BILL ANALYSIS �
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 2379|
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CONSENT
Bill No: AB 2379
Author: Weber (D)
Amended: 4/22/14 in Assembly
Vote: 21
SENATE HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE : 4-0, 6/10/14
AYES: Beall, DeSaulnier, Liu, Wyland
NO VOTE RECORDED: Berryhill
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 78-0, 5/15/14 (Consent) - See last page for
vote
SUBJECT : Abuse of elders and dependent adults:
multidisciplinary team
SOURCE : County of San Diego
DIGEST : This bill adds child welfare services (CWS) personnel
to the list of persons who may be included in multidisciplinary
teams that are trained in the prevention, identification,
management, or treatment of abuse of elderly or dependent
adults.
ANALYSIS :
Existing law:
1. Establishes the Elder Abuse and Dependent Adult Civil
Protection Act (Act) to, among other intents, direct special
attention to the needs and problems of elderly persons,
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recognizing that these persons are more subject to risks of
abuse, neglect, and abandonment.
2. Defines "multidisciplinary personnel team" as any team of two
or more persons who are trained in the prevention,
identification, management, or treatment of abuse of elderly
or dependent adults and who are qualified to provide a broad
range of services related to abuse of elderly or dependent
adults.
3. Defines those who may participate in a multidisciplinary
personnel team to include, but need not be limited to, any of
the following:
A. Psychiatrists, psychologists, or other trained
counseling personnel.
B. Police officers or other law enforcement agents.
C. Medical personnel with sufficient training to
provide health services.
D. Social workers with experience or training in
prevention of abuse of elderly or dependent adults.
E. Public guardians.
F. The local long-term care ombudsman.
4. Permits persons who are trained and qualified to serve on
multidisciplinary personnel teams to disclose to one another
information and records which are relevant to the prevention,
identification, or treatment of abuse of elderly or dependent
persons.
5. Permits a member of the team to disclose and exchange any
information or writing which he/she reasonably believes is
relevant to the prevention, identification, management, or
treatment of child abuse or neglect, or of the abuse of elder
or dependent persons to other members of the team. Requires
that all discussions relative to the disclosure or exchange
of any such information or writing during team meetings are
confidential.
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This bill adds CWS personnel to the six existing identified
members of the multidisciplinary personnel team members.
Comments
According to the author's office, this bill makes a modest
change to existing statute that increases the ability of local
abuse prevention teams to collaborate in order to identify
potential risk in caregivers of older or dependent adults who
may have been known to abuse or neglect children in their care
in the past. Existing law does not identify CWS personnel as
members who may be included on an elder abuse multidisciplinary
personnel team, which is tasked with prevention efforts and
authorized to share information in individual case files.
The author's office states that two recent cases in San Diego of
young adults with intellectual disabilities who reportedly were
being abused by a parent. Adult Protective Services (APS)
workers in these two cases are precluded by law from asking for
case information from child welfare workers. In 2010, a
28-year-old San Diego County man died after he was neglected by
his mother and brother. According to the author's office, it is
important to prevent further abuses for county adult protection
workers to have the ability to know if parents who have abused
and neglected their children are being assigned as caregivers
when the children become dependent adults.
Act . The Act was passed in 1982 in recognition that vulnerable
elderly adults may be subjected to abuse, neglect or abandonment
and a significant number of them may have mental or verbal
limitations and that the state has a duty to protect them. Among
the elements of the act is the establishment of
multidisciplinary personnel teams who are composed of two or
more public social service professionals engaged in the
prevention, identification, management, or treatment of child
abuse or neglect, or of the abuse of elder or dependent persons.
APS . In California, each county oversees its own APS agency to
investigate abuse, neglect or exploitation of elder and
dependent adults or assist them when they are unable to meet
their own needs. In March, according to the Department of
Social Services, there were roughly 15,000 reports of adult and
dependent abuse statewide, and approximately 10,500 of them were
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against elders. APS may conduct needs assessments, create an
abuse reporting system, and provide preventative services,
including food, transportation, emergency shelter and in-home
protective care. Each county also may use a multidisciplinary
team to coordinate with community resources.
CWS . Each county also oversees its own CWS system, designed to
respond to and investigate claims of child abuse or neglect. If
an allegation is substantiated, and a child is placed into the
custody of the juvenile court for protection, CWS caseworkers
oversee the child's care in a foster home or other out-of-home
placement, as well as efforts of the family to reunify with the
child. Case files typically have extensive information on a
family's history.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No Local:
No
SUPPORT : (Verified 6/12/14)
County of San Diego (source)
AFSCME
California Association of Public Authorities
California Police Chiefs Association
California Probation, Parole and Correctional Association
California State Association of Counties
California Welfare Directors Association
National Association of Social Workers - California Chapter
Office of the District Attorney of San Diego County
Urban Counties Caucus
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 78-0, 5/15/14
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Bigelow, Bloom,
Bocanegra, Bonilla, Bonta, Bradford, Brown, Buchanan, Ian
Calderon, Campos, Chau, Ch�vez, Chesbro, Conway, Cooley,
Dababneh, Dahle, Daly, Dickinson, Donnelly, Eggman, Fong, Fox,
Frazier, Beth Gaines, Garcia, Gatto, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon,
Gorell, Gray, Grove, Hagman, Hall, Harkey, Roger Hern�ndez,
Holden, Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Levine, Linder, Logue, Lowenthal,
Maienschein, Medina, Melendez, Mullin, Muratsuchi, Nazarian,
Nestande, Olsen, Pan, Patterson, Perea, John A. P�rez, V.
Manuel P�rez, Quirk, Quirk-Silva, Rendon, Ridley-Thomas,
Rodriguez, Salas, Skinner, Stone, Ting, Wagner, Waldron,
Weber, Wieckowski, Wilk, Williams, Yamada, Atkins
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NO VOTE RECORDED: Mansoor, Vacancy
JL:d 6/12/14 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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