Bill Text: CA SB1126 | 2023-2024 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Child abuse and neglect.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced) 2024-05-23 - Ordered to inactive file on request of Senator Min. [SB1126 Detail]
Download: California-2023-SB1126-Amended.html
|
Amended
IN
Senate
April 01, 2024 |
CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE—
2023–2024 REGULAR SESSION
Senate Bill
No. 1126
| Introduced by Senator Min |
February 13, 2024 |
An act to amend Section 11165.6 of the Penal Code, relating to child abuse and neglect.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 1126, as amended, Min.
Child abuse and neglect.
Existing law defines “child abuse or neglect” for the purposes of the Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act to include, among other things, physical injury or death inflicted by other than accidental means and the willful harming or injuring of a child.
This bill would provide that the fact that a child witnessing witnessed domestic violence is not a sufficient basis for reporting child abuse or neglect, as specified.
or was present during a domestic violence incident does not require a mandated reporter to report child abuse or neglect. The bill would also provide that the definition of child abuse or neglect does not apply to how a child witnessing domestic violence or residing in a household where domestic violence exists may be is relevant to, among other things, a determination of child custody or visitation.
Digest Key
Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: NO Local Program: NOBill Text
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
SECTION 1.
The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:(a) When a mandatory reporter is required to report a child’s exposure to domestic violence, the fact that a child witnessed domestic violence or was present during a domestic violence incident, far too often non-violent, protective survivor parents are
charged with neglect, which discourages non-violent those survivor parents from seeking services and support. Paradoxically, abuse survivors are treated as culpable as the abusive parent survivor parents are often treated as responsible for the violence they seek to escape and can lose custody of their children at the point when they seek help escaping violence. The abusive parent is often aware of this false equivalency and threatens reporting or makes bad-faith reports.
help.
(b) The mandatory reporting to child welfare of abused survivor parents has increased unnecessary state intrusion and the needless removal of children from their non-abusive traumatic separation of a child from their survivor parent, even as studies show that experiencing abuse does not compromise an abuse a
survivor’s ability to
effectively parent.
(c) Children are frequently removed from the non-abusive survivor parent and placed in foster care, although the harms of separation from a non-abusive survivor parent are well established.
(d) “Failure to protect” laws operate contrary to research findings, which show that the best ways to keep a child who has been exposed to domestic violence safe are to help the non-offending
survivor parent be safe and to support the abused that parent’s ability to engage in a nurturing relationship with the child. Indeed, the child’s continued relationship with the abused survivor parent is the most critical resiliency factor and predictor of lifetime positive outcomes for a child who has witnessed domestic violence.
(e) Mandatory reporting also disproportionately surveils and investigates low-income Black, Latino, and indigenous families. One in three children
nationwide, and half of Black children, experience a child welfare investigation during childhood. Additionally, mandated reporting has negative impacts on linguistically marginalized communities, particularly with Asian and Pacific Islander families, who experience their children being unnecessarily detained due to cultural and linguistic barriers and misunderstandings. These families are also often ordered to complete programs that are not available or have limited availability in their primary language, which adversely affects and prolongs the period of family separation and their legal cases. The racial discrimination of the child welfare system reflects prevalence and vectors of inequality, produces mass insecurity in neighborhoods of color, and results in racialized family separations.
(f) This
section is not meant to apply to how a child witnessing abuse or neglect or residing in a home where domestic violence occurs might be the fact that a child witnessed domestic violence or was present during a domestic violence incident is relevant to a determination of custody or visitation or the issuance of a domestic violence restraining order under the Family Code.
SEC. 2.
Section 11165.6 of the Penal Code is amended to read:11165.6.
(a) (1) As used in this article, the term “child abuse or neglect” includes physical injury or death inflicted upon a child by another person by other than accidental means, sexual abuse, as defined in Section 11165.1, neglect, as defined in Section 11165.2, the willful harming or injuring of a child or the endangering of the person or health of a child, as defined in Section 11165.3, and unlawful corporal punishment or injury, as defined in Section 11165.4.(2) “Child abuse or neglect” does not include a mutual affray between minors.
(3) “Child abuse or neglect” does not include an injury caused by reasonable and necessary force used by a peace officer acting within the course and scope of their employment as a peace officer.
(b)A child witnessing domestic violence is not a sufficient basis for reporting child abuse or neglect for purposes of this section.
(b) The fact that a child witnessed domestic violence or was present during a domestic violence incident does not require a mandated reporter to report child abuse or neglect.
(c) This section does not apply to how a child witnessing the fact that a child witnessed domestic violence or residing in a household where domestic violence exists may be
was present during a domestic violence incident is relevant to a determination of custody or visitation or the issuance of a domestic violence restraining order under the Family Code.
