| Ayatollahgondola |
03-04-2012 09:28 AM |
Another California Bill Proposed To Ignore Illegal's Status
DeLeon introduces bill to ignore caregivers immigration status when placing children removed from parents homes with those caregivers. This bill has numerous flaws of course, and could give rise to allowing kids to become surrogate "anchors" to their illegally present relatives under Obama's questionably legal removal policy. this bill does not define "relative", nor place any restrictions on the illegal caregivers ability to recieve funding from the state to take care of the child. In addition, it feeds more into the acceptance of the regional government's "matricula" card, and forces law state agencies to accept it as ID once again.
Quote:
SB 1064, as introduced, De León. Child custody: immigration.
(1) Under existing law, a child who is removed from the physical
custody of his or her parents in dissolution, dependency, or probate
guardianship proceedings may be placed with a relative. When a child
is placed with his or her relative during dependency proceedings and
the relative is not a licensed or certified foster parent, existing
law requires a county social worker to visit the relative's home,
prior to placing the child in that home, to ascertain the
appropriateness of the placement. Existing law also requires the
court or county social worker to initiate a state and federal
criminal records check of the relative through the California Law
Enforcement Telecommunications System as part of the assessment.
This bill would permit a court to place a child in any of those
proceedings with a relative regardless of the relative's immigration
status. This bill would also permit a relative's foreign consulate
identification card or foreign passport to be used for initiating the
criminal records and fingerprint clearance checks. To the extent
this bill would impose additional duties on county welfare
departments, this bill would create a state-mandated local program.
(2) Existing law sets forth the procedure for terminating the
parental rights of a dependent child, including regular review
hearings before a court may order a hearing to terminate parental
rights. Under existing law, a court may continue these review
hearings if it finds that there is a substantial probability that the
child will be returned to the physical custody of his or her parent
or legal guardian and safely maintained in the home within the
extended period of time or that reasonable services have not been
provided to the parent or legal guardian.
This bill would authorize a court to extend the review hearing
periods following consideration of the parent's circumstances if a
parent has been arrested and issued an immigration hold, detained by
the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or deported to
his or her country of origin, and, under these circumstances would
authorize a court to continue the case only if the court finds that
the parent has made reasonable efforts to regain custody of the child
or that termination of parental rights would be detrimental to the
child. The bill would prohibit this extension under specified
circumstances, including if the child was an abandoned infant, the
parent was accused of murder or voluntary manslaughter of another of
his or her children or of felony assault against this child or
another of the parent's children. Additionally, the bill would
authorize a court to decide not to extend the case if the child was
under 3 years of age or part of a sibling group in which at least one
child was under 3 years of age and the siblings were or should be
placed together. The bill would permit the review hearing to be
extended up to a maximum period not to exceed 24 months after the
date the child was removed from the parent's physical custody.
(3) Existing law establishes the State Department of Social
Services, which oversees the administration of county public social
services, including child welfare services.
This bill would require the State Department of Social Services to
provide guidance to counties and municipalities to establish
memoranda of understanding with foreign consulates in child custody
cases, including procedures for contacting a consulate, accessing a
child's documentation, locating a detained parent, assisting in
family reunification after a parent has been deported, and
communicating with relevant departments and services in a parent's
country of origin. The bill would require a county or municipality
subject to a memorandum of understanding to contact a foreign
consulate for necessary documents if a child in a child custody case
is eligible for special immigrant juvenile status under federal law.
Additionally, the bill would require the department to provide
guidelines to counties and municipalities detailing procedures for
social workers to assist children in child custody and dependency
cases who are eligible for special immigrant juvenile status.
(4) 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.
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