by : Chris Reefe / HUM. S. / (916) 319-2089
FN: 0003825