BILL ANALYSIS
SENATE HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
COMMITTEE ANALYSIS
Senator Martha M. Escutia, Chair
BILL NO: AB 2315
A
AUTHOR: Mazzoni and Strom-Martin
B
AMENDED: June 12, 2000
HEARING DATE: June 21, 2000
2
FISCAL: Appropriations
3
1
CONSULTANT:
5
Hailey / ak
SUBJECT
Children of Incarcerated Parents
SUMMARY
Requires probation officers to report, prior to the
sentencing of an individual who has minor children,
information about the arrangements for care of those
children if the defendant is to be incarcerated, and
establishes a process to develop a model protocol to
address the needs of children at the time of their parent's
arrest.
ABSTRACT
Current law:
1.Requires probation departments to provide care and
supervision to delinquent children who are or may become
wards of the juvenile court;
2.Requires child welfare agencies to provide children with
protection from abuse and neglect and to provide care and
supervision to children who are or may become dependents
of the juvenile court;
Continued---
STAFF ANALYSIS OF ASSEMBLY BILL 2315 (MAZZONI AND
STROM-MARTIN) Page 2
3.Authorizes a law enforcement officer to take a child into
custody if the child is without any provision of support,
and authorizes the officer to transfer custody of the
child to a county child welfare worker if the child's
parent or guardian cannot be located;
4.Requires that a child in the temporary custody of a
county child welfare worker be released to the care of a
parent or relative unless there is suspicion that the
child is within the jurisdiction of the juvenile court
due to abuse or neglect;
5.Provides that any child whose parent (or parents) has
been incarcerated, and who has been left without an
arrangement for support, is within the jurisdiction of
the juvenile court and may be adjudged a dependent of the
court.
This bill:
1.Requires, when a defendant over age 18 who is a parent is
to be incarcerated, that probation officers include in
the sentencing report filed with the criminal court a
discussion of what arrangements exist for the care of a
defendant's children in the defendant's absence;
2.Requires, when appropriate, that the report also be sent
to the county child welfare services agency and the
family court for assessment, review and disposition;
3.Requires the Attorney General (AG) and the Secretary of
the Health and Human Services Agency (HSSA) to jointly
convene a study group to develop and disseminate a "model
protocol" for the care of children at the time of their
parent's arrest;
4.Requires counties, upon receipts of the "model protocol"
to review local procedures for identifying, locating, and
ensuring appropriate provision of care for minor children
of arrestees, and to incorporate into procedures elements
of the model protocol not included in the county's
procedures;
5.Requires the Secretary of the HSSA, the AG, and the
Secretary of the Youth and Adult Correctional Agency
(YACA) to jointly convene an Advisory Committee on the
Continued---
STAFF ANALYSIS OF ASSEMBLY BILL 2315 (MAZZONI AND
STROM-MARTIN) Page 3
Children of Incarcerated Parents to develop
recommendations for targeting state and local services to
children of incarcerated parents.
FISCAL IMPACT
The Assembly Appropriations Committee identifies minor
absorbable costs to county probation departments to include
information in pre-sentencing reports, and minor absorbable
state costs for the study group and the advisory committee.
BACKGROUND AND DISCUSSION
1.Children of incarcerated parents
According to the California Research Bureau, approximately
850,000 children in California have a parent currently
involved in the criminal justice system. Of this number,
almost 300,000 have a parent in state prison or in jail;
the remainder have a parent on parole or on probation.
Furthermore, 80 percent of female prisoners are parents
with, on average, two children. The mothers of nearly
20,000 California children are in prison. Current law
and practice do not require the arresting officer to
inquire of arrestees if they have children who may need
care and supervision in the arrestees' absence.
Especially, when a parent is arrested without his or her
children present, there is no established protocol for
ascertaining whether the children will need supervision
while their parent is detained or incarcerated.
2.AB 2315
The author's stated purpose in introducing this bill is to
establish procedures at the local level to ensure that
children do not "fall through the cracks" when their
parents are arrested or incarcerated. AB 2315 requires
county probation officers to include in the
pre-sentencing report information about the presence of
children and arrangements for their care in their
parent's absence. Concurrently, a "model protocol" will
be developed by a state and local working group.
Counties would be required to incorporate that protocol
into their existing procedures.
This bill also requires two state agency secretaries (HSSA
and YACA), plus the AG to convene an advisory group on
Continued---
STAFF ANALYSIS OF ASSEMBLY BILL 2315 (MAZZONI AND
STROM-MARTIN) Page 4
services for children of incarcerated parents. The
advisory group would be required to develop
recommendations on the provision of state and local
services to the children of incarcerated parents and
other caregivers, including facilitation of visitation.
The advisory committee would also be charged with
developing a data base to track the needs and outcomes of
these children while ensuring confidentiality of the
data.
The author is also carrying AB 2316, recently passed by the
Senate Public Safety Committee, to require the California
Research Bureau to conduct a study of children whose
parents are incarcerated in California's prisons.
3.Arguments of supporters
Supporters argue that California needs a model protocol
that addresses how best to ensure the temporary and
long-term safety, security, and care of children at the
time of the parent's arrest.
Supporters believe that the probation officer's
pre-sentencing report is the most cost-effective
opportunity in the trial process to gather information
that may be needed by the court and child welfare
services regarding the health and safety of a prisoner's
children. To wait for an action to be filed in
dependency court would neglect an opportunity to
anticipate and prevent risk to the children.
4.Arguments of opponent
The California Judges Association believes the bill
imposes duties on already over-burdened probation and
other court staff to make assessments of child welfare,
duties better carried out in existing dependency courts.
QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS
1.The advisory committee on the children of incarcerated
parents includes no consumers, neither parents who have
been incarcerated or individuals who were minor children
during periods when a parent was incarcerated. Should
consumer representatives be added to the membership of
both the study group and the advisory committee?
Continued---
STAFF ANALYSIS OF ASSEMBLY BILL 2315 (MAZZONI AND
STROM-MARTIN) Page 5
2.The Judicial Council of California requests an amendment
deleting forwarding of the report to the family court.
Actions by family court are triggered by the petition of
either parent, and so the pre-sentencing report would not
prompt any court action.
3.Some persons who are arrested may be minors with
children. Should the bill be amended to provide the same
services to children of minor parents who are detained
and sentenced?
Continued---
STAFF ANALYSIS OF ASSEMBLY BILL 2315 (MAZZONI AND
STROM-MARTIN) Page 6
4.A technical amendment is needed to change a reference
from "Adult and Youth correctional Agency" to "Youth and
Adult Correctional Agency."
PRIOR ACTIONS
Assembly Floor: 64 - 13 Pass
Assembly Appropriations: 17 - 4 Do pass as amended
Assembly Human Services: 6 - 0 Do pass as amended
POSITIONS
Support: Archdiocese of Los Angeles, Office of
Detention Ministry
Board of Deacons, Redwoods Presbyterian
Church, Larkspur California Catholic
Conference
California Child Youth and Family Coalition
Judicial Council of California (if amended)
Los Angeles County District Attorney's
Office
Office of the Attorney General
Sacramento County Sheriff's Department
Oppose: California Judges Association