Bill Text: CA AB1943 | 2009-2010 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Foster children: access to information.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2010-04-13 - In committee: Set, second hearing. Hearing canceled at the request of author. [AB1943 Detail]
Download: California-2009-AB1943-Amended.html
BILL NUMBER: AB 1943 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 16, 2010
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Fletcher
FEBRUARY 17, 2010
An act to amend Section 49076 of the Education Code, and to
add Section 16015 16501. 9
to the Welfare and Institutions Code, relating to foster
children.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 1943, as amended, Fletcher. Foster children: access to
information.
Existing law declares the duty of the state to care for and
protect the children that it places into foster care. Under existing
law, the State Department of Social Services has various powers and
duties relating to ensuring that the needs of foster children are
met.
Existing law requires the State Department of Social Services to
implement a single statewide Child Welfare Services Case Management
System (CWS/CMS) to administer and evaluate the state's child welfare
services and foster care programs.
This bill would require the department to provide all county
welfare departments within the state access to information relating
to all foster youth in the CWS/CMS system.
Existing law prohibits a school district, as defined, from
permitting access to pupil records to any person without parental
consent or without a judicial order, except under certain
circumstances, including access by a county placing agency, as
defined, for the purpose of fulfilling the requirements of a certain
health and education summary or fulfilling educational case
management responsibilities required by the juvenile court or by law
and to assist with the school transfer or placement of a pupil.
Existing law permits school districts, county offices of education,
and county placing agencies to develop cooperative agreements to
facilitate the access to, and exchange of, these records.
This bill would provide that school districts may permit access to
the above pupil records even if the county placing agency is outside
the county in which the school district may be found. This bill
would, to the extent permitted by federal law, permit all county
welfare departments to share specified information relating to foster
youth with county offices of education and other local educational
agencies, including school districts and would permit the county
welfare departments to share this information even if the county
office of education or local educational agency is outside the county
in which the county welfare department may be found.
Existing law declares the intent of the Legislature to preserve
and strengthen a child's family ties whenever possible, removing the
child from the custody of his or her parents only when necessary for
his or her welfare or for the safety and protection of the public.
Existing law also identifies the case plan as the foundation and
central unifying tool in child welfare services. Under existing law,
a foster child's case plan is required to include, among other
components, a summary of the child's health and education information
or records.
This bill would require the State Department of Social Services to
provide each county welfare department with a weekly abstract of
designated data with respect to specified children under the
geographic jurisdiction of the county. The bill would require a
county welfare department to share the information provided
immediately with the county office of education, and upon request, to
other agencies and service providers within the county. By imposing
additional duties on counties, the bill would create a state-mandated
local program.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local
agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the
state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that
reimbursement.
This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates
determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state,
reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to these
statutory provisions.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: yes no .
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 49076 of the
Education Code , as amended by Section 3 of Chapter 1
of the F ifth Extraordinary Session of the Statutes of
2010, is amended to read:
49076. A school district is not authorized to permit access to
pupil records to any person without written parental consent or under
judicial order except that:
(a) Access to those particular records relevant to the legitimate
educational interests of the requester shall be permitted to the
following:
(1) School officials and employees of the district, members of a
school attendance review board appointed pursuant to Section 48321,
and any volunteer aide, 18 years of age or older, who has been
investigated, selected, and trained by a school attendance review
board for the purpose of providing followup services to pupils
referred to the school attendance review board, provided that the
person has a legitimate educational interest to inspect a record.
(2) Officials and employees of other public schools or school
systems, including local, county, or state correctional facilities
where educational programs leading to high school graduation are
provided or where the pupil intends to or is directed to enroll,
subject to the rights of parents as provided in Section 49068.
(3) Authorized representatives of the Comptroller General of the
United States, the Secretary of Education, and administrative head of
an education agency, state education officials, or their respective
designees, or the United States Office of Civil Rights, where the
information is necessary to audit or evaluate a state or federally
supported education program or pursuant to a federal or state law,
provided that except when collection of personally identifiable
information is specifically authorized by federal law, any data
collected by those officials shall be protected in a manner which
will not permit the personal identification of pupils or their
parents by other than those officials, and any personally
identifiable data shall be destroyed when no longer needed for the
audit, evaluation, and enforcement of federal legal requirements.
(4) Other state and local officials to the extent that information
is specifically required to be reported pursuant to state law
adopted prior to November 19, 1974.
(5) Parents of a pupil 18 years of age or older who is a dependent
as defined in Section 152 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954.
(6) A pupil 16 years of age or older or having completed the 10th
grade who requests access.
(7) Any district attorney who is participating in or conducting a
truancy mediation program pursuant to Section 48263.5, or Section
601.3 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, or participating in the
presentation of evidence in a truancy petition pursuant to Section
681 of the Welfare and Institutions Code.
(8) A prosecuting agency for consideration against a parent or
guardian for failure to comply with the Compulsory Education Law
(Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 48200) of Part 27) or with
Compulsory Continuation Education (Chapter 3 (commencing with Section
48400) of Part 27).
(9) Any probation officer or district attorney for the purposes of
conducting a criminal investigation or an investigation in regards
to declaring a person a ward of the court or involving a violation of
a condition of probation.
(10) Any judge or probation officer for the purpose of conducting
a truancy mediation program for a pupil, or for purposes of
presenting evidence in a truancy petition pursuant to Section 681 of
the Welfare and Institutions Code. The judge or probation officer
shall certify in writing to the school district that the information
will be used only for truancy purposes. A school district releasing
pupil information to a judge or probation officer pursuant to this
paragraph shall inform, or provide written notification to, the
parent or guardian of the pupil within 24 hours of the release of the
information.
(11) Any county placing agency for the purpose of fulfilling the
requirements of the health and education summary required pursuant to
Section 16010 of the Welfare and Institutions Code or for the
purpose of fulfilling educational case management responsibilities
required by the juvenile court or by law and to assist with the
school transfer or enrollment of a pupil. For the purposes of
this paragraph, school districts are permitted to provide access to
county placing agencies even if the county placing agency is outside
the county in which the school district may be found. School
districts, county offices of education, and county placing agencies
may develop cooperative agreements to facilitate confidential access
to and exchange of the pupil information by electronic mail,
facsimile, electronic format, or other secure means.
(b) School districts may release information from pupil records to
the following:
(1) Appropriate persons in connection with an emergency if the
knowledge of the information is necessary to protect the health or
safety of a pupil or other persons.
(2) Agencies or organizations in connection with the application
of a pupil for, or receipt of, financial aid. However, information
permitting the personal identification of a pupil or his or her
parents may be disclosed only as may be necessary for purposes as to
determine the eligibility of the pupil for financial aid, to
determine the amount of the financial aid, to determine the
conditions which will be imposed regarding the financial aid, or to
enforce the terms or conditions of the financial aid.
(3) The county elections official, for the purpose of identifying
pupils eligible to register to vote, and for conducting programs to
offer pupils an opportunity to register to vote. The information,
however, shall not be used for any other purpose or given or
transferred to any other person or agency.
(4) Accrediting associations in order to carry out their
accrediting functions.
(5) Organizations conducting studies for, or on behalf of,
educational agencies or institutions for the purpose of developing,
validating, or administering predictive tests, administering student
aid programs, and improving instruction, if the studies are conducted
in a manner that will not permit the personal identification of
pupils or their parents by persons other than representatives of the
organizations and the information will be destroyed when no longer
needed for the purpose for which it is obtained.
(6) Officials and employees of private schools or school systems
where the pupil is enrolled or intends to enroll, subject to the
rights of parents as provided in Section 49068. This information
shall be in addition to the pupil's permanent record transferred
pursuant to Section 49068.
A person, persons, agency, or organization permitted access to
pupil records pursuant to this section may not permit access to any
information obtained from those records by any other person, persons,
agency, or organization, except for allowable exceptions contained
within the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 2001 (20
U.S.C. Sec. 1232g) and state law, without the written consent of the
pupil's parent. However, this paragraph does not require prior
parental consent when information obtained pursuant to this section
is shared with other persons within the educational institution,
agency, or organization obtaining access, so long as those persons
have a legitimate interest in the information.
(c) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any school
district, including any county office of education or superintendent
of schools, may participate in an interagency data information system
that permits access to a computerized database system within and
between governmental agencies or districts as to information or
records which are nonprivileged, and where release is authorized as
to the requesting agency under state or federal law or regulation, if
each of the following requirements are met:
(1) Each agency and school district shall develop security
procedures or devices by which unauthorized personnel cannot access
data contained in the system.
(2) Each agency and school district shall develop procedures or
devices to secure privileged or confidential data from unauthorized
disclosure.
(3) Each school district shall comply with the access log
requirements of Section 49064.
(4) The right of access granted shall not include the right to
add, delete, or alter data without the written permission of the
agency holding the data.
(5) An agency or school district may not make public or otherwise
release information on an individual contained in the database where
the information is protected from disclosure or release as to the
requesting agency by state or federal law or regulation.
SEC. 2. Section 16501.9 is added to the
Welfare and Institutions Code , to read:
16501.9. (a) The department shall provide all county welfare
departments within the state access to information relating to all
foster youth in the Child Welfare Services Case Management System
(CWS/CMS) established pursuant to Section 16501.5.
(b) To the extent permitted by federal law, all county welfare
departments may share the following information with county offices
of education and other local educational agencies, including school
districts, and even if the county office of education or other local
educational agency is outside the county in which the county welfare
department may be found, with respect to all children who are under
the jurisdiction of the county welfare department, including wards
and dependent children of the juvenile court, and children in foster
and kinship care:
(1) Demographic information.
(2) Parent or guardian information.
(3) Social worker information.
(4) Placement information.
(c) All county offices of education and other local educational
agencies, including school districts, may provide county welfare
departments access to pupil records pursuant to paragraph (11) of
subdivision (a) of Section 49076 of the Education Code.
(d) It is the intent of the Legislature to permit all county
welfare departments, county offices of education, and other local
educational agencies, including school districts, to share
information across county lines in order to further facilitate
compliance with Assembly Bill 490 of the 2003-04 Regular Session,
particularly with respect to foster youth that are under the
jurisdiction of one county welfare department but that are in
placements and attend school in a county under the geographic
jurisdiction of a second county welfare department.
(e) It is the intent of the Legislature to encourage all county
offices of education to establish electronic databases for the
purpose of maintaining pertinent student information that may be
accessed pursuant to subdivision (c) of this section, or paragraph
(11) of subdivision (a) of Section 49076 of the Education Code.
SECTION 1. Section 16015 is added to the Welfare
and Institutions Code, to read:
16015. (a) The department shall provide each county welfare
department with a weekly abstract of data, consistent with
subdivision (c), with respect to children who are under the
geographic jurisdiction of the county, including wards and dependent
children of the juvenile court, and children in foster and kinship
care.
(b) The county welfare department shall share the information
provided by the department under subdivision (a) with the
corresponding county office of education. In addition, the county
welfare department shall provide access to the information to
agencies and service providers within the county, upon request of the
agency or service provider.
(c) Information provided by the department under this section
shall include, but not be limited to, the following categories:
(1) Demographic information.
(2) Alternative name information.
(3) Immunization record information.
(4) Residential placement history.
(5) Educational placement history.
(6) Parent or guardian information.
(7) Case history information.
SEC. 2. If the Commission on State Mandates
determines that this act contains costs mandated by the state,
reimbursement to local agencies and school districts for those costs
shall be made pursuant to Part 7 (commencing with Section 17500) of
Division 4 of Title 2 of the Government Code.
