324.6.
(a) (1) (A) On or before July 1, 2023, the State Department of Social Services shall, upon appropriation by the Legislature for the express purpose of this section, establish a three-year pilot program for participating counties for the purpose of addressing racial disparities in the child welfare system in up to five counties, which shall be selected to participate on a voluntary basis in the pilot program according to criteria developed by the department, in consultation with the County Welfare Directors Association of California, federally recognized tribes located in California, and the department’s Tribal Advisory Committee. In selecting the pilot counties, the department shall promote diversity among the participating counties in terms of size and geographic location. The counties shall include, at a minimum, one county in southern California, one county in northern California, and one county in a rural area of the state.(B) The department may proceed with the pilot program if fewer than five counties volunteer for the program or the volunteer counties do not satisfy the geographic diversity provisions, provided the department determines there is adequate participation in the pilot program from the volunteering county or counties to produce useful data and results. If a county begins the pilot program and drops out before the program is complete, the department may continue the pilot program in the remaining counties.
(2) The department shall, in consultation with county child welfare agencies, federally recognized tribes located in California, and other stakeholders, as appropriate, establish a working group to develop recommendations to the department regarding the development of procedures necessary to implement and evaluate the pilot programs for each county.
(b) (1) A county that receives funding pursuant to this section shall utilize a blind removal strategy when deciding whether a child should be removed from the physical custody of their parent or guardian.
(2) A county that receives funding pursuant to this section shall include, but shall not be limited to, a program whereby at any meeting of the county child welfare agency during which the removal of a child from the child’s home is discussed, all of the following information shall be redacted from the case file in preparation for the removal decision and may not be referenced:
(A) The name of the child and the child’s parents.
(B) The gender of the child’s parents.
(C) The race or ethnicity of the child and the child’s parents.
(D) The sexual orientation of the child’s parents.
(E) The address of the child and the child’s parents.
(F) The income of the child’s parents.
(3) All redacted identifying information shall be available for all other purposes throughout the local child welfare agency’s involvement with the child, including, but not limited to, evaluations, provision of services, compliance with requirements pursuant to the federal Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 (25 U.S.C. Sec. 1901 et seq.), and court proceedings.
(4) The blind removal strategy shall not be used in any case involving the emergency removal of a child from the physical custody of their parent or guardian.
(c) (1) County participation in the pilot program is voluntary.
(2) A participating county may implement the pilot for all or a portion of its emergency response program. The county shall not be required to reimburse the state for any expenses incurred as a result of their early exit from the pilot program. The department may continue to implement the pilot program if less than five counties remain in the pilot program after its commencement.
(3) Each county is encouraged, but not required, to take actions in addition to those specified in this section that support the goal of promoting racial equity and advancing practices of equity and inclusion in the child welfare system.
(d) (1) The department shall conduct at least one evaluation of the participating counties’ pilot programs and their impact and effectiveness after 18 months of implementation and again after three years of implementation, and shall submit the information from the evaluation in a report to the Legislature within six months after those periods of implementation. The evaluation shall include, but not be limited to, monitoring the county’s effect on the rate of Black, Native American, and Latinx children who were removed from their parents’ home.
(2) A report to be submitted pursuant to paragraph (1) shall be submitted in compliance with Section 9795 of the Government Code.
(e) For purposes of this section, “blind removal strategy” means redacting the demographic information described in paragraph (2) of subdivision (b) from the investigative report in order to eliminate implicit bias in the decisionmaking process of determining whether a child should be removed from the physical custody of their parent or guardian.
(f) Nothing in this section, or in the implementation of the pilot program, shall exempt any county or private party from complying with all provisions of the federal Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 (25 U.S.C. Sec. 1901 et seq.) or state laws implementing the federal Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978.
(g) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1, 2027, and as of that date is repealed.