Child welfare services, foster care services, and adoption assistance.

(1) Existing law requires the State Department of Mental Health to establish, by regulations, no later than December 31, 1994, program standards for any facility licensed as a community treatment facility. Under existing law, until January 1, 2010, the department shall not require a community treatment facility that meets certain requirements to have 24-hour onsite licensed nursing staff. This bill would extend applicability of the above provisions relating to onsite licensed nursing staff to January 1, 2013. (2) Existing law, the California Community Care Facilities Act, provides for the licensure and regulation of foster family agencies, as defined, by the State Department of Social Services, including applicable personnel requirements. Violation of these provisions is a misdemeanor. This bill would require a foster family agency that provides treatment of children in foster families to employ one full-time social work supervisor for every eight social workers, or fraction thereof, in the agency. The bill would require the implementation of this provision to cease on and after January 1, 2011, without the enactment of subsequent statutory authorization. By changing the definition of an existing crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (3) Existing law requires the juvenile court to conduct a hearing for the initial disposition of a dependent child of the court, and subsequent hearings to review the status of the child, as specified. Existing law specifies the circumstances under which the court may schedule a hearing to terminate parental rights or take other specified actions with respect to placement of a child who was under 3 years of age on the date of initial removal or is a member of a sibling group, as specified. This bill would require the court, in determining whether to schedule the hearing described above for a child under these circumstances, to take into account barriers to a parent's ability to remain in contact with his or her child due to the parent's incarceration or institutionalization. (4) Existing law establishes the Aid to Families with Dependent Children-Foster Care (AFDC-FC) program, under which counties provide payments to foster care providers on behalf of qualified children in foster care. The program is funded by a combination of federal, state, and county funds. Under existing law, AFDC-FC benefits are available, with specified exceptions, on behalf of qualified children under 18 years of age. Moneys from the General Fund are continuously appropriated to pay for the state's share of AFDC-FC costs. Under existing law, foster care providers licensed as group homes have rates established by classifying each group home program and applying a standardized schedule of rates. An adjusted schedule of rates is applicable to group home programs that receive AFDC-FC payments for services performed during the 2002–03 to 2009–10, inclusive, fiscal years. This bill would revise RCL point ranges for group home programs that receive AFDC-FC payments for services performed during the 2009–10 fiscal year, as specified. This bill would provide that no appropriation is made pursuant to the bill for the purpose of these provisions. Existing law reduces by 10% the standardized schedule of rates for foster family agencies, as defined, effective October 1, 2009. This bill would give the foster family flexibility in applying the rate reduction, but would prohibit more than 10% from being deducted from the child base and increment, as defined in departmental regulations. The bill, effective October 1, 2009, would apply similar rate reductions for foster family agency rates that are not determined by the schedule of rates set forth in the department's regulations. (5) Under existing law, the case plan is the foundation and central unifying tool in child welfare services. The components of the case plan include, when appropriate, a written description of the programs and services that will help a child, consistent with the child's best interests, prepare for the transition from foster care to independent living, for a child who is 16 years of age or older. Existing law requires, when a child is placed in foster care, that the child's case plan include a summary of the health and education information or records, including mental health information or records, of the child. This bill would require the State Department of Social Services, in consultation with pediatricians, health care experts, and experts in and recipients of child welfare services, to develop a plan for the ongoing oversight and coordination of health care services for a child in a foster care placement, consistent with specified federal law. (6) Existing law provides for the Adoption Assistance Program (AAP) , to be established and administered by the State Department of Social Services or the county, for the purpose of benefiting children residing in foster homes by providing the stability and security of permanent homes. The AAP provides for the payment by the department and counties, of cash assistance to eligible families that adopt eligible children, and bases the amount of the payment on the needs of the child and the resources of the family to meet those needs. Under existing law, at the time application for adoption of a child who is potentially eligible for AAP benefits is made, and at the time immediately prior to the finalization of the adoption decree, the department or the licensed adoption agency, whichever is appropriate, is required to provide the prospective adoptive family with designated information. This bill would additionally require the department or licensed adoption agency to provide information regarding the federal adoption tax credit for any individual who is adopting or considering adopting a child in foster care, in accordance with specified federal law. Existing law relating to adoption defines a special needs child as a child whose adoption without financial assistance would be unlikely because of specified characteristics or circumstances of the child. This bill would recast and revise the definition of a special needs child, and further would require the need for adoption subsidy to be evidenced by an unsuccessful search for an adoptive home to take the child without financial assistance, except under specified circumstances. The bill would make related changes to existing adoption assistance provisions. (7) Under existing law, the state, through the State Department of Social Services and county welfare departments, is required to establish and support a public system of statewide child welfare services. Existing law requires the case plan for a child 16 years of age or older to include a written description of the programs and services that will help the child prepare for the transition from foster care to independent living, as specified. This bill would require additional information pertaining to the child's transition to independent living to be provided in the 90-day period before the child attains 18 years of age, relating to, among other topics, housing, education, and employment services. By imposing additional duties upon each county, the bill would create a state-mandated local program. (8) (A) This bill would incorporate additional changes in Section 16119 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, proposed by AB 154, to be operative only if AB 154 and this bill are both chaptered and become effective on or before January 1, 2010, and this bill is chaptered last. (B) This bill would incorporate additional changes in Section 16501.1 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, proposed by SB 118, to be operative only if SB 118 and this bill are both chaptered and become effective on or before January 1, 2010, and this bill is chaptered last. (9) 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 with regard to certain mandates no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. With regard to any other mandates, this bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs so mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.