An act to amend Section 11166.1 of the Penal Code, relating to child abuse or neglect.
Summary
AB 1688 would amend California’s Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act to expand who must be notified when a child abuse or neglect report is made. Under current law, local agencies must send a copy of certain reports to the attorney representing the child in dependency court. This bill would add a requirement that the agency also notify the attorney for the child’s parent or legal guardian, unless parental rights have already been terminated. The notice would be limited to the fact that a report was made and could not disclose the substance of the report or identify people named in it.
The bill also adds a broader notice requirement for reports involving abuse or neglect that occurred in a placement. In those cases, all attorneys representing children with open dependency cases in that placement would receive the same limited notice. The bill separately preserves and restates notice requirements for reports involving the child of a minor parent or nonminor dependent parent, directing notice to the attorney for that parent as well.
Impact
AB 1688 would amend Penal Code Section 11166.1 and expand the duties of local law enforcement, county welfare, and probation agencies that receive child abuse or neglect reports. It would create a new notification obligation to parents’ or legal guardians’ attorneys in dependency cases, and a placement-based notice requirement affecting foster care, congregate care, short-term residential therapeutic program facilities, and relative placements. Because these duties apply to local agencies, the bill is identified as creating a state-mandated local program, though it also includes language stating no reimbursement is required under the act.
Sentiment
The bill appears to have broad support in committee. It passed its first committee vote 6-0 and its next committee vote 9-0, and the bill was reported out of committee with a recommendation for the consent calendar. The available record shows no recorded opposition in the committee votes provided, suggesting the measure was viewed favorably and as a relatively noncontroversial procedural change to dependency-court notice practices.
Contention
The main policy issue is not whether child abuse reports should be made, but who should receive notice and how much information they should get. Support for the bill is implied by the unanimous votes, likely reflecting a desire to improve representation and information flow for parents, guardians, and children in dependency proceedings. Potential concerns center on the added workload for local agencies and the bill’s mandate on local government, as well as the balance between notifying attorneys and protecting the confidentiality of sensitive abuse-report information. The bill addresses the confidentiality concern by limiting the parent/guardian notice to the existence of a report only, and it excludes parents whose rights have been terminated.
Clarifying the identifying information in mandatory reports of abuse or neglect of children and increasing the penalty for failing to report such abuse or neglect.