Description: The Family and Juvenile Law Advisory Committee proposes amending four rules and one form to conform to recent statutory changes clarifying the due diligence that must be used by a social services agency or probation department in performing its family finding obligation when a child is removed from the home. Senate Bill 384 revises Welfare and Institutions Code sections 309 and 628 to define the obligation of the placing agency to engage in family finding in dependency and juvenile justice (delinquency) cases. The bill defines due diligence, which requires a social worker or probation officer to ask the child in an age-appropriate manner about parents and adult relatives. Due diligence also requires the agency to use a computer-based search engine to identify relatives and kin to provide family support and possible placement for the child. In addition, in the case of an Indian child, the bill also clarifies that the placing agency must contact the Indian child’s tribe to help identify relatives and kin.

Category: Family and Juvenile

Item Number: SPR23-21

Deadline: May 12, 2023

File: spr23-21.pdf