Juveniles: incarcerated parent: visitation.

Assembly Member Quirk-Silva's juvenile justice reform measure establishes mandatory visitation protocols between incarcerated parents and their children in foster care, requiring county jails and child welfare agencies to facilitate regular in-person contact unless deemed detrimental to the child's well-being.

The legislation creates specific requirements for maintaining parent-child connections when parents are held in county jails. Child welfare agencies must coordinate with jail facilities to schedule and document all visits, while jails must ensure incarcerated parents can attend these meetings. When in-person visits prove logistically challenging, the bill requires facilities to provide video conferencing or phone communication alternatives. Both agencies must submit detailed visitation records, including explanations for any missed appointments, at each dependency court hearing.

Under the new provisions, child welfare agencies must provide incarcerated parents written notification of their visitation rights and instructions for requesting visits at the start of dependency proceedings or upon detention. The bill also permits licensed community-based organizations to facilitate these parent-child visits. For cases where reunification services are not ordered, courts must consider existing sibling relationships when determining placement and visitation arrangements.

The measure designates these new requirements as a state-mandated local program. While some mandate costs fall under existing realignment funding, other new expenses identified by the Commission on State Mandates would qualify for state reimbursement through established statutory processes.