Existing law, commonly known as the Continuum of Care Reform, states the intent of the Legislature to improve California’s child welfare system and its outcomes by, among other things, increasing the use of home-based family care and creating faster paths to permanency resulting in shorter durations of involvement in the child welfare and juvenile justice systems.

Existing law, the California Community Care Facilities Act, provides for the licensing and regulation of community care facilities, including a children’s crisis residential program, by the State Department of Social Services. A violation of provisions relating to these facilities is a misdemeanor. Existing law defines a children’s crisis residential program to mean a facility licensed as a short-term residential therapeutic program and approved by the State Department of Health Care Services, or a county mental health plan, to operate a children’s crisis residential mental health program to serve children experiencing mental health crises as an alternative to psychiatric hospitalization.

This bill would state the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation regarding transportation services transporting minors from their home to a residential care facility or a short-term residential therapeutic program.