Foster care.

(1) Existing law, commonly known as the Continuum of Care Reform (CCR) , states the intent of the Legislature to improve California's child welfare system and its outcomes by increasing the use of home-based family care and creating faster paths to permanency resulting in shorter durations of involvement in the child welfare and juvenile justice systems, among other things. Existing law, as part of the CCR, requires the State Department of Social Services to implement a resource family approval process, and directs counties and foster family agencies, to approve resource families, as defined, in lieu of licensing foster family homes, certifying foster homes by foster family agencies, approving relatives and nonrelative extended family members as foster care providers, and approving guardians and adoptive families. Existing law requires a foster family agency to, and authorizes a county to, conduct a reference check of a resource family applicant before approval by contacting specified entities, including any foster family agencies that have certified the applicant. This bill would, among other things, clarify that the reference check is to determine whether it is safe and appropriate to approve the resource family, and would require that a foster family agency that has previously certified the applicant or approved the applicant as a resource family to divulge information, as specified, regarding the applicant within 20 business days of being contacted by a foster family agency or county conducting a reference check. (2) Existing law authorizes a resource family that is currently approved by a foster family agency or a county to be approved by a subsequent foster family agency upon the completion of specified activities, including the resource family submitting an application and the subsequent foster family agency conducting a background check and reference check, as specified. Existing law also authorizes a resource family approved by a foster family agency to transfer their approval to a county upon the completion of similar activities. This bill would prohibit a subsequent foster family agency or a county from approving or denying an application if there is a pending investigation that poses a health and safety risk or a pending administrative action against the applicant or an adult residing in the home. The bill would authorize the approval or denial of the application after the investigation or administrative action has concluded, and the subsequent foster family agency or county confirms that the applicant is still eligible to apply for approval and does not pose a health and safety risk to children or nonminor dependents. (3) Existing law, the California Community Care Facilities Act, provides for the licensing and regulation of community care facilities, including foster family homes, group homes, and short-term residential therapeutic programs, by the State Department of Social Services. The act requires a license under the act or a resource family approval to be forfeited by operation of law under specific circumstances, including when the licensee or resource family is convicted of a specified offense for which the department is prohibited from granting a criminal record exemption for. The act authorizes the department to extend a provisional license for a group home or short-term residential therapeutic program that is in substantial compliance with licensing standards up to an additional 6 months if the facility needs additional time to be in full compliance with licensing standards or is operating at a specified capacity. A violation of the act is a misdemeanor. This bill would remove the above-described circumstance from the requirement that a license under the act or a resource family approval be forfeited by operation of law. The bill would require forfeiture of a group home license when the licensee transfers the group home to a short-term residential therapeutic program and receives a license for that program, unless the department approves the licensee to operate a short-term residential program in an identifiable and separate unit on the same grounds. The bill would authorize the department to extend the provisional license an additional 12 months for a short-term residential therapeutic program that requires additional time to complete specified mental health program approval. (4) Existing law requires specified proceedings under the California Community Care Facilities Act against a foster family home, certified family home, or a resource family of a foster family agency to be confidential and not open to the public in order to preserve the confidential information of a child or foster parent. This bill would expand that confidentiality requirement to all proceedings under the act against a foster family home, certified family home, or a resource family of a foster family agency. The bill would require all licensed community care facilities serving children to provide trauma-informed care and utilize trauma-informed practices, as defined by the department. The bill would require the department to implement this requirement, and would authorize the department to implement this requirement through interim licensing standards until the regulations are adopted. Because the failure of a licensed community care facility serving children to comply with these provisions would be a misdemeanor, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (5) 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. Existing law requires the State Department of Social Services to administer a state system for establishing rates in the AFDC-FC program. This bill would authorize the department, at the request of a county to develop, implement, and approve alternative funding models and set individualized rates for innovative AFDC-FC programs or models of care and services that provide children with service alternatives to residential care, enhance the ability of children to remain in the least restrictive, most family-like setting possible, and promote services that address the needs and strengths of individual children and their families. The bill would require a county that requests an alternative funding model or individualized rate to pay the nonfederal share of any additional cost that exceeds the state system of rates, as specified. This bill would expand the locations where a child or nonminor dependant may be placed, on and after April 1, 2021, to be eligible for AFDC-FC to include a residential family-based treatment facility for substance abuse that meets specified requirements in which an eligible child is placed with a parent in treatment. By expanding the coverage of benefits in this manner, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would authorize the department to implement this expansion through all-county letters or similar written instructions from the department until regulations are adopted. This bill would provide a one-year extension for the payments of specified established interim rates, including, among others, the basic rate for a certified family home of a foster family agency, interim rates for short-term residential therapeutic program placements, and payments for foster family agencies that provide treatment, intensive treatment, and therapeutic foster care programs. (6) Existing law requires the Department of Social Services to implement intensive treatment foster care programs for eligible children and exempts the rates for these programs from the current AFDC-FC foster family agency ratesetting system. Existing law required the department from January 1, 2017, to December 31, 2019, inclusive, to implement an interim rate structure to reflect the appropriate level of placement and address the need for specialized health care, support services, and mental health treatment services for foster children served in these programs. Existing law provides the method to calculate current rates for these programs.This bill would authorize the department, notwithstanding specified provisions, to implement a new interim rate structure through December 31, 2021, to reflect the appropriate level of placement and address the needs specified above. (7) Existing law excludes a person from a facility licensed by the State Department of Social Services if the person was issued a specified license or approval as a resource family and that license was revoked or approval rescinded within the preceding 2 years. Existing law also excludes a person from a licensed facility if the person applied for a specified license and that application was denied within the last year. This bill would add the denial of a resource family approval application within the last year as a basis for excluding a person from specified facilities licensed by the department, and would make related changes. (8) Existing law, until July 1, 2021, exempts specified contracts or grants necessary for the department to administer the continuum of care reform from personal services contracting requirements, as specified, the Public Contract Code and the State Contracting Manual, and review by either the Department of General Services or the Department of Technology. This bill would extend those exemptions until July 1, 2023. (9) Existing law authorizes the juvenile court to adjudge a child to be a dependent child of the court or a minor to be a ward of the court under specified circumstances. Existing law requires the court, social worker, or probation officer to make further inquiry regarding the possible Indian status of the child if there is reason to believe that an Indian child is involved in these proceedings. This bill would specify when there is reason to believe an Indian child, including a child who is eligible for membership in an Indian tribe, is involved in these proceedings. (10) Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest. This bill would make legislative findings to that effect. (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. (12) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.