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F I S C A L I M P A C T R E P O R T
SPONSOR Berry
ORIGINAL DATE
LAST UPDATED
2/22/07
3/11/07 HB 1024/aHJC
SHORT TITLE Law Enforcement Locating Missing Children
SB
ANALYST Lucero
ESTIMATED ADDITIONAL OPERATING BUDGET IMPACT (dollars in thousands)
FY07
FY08
FY09 3 Year
Total Cost
Recurring
or Non-Rec
Fund
Affected
Total
Minimal
Minimal Recurring General
Fund
(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)
Conflicts with HB449; Related to SB857
SOURCES OF INFORMATION
LFC Files
Responses Received From
Children, Youth and Families Department (CYFD)
Administrative Office of the District Attorney (AODA)
SUMMARY
Synopsis of HJC Amendment
House Judiciary Committee amendment to House Bill 1024:
•
In the title, strikes “Accommodating children in protective custody; amending protective
custody time limitations" and inserts in lieu thereof “Amending the time period for
runaways to receive family services".
•
Deletes all sections of the bill and completely replaces it with:
o
Section 32A-3B-2 NMSA 1978 (being Laws of 1993, Chapter 77, Section 74) is
amended to read:
o
Defines a “family in need of court-ordered services" as the child or family has
refused family services or the department has exhausted appropriate and available
family services and court intervention is necessary to provide family services to
the child or family and the following circumstances exist:
.
A. “it is a family whose child, subject to compulsory school attendance,
is absent from school without an authorized excuse more than ten days
during a school semester";
.
B. “it is a family whose child is absent from the child’s place of
residence for a time period of twelve hours or more without consent of the
child’s parent, guardian or custodian";
pg_0002
House Bill 1024/aHJC – Page
2
.
C. “it is a family whose child refuses to return home and there is good
cause to believe that the child will run away from home if forced to return
to the parent, guardian or custodian"; or
.
D. “it is a family in which the child’s parent, guardian or custodian
refuses to allow the child to return home and a petition alleging neglect of
the child is not in the child’s best interests".
•
Introduces a new section:
o
Section 2. “[New Material] Runaway child – Law Enforcement- Permitted Acts.
“Whenever a law enforcement agency receives a report from a parent, guardian or
custodian that a child over whom the parent, guardian or custodian has custody
has, without permission, left the home or residence lawfully prescribed for the
child and the parent, guardian or custodian believes the child has run away, a law
enforcement agent may help the parent, guardian or custodian locate the child
and:
.
A. “return the child to the parent, guardian or custodian unless safety
concerns are present";
.
B. “hold the child for up to six hours if the parent, guardian or custodian
cannot be located"; or
.
C. “after the six hours has expired, follow the procedures outlined in
Section 32A-3B-3 NMSA 1978".
Synopsis of Original Bill
The bill amends sections of Chapter 32A of the Children’s Code (NMSA 1978) and adds two
new sections.
Section 1: Amends Section 32A-1-4 (1993) to add two newly defined facilities for detaining
runaway children:
•
“group home" means a small supervised home for children with emotional or behavioral
problems in which residents participate in daily tasks under the supervision of a singe
set of house parents or a rotating staff of trained caregivers
•
“juvenile receiving home" means an emergency residential care facility for non-
delinquent juveniles
Section 2: Amends Section 32A-3B-4 (1993) by striking the authority of CYFD to determine
placement in an appropriate detention location or return to the parent or guardian, if child
safety can be assured, when contacted by law enforcement about a child taken into protective
custody. The bill would also insert a new provision requiring law enforcement to transport a
child taken into protective custody to certain types of facilities to include a juvenile receiving
home, police station, sheriff’s office, or group home. A center may be utilized only if the
facility has an area for children in protective custody that is segregated from pre- or post
adjudicated delinquent children. The child must be held until:
•
protective custody has expired and no petition to extend custody is filed;
•
the child is placed by CYFD into foster care; or
•
the child is returned to the parent or guardian, if child safety can be assured.
Section 3: Amends the Children’s Code to add a new provision relating to locating runaway
children. When a law enforcement agency receives a report from a parent/guardian that their
child, without permission, has left the home and run away, law enforcement may help the
pg_0003
House Bill 1024/aHJC – Page
3
parent/guardian locate the child and take the child into protective custody for up to 72 hours.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS
If passed, the bill will have an administrative impact on children, youth and families department
that the bill does not address.
SIGNIFICANT ISSUES
While this bill does not affect the DA's operations/procedures directly, the proposed amendments
address a concern of law enforcement who deals with taking non-delinquent children taken into
custody due usually to an arrest of the parents. Sometimes, a relative cannot be located quickly.
This bill will free up law enforcement officers to return to their assigned duties rather than be
forced to "babysit" the children pending a decision by CYFD on what to do with /where to place
the children. The child welfare committees on which our office serves just recently discussed
this problem. That committee was hoping to have an area designated at the detention
centers/shelters for these children.
There is anecdotal evidence that Law Enforcement officers have been forced to sit idle in their
units with children taken into protective custody in the mall parking lot awaiting decisions by
CYFD as to custody determinations and placement options.
The seventy-two hour protective custody provision in this bill conflicts with the time frames for
protective custody in Article 4, The Child Abuse and Neglect Act and Article 3B, The Family in
Need of Court-Ordered Services Act. The latter Acts provide for protective custody for two
business days.
The bill requires that runaway children in protective custody not be housed with indicted or
adjudicated delinquent children. The bill also creates a new residential placement option called
“juvenile receiving home". The bill does not designate how this type of facility will be licensed
or regulated nor does it designate what agency has the authority to license and/or regulate this
type of facility.
The bill creates an additional definition for “group home". Group homes-type placements are
currently defined and regulated through 7.8.3 NMAC Residential Health Facilities and 7.20.11
Certification requirements for child and adolescent mental health services.
PERFORMANCE IMPLICATIONS
None identified at this time
ADMINISTRATIVE IMPLICATIONS
If passed, the bill will have an administrative impact on children, youth and families department
that the bill does not address.
CONFLICT, DUPLICATION, COMPANIONSHIP, RELATIONSHIP
Conflicts with HB449; Related to SB857
pg_0004
House Bill 1024/aHJC – Page
4
TECHNICAL ISSUES
The seventy-two hour protective custody provision in this bill conflicts with the time frames for
protective custody in Article 4, The Child Abuse and Neglect Act and Article 3B, The Family in
Need of Court-Ordered Services Act. The latter Acts provide for protective custody for two
business days.
OTHER SUBSTANTIVE ISSUES
Detaining a child for running away can add new trauma to whatever may have motivated the
runaway behavior. While running away carries with it certain risks for youth, it does not, in and
of itself warrant the creation of a criminal status. It could also force youth intent upon running
not to surface for services or interventions because they would face detention.
Some states also have penalties for aiding, providing shelter or otherwise harboring a runaway
child.
Detention is a fairly common punishment in runaway cases. The National Council of Family and
Juvenile Court Judges reported that between 1985 and 2002, formally processed runaway cases
were more likely to involve detention than were other status offense cases. In addition, youth
age 15 and younger accounted for more than two-thirds of runaway cases involving detention.
Moreover, females accounted for 58% of runaway cases involving detention. Ultimately,
petitioned runaway cases were least likely to result in the youth being adjudicated a status
offender.
ALTERNATIVES
Fund school districts in the state to educate children on the risks inherent in runaway behavior.
Conducting this educational campaign at an early age and continuing to emphasize it as part of a
child’s education will go much further than trying to address the problem and its associated risks
after it has already occurred.
WHAT WILL BE THE CONSEQUENCES OF NOT ENACTING THIS BILL
Status quo
DL/nt