Child welfare services.

(1) Existing law establishes a system of statewide child welfare services, administered by the State Department of Social Services and county child welfare agencies, with the intent that all children are entitled to be safe and free from abuse and neglect. This bill would require county child welfare agencies and probation departments, by September 29, 2016, to implement policies and procedures to identify, document, and determine appropriate services for children and youth who are receiving child welfare services pursuant to federal law and are, or are at risk of becoming, victims of commercial sexual exploitation. The bill would also require county child welfare agencies and probation departments to develop and implement specific protocols to expeditiously locate any child missing from foster care, as specified. By imposing these requirements on county agencies, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (2) Under existing law, a county social worker develops a case plan that, among other things, identifies the child welfare services that will be provided to a minor or nonminor dependent. Existing law requires the county child welfare agency to give the child a meaningful opportunity to participate in the development of the case plan. This bill would require county child welfare agencies to develop case plans for youth 14 years of age or older and nonminor dependents in consultation with the youth, and would authorize each youth to choose up to 2 members of the case planning team, as specified. The bill would require that case plans for these youth include a description of specified rights and entitlements, as well as an acknowledgment signed by each youth that he or she was provided with this information. The bill would also require the case plan for a child or nonminor dependent who is, or who is at risk of becoming, the victim of commercial sexual exploitation, to document the services provided to address that issue. By imposing these case planning requirements on county child welfare agencies, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (3) Existing law requires a caregiver of a dependent child to use a reasonable and prudent parent standard in determining whether to give permission for a child residing in foster care to participate in extracurricular, enrichment, and social activities. This bill would require that training for various categories of caregivers include knowledge and skills relating to the reasonable and prudent parent standard for participation in age or developmentally appropriate activities. The bill would also require each licensed community care facility that provides care and supervision to children, except licensed foster family homes and certified family homes, to designate at least one onsite staff member to apply the reasonable and prudent parent standard to decisions involving the participation of the child in age or developmentally appropriate activities. To the extent this bill would impose foster parent training requirements on counties, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (4) Existing law requires a county welfare department, county probation department, or the State Department of Social Services to annually obtain a credit report, as specified, for a child in foster care who is 16 years of age or older. This bill would require that these services be provided to a child in foster care who is 14 years of age or older. By increasing the level of service provided by counties, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (5) Existing law requires the State Department of Social Services to implement a statewide Child Welfare Services/Case Management System to effectively administer and evaluate the state's child welfare services and foster care programs. This bill would require the department to ensure that the Child Welfare Services/Case Management System is capable of collecting specified information relating to the number of foster children who are, or are at risk of becoming, victims of commercial sexual exploitation. (6) The Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act makes certain persons mandated reporters, and requires those persons to report to a police department, sheriff's department, county probation department, or the county welfare department whenever he or she knows or reasonably suspects that a child has been the victim of child abuse or neglect, as specified. Existing law requires the county probation or welfare department to immediately, or as soon as practicably possible, report to the law enforcement agency having jurisdiction over the case, to the agency given the responsibility for investigation of cases of child abuse and neglect, and to the district attorney's office every known or suspected instance of child abuse or neglect. This bill would additionally require the county probation or welfare department to immediately, or in no case later than 24 hours from receipt of the information, report to the law enforcement agency having jurisdiction over the case any known or suspected instance of child abuse involving an allegation of commercial sexual exploitation, as defined, of a child or youth receiving child welfare services. The bill would also require the county probation or welfare department to make a report to the appropriate law enforcement authority for entry into the National Crime Information Center database of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children within 24 hours of becoming aware that a child or youth who is receiving child welfare services and who is known or suspected to be the victim of commercial sexual exploitation is missing or has been abducted. By increasing the duties of county probation and welfare departments, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (7) Existing law establishes the Adoption Assistance Program for the purpose of benefiting children residing in foster homes by providing the stability and security of permanent homes. Existing law requires that any savings realized from the change in federal funding for adoption assistance resulting from the enactment of the federal Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008 be spent for the provision of foster care and adoption services. This bill would require that at least 30% of that savings be spent on postadoption services, postguardianship services, and services to support and sustain positive permanent outcomes for children who might enter foster care, as specified. (8) The Kinship Guardianship Assistance Payment (Kin-GAP) Program provides financial assistance to children who are eligible for foster care maintenance payments and are placed in legal guardianship with a relative. Under existing law, termination of the guardianship terminates eligibility for Kin-GAP, unless an alternate kinship guardian or coguardian is appointed, as provided. This bill would instead provide that if a successor kinship guardian is appointed, the successor guardian is entitled to receive Kin-GAP on behalf of the child if the reason for the appointment is the death or incapacity of the kinship guardian and the successor guardian is named in the kinship guardianship assistance agreement. (9) Existing federal law, the Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997, among other provisions, establishes a permanent placement option for older children as an alternative to long-term foster care, referred to in the act as "another planned permanent living arrangement" (APPLA) . Existing law declares the intent of the Legislature to conform state law to the federal act, as specified. This bill would revise various provisions relating to foster care and the placement of dependent children and wards of the juvenile court, to delete references to long-term foster care and to provide a minor 16 years of age and older, under certain circumstances, with another planned permanent living arrangement, as prescribed. The bill would require the court conducting the permanency hearing to make specified findings in this regard. The bill also would impose additional requirements on the county social worker or probation officer preparing the case plan and the social study required for children and nonminor dependents placed in another planned permanent living arrangement, as defined. By imposing new duties on county social workers and probation officers, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (10) This bill would incorporate additional changes proposed by AB 403, SB 68, and SB 238, which would become operative only if this bill is chaptered last. (11) The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.