Short-term residential therapeutic program: requirements.

Assembly Member Patel's legislation addressing short-term residential therapeutic programs in California establishes new requirements for facilities providing intensive care and supervision to children in foster care. The measure adds provisions governing parent residency, communication access, and basic needs for youth in these programs.

Under the proposed changes, facilities must verify that a parent or legal guardian maintains a single physical address within California throughout a child's treatment period. The legislation requires programs to ensure youth have continuous access to confidential telephone communication with their parent or guardian, though this requirement may be waived by the department, facility, or guardian. Programs must also provide children with appropriate outdoor footwear at all times and post these requirements on their websites.

The measure creates an enforcement framework with civil penalties for violations and authorizes the Department of Social Services to suspend or revoke facility licenses if violations result in harm to a child's health or safety. The department must develop implementing regulations to specify compliance requirements for facilities. As violations would constitute misdemeanors under existing law, the bill includes provisions addressing state-mandated local costs.