Senate Bill 794: Policy Analysis

Child Welfare Services is a sensitive topic that requires a vast amount of legislation and attention because it is a duty to provide for a minor regardless of their situation. On March 3rd, 2015, Senate Bill 794 was introduced by the Committee on Human Services as well as Senators McGuire, Berryhill, Hancock, Liu, and Nguyen during California’s 2015-2016 regular session. The bill would amend Section 7950 of the Family Code, to add Section 1522.44 to the Health and Safety Code.
The current law creates a system of statewide child welfare services that are administered by the State Department of Social Services along with individual county child welfare agencies. Both are committed to provide all children a safe environment that is free from abuse and neglect. Senate Bill 794 would add various changes to the current law such as requiring county child welfare agencies 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” (Legiscan) by September 29, 2016. This law would also require the county probation or department of
welfare to inform authorities of any suspected instance of child abuse within twenty four hours of receiving tips or notice of anything occurring that could potentially harm the child. If that task is completed, then the department is also required to entire the information into National Crime Information Center database of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. By adding these duties, the bill would impose a state mandated local program. It would also help prevent abuse of a child because of the rapid response of suspicious behavior.
Other things that the bill proposes and suggests includes adding requirements for training caregivers in “knowledge and skills relating to the reasonable and prudent parent standard for participation in age or developmentally appropriate activities.” This would mean that they would have to learn and comprehend where to place children when they are receiving extracurricular and social activities.
The bill would also mandate that community care facilities that provide supervision for children must assign a staff member to apply the reasonable and prudent parent standard to decisions that involve participation of a child in developmentally appropriate activities. This bill would also impose foster parent training requirements on all
counties.
Although the state of California is known for its liberal stance this bill was supported by both Republicans and Democrats. Records indicate that the bill had been reviewed numerous times with the latest one being on September 11, 2015 with an outstanding support for the bill. Child Welfare Services received a 40-0 vote and passed. Not only was the bill passed by both sides but it was also sponsored by three Democrats and two Republicans which included Senators Mike McGuire, Loni Hancock, Carol Liu as the Democrats as well as Senators Tom Berryhill and Janet Nguyen as the Republicans. This is an issue that both sides can agree on because it involves the welfare of a child who will one day be the ones leading the nation. It is important to allow them to reach their potential and this bill gives an obvious support for it. But prior to it being passed, the bill had to go through various roll calls and floor actions. The first roll call was in April of this year as “Do pass as amended, but re-refer to the Committee on Appropriations Recommend Consent”. The last one took place on September 11, 2015 as the “Unfinished Business SB794 Committee on Human Services”. The very first action was on March 3rd, as the introduction of the bill was read. Another important date was June 2nd because it was read a second time and amended meaning it would go on to a third reading which took place only two days later. At that meeting, it was passed and ordered to the assembly. At the assembly, it was read a few more times and every time, it would get full support from everyone present. Once it passed through the assembly it went back to the senate where it was voted in favor and passed. Finally on October 1st, the Governor approved it and it was chaptered by Secretary of State: Chapter 425, Statutes of 2015.