Minors: power of attorney to care for a minor child.

Existing law authorizes a caregiver, who properly completes and signs a caregiver's authorization affidavit, to enroll a minor in school and consent to school-related medical care on behalf of the minor. Existing law authorizes a caregiver who is a relative and properly completes and signs a caregiver's authorization affidavit to consent to additional types of medical and dental care for the minor. Existing law, the Power of Attorney Law, generally provides for the creation, modification, and revocation of a power of attorney, defined as a written instrument that is executed by a natural person having the capacity to contract and that grants authority to an attorney-in-fact, also known as an agent, to act for that person, as specified. This bill would enact the Power of Attorney to Care for a Minor Child Act to authorize one or both parents to execute a power of attorney to provide for the care of the parent's minor child only under certain terms and if specified information is included within the power of attorney, including the effective date of the power of attorney. The bill would relieve a person who acts in good faith reliance on the authorized powers set forth in a power of attorney and without actual contrary knowledge from criminal or civil liability or professional discipline for that reliance, but would not relieve a person from liability for violations of other provisions of law. The bill would require the grant of authority in a power of attorney to care for a minor child to supersede the authority of a caregiver pursuant to a caregiver's authorization affidavit. The bill would address the authority of an attorney-in-fact when 2 or more powers of attorney appoint 2 or more different attorneys-in-fact for the care of the same minor child. The bill would also make a power of attorney under these provisions act as the executing parent's nomination of a guardian, subject to specified requirements, for purposes of a legal guardianship proceeding if that proceeding commences. The bill would specify that a power of attorney executed pursuant to these provisions would not affect the rights of the minor child's parents regarding the care, custody, and control of the minor child, including the rights of a parent who had not executed the power of attorney.