Plain English Breakdown
The official text states the bill removes a prohibition on visits jeopardizing safety but immediately replaces it with stricter conditions for unsupervised visits; this shift is complex and requires careful reading.
Juvenile Court Visitation Rules
AB-926 requires juvenile courts to order parent-child contact within 72 hours of the first hearing and sets unsupervised visits as the default unless specific safety risks are proven.
What This Bill Does
- Requires the court at the initial petition hearing to set a visitation schedule that includes frequency, duration, and whether supervision is needed.
- Orders contact between parents and children to begin within 72 hours of the first hearing.
- Removes the existing rule that bans any visitation if it might endanger a child's safety.
- Requires courts to order unsupervised visits unless there is substantial danger to physical health, severe emotional damage that cannot be protected without supervision, or evidence the parent may flee with the child.
- Requires courts to list specific facts when ordering supervised visits and asks agencies to check parents' proposed supervisors.
- Mandates social workers supervise visits in specified cases if no other approved person is available.
- Gives agencies discretion to change visits from supervised to unsupervised unless a court finds this would be unsafe for the child.
- Requires social worker reports to explain why returning a child home would be harmful and, if visitation was not increased, what efforts were made and why they failed.
Who It Names or Affects
- Juvenile courts handling dependency cases
- Parents and legal guardians of children removed from their homes
- Children who are dependents of the court
- County social workers and child welfare agencies
Terms To Know
- Initial petition hearing
- The first court meeting held after a case is started to decide early steps like visitation.
- Supervised visitation
- A meeting between a parent and child where an adult watches the interaction for safety reasons.
- Liberalize visitation
- To make visiting rules less strict, such as changing from supervised to unsupervised visits.
Limits and Unknowns
- The bill does not state when it will officially take effect.
- The text notes that no state reimbursement is required for the new costs but gives only a general reason without specific details.
- The exact circumstances where social workers must step in to supervise visits are described as 'specified' but not fully listed in this summary.