Youth Law News

January-March 2009

_{VOL. XXVIII NO. 1}

California Child Death Information – Some Progress, Considerable Resistance

NCYL works to amend draft regulations for SB 39

Recently enacted California Senate Bill 39 requires release of important information about deaths of children from abuse and neglect. Since July 2008, NCYL has been monitoring implementation of the new law. The results to date are mixed: some compliance, but also considerable resistance.

Senate Bill 39 is intended to provide public access to findings and information related to the deaths of children from abuse or neglect — with the goal of determining what, if anything, could have been done differently to prevent such tragedies. The ultimate purpose is to use this information to improve the policies and practices of county child protective services (CPS). Until 2008, virtually all information was kept secret, in theory to protect the privacy of children, parents, and foster parents. In practice, however, the secrecy also protected CPS from the evaluation and oversight routine in most civil service agencies. CPS is charged with protecting children in foster care, but also children living at home for whom they have received reports of suspected abuse or neglect. Indeed, most of the children who die from abuse and neglect are living at home. Records secured so far under SB 39, either by NCYL or the media, have uncovered several cases with extensive CPS involvement.

Testing Compliance

In 2008, NCYL asked 12 counties, representing 76 percent of California's population, for their "SOC 826" reports. These are initial, bare-bones reports that provide age, gender, and date of death – the first in a three-step process of disclosure under SB 39. Several counties responded promptly but some responded only after repeated requests; and one county, Riverside, has not responded to multiple requests. The 11 counties that have responded (Alameda, Contra Costa, Los Angeles, Orange, Sacramento, San Bernardino, San Diego, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, and Santa Cruz) reported 41 suspected abuse/neglect deaths over a period ranging from six to 13 months, depending on the county.

The second step in the Senate Bill 39 review process is release of key records for children who have died, especially if there had been a CPS investigation in the months before a child died. Finally, one can petition the dependency court for a child's entire court file, the third and last step in the disclosure process. How often were reports of children in danger investigated promptly and appropriately? Do county agencies overlook clear warning signs of impending danger? A thorough review of some or all of these records will hopefully provide some answers to these important questions.

SB 39 Regulations

NCYL is also working with the California Department of Social Services (CDSS) on regulations for the implementation of SB 39. On March 18, NCYL attorneys Bill Grimm and Edward Opton testified at the CDSS hearing on SB 39 draft regulations, urging a number of changes to simplify the regulations and bring them into compliance with the legislature's mandate. The CDSS draft regulations list more than 60 laws, regulations, constitutional provisions, and rules of court that county administrators would have to decipher in responding to each request from the public, and it provides no guidance on how, if at all, to apply them. Such a review would take weeks of legal research that county administrators, fully occupied with their regular duties, would not be able to provide. NCYL argued that these regulations are more likely to frustrate the new legislation rather than make it effective, and is requesting that CDSS limit its list to the five laws that actually impact the disclosure process.