Child abuse or neglect: reporting.

Added passage dates: 'Passed the Assembly August 26, 2026' and 'Passed the Senate August 26, 2026'

Added signature blocks for Chief Clerk of the Assembly, Secretary of the Senate, Private Secretary of the Governor, and a Governor approval line with date placeholder

Removed amendment history headers (Amended in Senate August 21, August 13, June 17; Amended in Assembly March 12) and the original introduction date of February 3, 2026

Changed page numbering from '95' to '94' throughout the enrolled version

The trigger for sending notice to parent/guardian attorneys changed from 'when a county welfare agency receives a substantiated report' to 'when a county welfare agency substantiates a report,' shifting the action from receiving a pre-substantiated report to the agency making its own substantiation determination.

The content rules for notices to parent/guardian attorneys were significantly expanded. The notice now must state that a report 'has been substantiated' (not just 'has been made'), must include the name of the child at issue, and is prohibited from disclosing the identity of the reporting party, personal information as defined in Civil Code Section 1798.3, or confidential information about a child, victim, witness, or other person.

A new paragraph (5) creates a separate, standalone requirement for notices to attorneys representing children with open dependency cases in the placement. It requires notice within 36 hours when a report is substantiated for an incident in an out-of-home placement or a child is removed due to abuse or neglect, with its own detailed content restrictions in new paragraph (6) including prohibitions on disclosing the substance of the report, information from unfounded or inconclusive reports, personal information, and confidential information.

A new definition of 'out-of-home placement' was added in paragraph (2)(B), specifying it includes but is not limited to foster care, congregate care, short-term residential therapeutic program facilities, or relative placements. This clarifies the scope of where the notice requirements apply.

A new subdivision (d) allows the State Department of Social Services to implement, interpret, or make specific the amendments by means of all-county letters or similar written instructions without taking further regulatory action. These letters are given the same force and effect as regulations, bypassing the normal administrative rulemaking process.

The notice requirement now applies only to substantiated reports of abuse or neglect, rather than any report. Previously, the agency had to send notice within 36 hours of receiving a report; now it must wait until the incident is substantiated before sending notice to the parent's attorney and other child attorneys in the placement.

When the child in question is an Indian child, the county welfare agency must now also send notice of the report to the tribal representative, in addition to the attorney representing the parent or legal guardian in dependency court.

A new trigger was added: notice is also required when a child is removed from an out-of-home placement due to abuse or neglect, even if the abuse or neglect did not occur within that specific placement. This expands the situations that require notification beyond just incidents happening inside the placement.

The requirement to notify a parent's or legal guardian's attorney of a report now applies only when the incident occurred in an out-of-home placement. The Assembly version applied it to any report received under paragraph (1) (i.e., any child in protective custody suspected of abuse or neglect).

The agency responsible for sending notice to the parent's attorney is now specifically identified as a county welfare agency, rather than any agency that receives the report.

Paragraph (5) regarding notification to all attorneys representing children in the same placement was restructured into subparts (A) and (B), with subpart (A) clarifying that the notice comes from the county welfare agency.

The requirement for agencies to send a 'copy of the report' to the attorney representing a parent or legal guardian was changed to sending only a 'notice of the report.' The parent's attorney no longer receives the actual content of the abuse or neglect report.

A new paragraph (3) was added stating that the notification to the parent's attorney shall consist only of notice that a report has been made and shall not disclose any information concerning the substance of the report, including the identity of any person named or referenced in the report.

Assembly Member Gipson was added as a coauthor of the bill.