AB 601: Child abuse: reporting.
- Session Year: 2025-2026
- House: Assembly
Current Status:
In Progress
(2025-03-03: Referred to Coms. on HUM. S. and PUB. S.)
Introduced
First Committee Review
First Chamber
Second Committee Review
Second Chamber
Enacted
Existing law, the Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act, establishes procedures for the reporting and investigation of suspected child abuse or neglect. The act requires certain professionals, including specified health practitioners and social workers, known as mandated reporters, to report known or reasonably suspected child abuse or neglect to a local law enforcement agency or a county welfare or probation department, as specified. Failure by a mandated reporter to report an incident of known or reasonably suspected child abuse or neglect is a misdemeanor. Existing law defines neglect for these purposes as the negligent treatment or the maltreatment of a child by a person responsible for the childs welfare under circumstances indicating harm or threatened harm to the childs welfare. Existing law defines general neglect as the negligent failure of a person having the care or custody of a child to provide adequate food, clothing, shelter, medical care, or supervision where no physical injury to the child has occurred.
This bill would require each child welfare agency to establish an alternative response approach to reports of general neglect that uses county-based and community-based services and supports, as specified. The bill would, with specified exceptions, require a mandated reporter who knows or reasonably suspects that a child has been the victim of general neglect to make a referral to the county child welfare agency, and would require the agency, in that situation, to use the alternative response approach. The bill would require the State Department of Social Services to develop guidelines for this response, as specified. By imposing additional duties on counties, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
This bill would require the State Department of Social Services, through the State Office of Child Abuse Prevention, to develop a standardized curriculum for mandated reporters, and to make that training available on its internet website. The bill would require all employers of mandated reporters to require those mandated reporters receive that training within the first 3 months of their employment, as specified. The bill would authorize the State Department of Social Services to audit records of any agency or organization employing a mandated reporter, and would authorize the department to seek a court order to require compliance with these provisions from any employer who violates these provisions. The bill would also require every county welfare services department to ensure all child welfare department social workers operating the countys response system receive the training.
This bill would require the State Department of Social Services to analyze disparities in the mandated reporting system to determine if use of alternative response approaches to the Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act reduces disparities and disproportionality in the child welfare system. The bill would require the department to submit a report containing this analysis to the Legislature on or before January 1, 2027, and annually thereafter, until January 1, 2040. The bill would also require the department to monitor disparities in the child welfare system and submit a report on those disparities, and on the development of the training requirements of this bill, on or before January 1, 2027. The bill would additionally require the State Department of Social Services and the State Department of Health Care Services to provide updates every 90 days to specified legislative committees on guidance to counties with respect to payor of last resort federal requirements and revenue maximization of specified funding sources for services related to these provisions, until those committees make findings that this requirement has been met.
Existing law establishes the California Child Welfare Council to serve as an advisory board responsible for improving the collaboration and processes of the multiple agencies and the courts that serve the children and youth in the child welfare and foster care systems. Existing law requires the council to monitor and report the extent to which child welfare and foster care programs and the courts are responsive to the needs of children in their joint care.
This bill would require the California Child Welfare Council to establish a Mandated Reporter Advisory Committee, as specified, and would state the intent of the Legislature that the committee ensure the transformation of mandated reporting to community supporting continues and disparities in the child welfare system are eliminated.
The federal Family First Prevention Services Act provides a state with the option to use certain federal funds to provide mental health and substance abuse prevention and treatment services and in-home parent skill-based programs to a child who is a candidate for foster care or a child in foster care who is a pregnant or parenting foster youth, as specified. Existing state law authorizes a county to elect to provide those prevention services by providing a written plan to the State Department of Social Services, which has oversight of the Family First Prevention Services program. Existing law requires the county to consult with other relevant county agencies, as specified, in the development of the plan.
The bill would require each countys written plan to include the countys plans to provide information for mandated reporters regarding resources available to support families in their communities. By imposing additional duties on counties, this bill would impose 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 the statutory provisions noted above.
Bill Author