AB 863: Statewide Leadership and Accountability in the Child Welfare System

Co-sponsored by NCYL, the Children's Advocacy Institute, and the Children's Law Center of Los Angeles, AB 863 was introduced by Assembly Member Karen Bass (D-Los Angeles) on February 18, 2005. It calls for statewide leadership and accountability in California's child welfare system, where one in five of the nation's foster children live.

Each year, nearly half a million children in California are reported as victims of suspected abuse or neglect-one sixth of all child abuse reports in the United States. Every day, more than 300 children are reported abused or neglected in the state. Many of them enter the child welfare and foster care systems. Some spend just a few days in foster care; others remain for many years or their entire childhoods. Today there are approximately 84,500 children in foster care throughout the state-by far the largest foster care population in the country.

The state's child welfare system is a haphazard, county-based system that protects many children but fails to protect many others. It appears that the safety and well-being of the state's most vulnerable children is an accident of geography hinging on political boundaries rather than children's needs.

Piecemeal attempts at reform are no longer adequate. The Governor's California Performance Review and numerous other state reports have found that state leadership and accountability for the well-being of children in the state's care must be clearly and unequivocally established.

The types of reforms that NCYL considers to be central to AB 863 include:

1. A new Undersecretary of Child Welfare and Foster Care Coordination in the state Health and Human Services (HHS) Agency responsible for oversight, performance, and coordination of child welfare and foster care efforts across state and county agencies;
2. A Child Welfare Council responsible for collaboratively advising the management of the many agencies serving children and youth in the child welfare and foster care systems;
3. Regional Administrators within the Department of Social Services, managed by the Undersecretary, whose responsibilities would include regular and comprehensive site visits to county child welfare agencies; assisting in county performance and providing technical assistance; and reviewing compliance and reporting findings to the Undersecretary;
4. Ombudsperson serving as an independent and objective state entity;
5. Codification of the existing federal California Child and Family Service Review System, and state outcome and performance measures developed under AB 636;
6. Court performance outcome measures adopted by the Judicial Council;
7. Reliable, uniform, and accurate county child welfare agency data used to measure program performance; and
8. A workgroup to develop recommendations for a fiscal incentive structure for county child welfare agencies to improve county performance and avoid future federal penalties.

The California Assembly has established a Select Committee on Foster Care, which is chaired by Assemblymember Karen Bass. The other members are Wilma Chan (D-Alameda), Judy Chu (D-Monterey Park), Rebecca Cohn (D-Saratoga), Hector De La Torre (D-South Gate), Noreen Evans (D-Santa Rosa), Loni Hancock (D-Berkeley), Shirley Horton (R-Bonita), Dave Jones (D-Sacramento), Mark Leno (D-San Francisco), Carol Liu (D-La Canada Flintridge), Bill Maze (R-Visalia), and Sharon Runner (R-Lancaster). The committee convened its first hearing on November 21, 2005 and plans to hold several more around the state in the coming months.

The San Francisco Chronicle has launched an ongoing editorial campaign highlighting the problems in California's foster care system and supporting legislative proposals including AB 863.

The details of AB 863 are in the process of being drafted. Due to the complexity of the legislation, it was designated a two-year bill, giving NCYL, other advocates, and the legislature a chance to craft a comprehensive solution.