AB2451 - Dependency: victims of human trafficking.

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2025–2026 REGULAR SESSION Assembly Bill No. 2451 Introduced by Assembly Member Elhawary February 20, 2026 An act to amend Sections 300, 306, 16501.1, 16501.35, 16501.45, 16524.6, 16524.7, 16524.8, 16524.9, and 16524.10 of, and to repeal Section 16524.11 of, the Welfare and Institutions Code, relating to human trafficking. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AB 2451, as introduced, Elhawary. Dependency: victims of human trafficking. Existing law defines human trafficking to include both sex trafficking and labor trafficking. Existing law allows a child who is sexually trafficked, or who receives food or shelter in exchange for, or who is paid to perform, sexual acts, and whose parent or guardian has failed or was unable to protect the child, to be adjudged a dependent of the juvenile court. This bill would instead authorize a child who is or was a victim of human trafficking, and whose parent or guardian has failed or was unable to protect the child, to be adjudged a dependent of the juvenile court, thereby expanding the bases on which a child can be adjudged a dependent child of the juvenile court to explicitly include children who are victims of labor trafficking. The bill would make various related changes to reflect this expansion, including, among other things, revising a requirement relating to the case plan for a child or nonminor dependent who is, or who is at risk of becoming, the victim of commercial sexual exploitation, to instead apply to a child or nonminor dependent who is, or who is at risk of becoming, the victim of human trafficking. By expanding county duties, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law authorizes a social worker, in specified circumstances, to take temporary custody of a child who is or may be subject to the dependency jurisdiction of the court. The bill would generally prohibit a social worker from taking temporary custody of a child who is the victim of human trafficking if the child’s parent or guardian has not participated, either directly or indirectly, in the child’s trafficking. Existing law establishes the Commercially Sexually Exploited Children Program, which is administered by the State Department of Social Services. The program requires the department to provide funds to participating counties to provide training to county children’s services workers to identify, intervene, and provide case management services to children who are victims of commercial sexual exploitation and trafficking and to foster caregivers for the prevention and identification of potential victims. Existing law requires the department to provide specified information to the Legislature regarding the implementation of these provisions, including the number of victims served by each county and the types of services provided, no later than April 1, 2017. This bill would change the name of the program to the Human Trafficked Children Program and revise all parts of the program to include all children who are victims of human trafficking, including those who are the victims of labor trafficking. The bill would require the department to provide and update information provided to the Legislature regarding implementation of these provisions, and to provide additional information relating to serving child victims of labor trafficking, no later than April 1, 2028. Existing law requires the department, in consultation with the County Welfare Directors Association, to ensure that the child welfare information system is capable of collecting data concerning children who are commercially sexually exploited, as specified. This bill would require the department to ensure that the Child Welfare Services/Case Management System is capable of collecting data concerning children who are victims of human trafficking no later than June 1, 2027. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. Digest Key Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: YES Local Program: YES Bill Text The people of the State of California do enact as follows: SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares all of the following: (a) California has a compelling interest in protecting the safety, permanency, and well-being of all children and youth, and in ensuring that systems charged with child protection are equipped to identify and respond appropriately to all forms of human trafficking, including sex trafficking, labor trafficking, or both. (b) Since 2005, California has defined human trafficking to include the deprivation or violation of personal liberty for purposes of forced labor, services, or commercial sex, as set forth in Section 236.1 of the Penal Code. (c) Notwithstanding the definition of human trafficking, as set forth in Section 236.1 of the Penal Code, and the Legislature’s broader intent to protect children from all forms of trafficking, child welfare practice and training has focused exclusively on sex trafficking as a form of child abuse, partly due to existing statutory limitations. As a result, children and youth who are victims of labor trafficking, and particularly children and youth who are forced to commit criminal offenses as a direct result of being victims of labor trafficking, are frequently not identified as victims by child welfare agencies and other mandated reporting systems. Therefore, these children and youth are often arrested and do not receive appropriate protection or services as victims of crime. Immigrant youth who are arrested for, or convicted of, offenses they are forced to commit as a direct result of being victims of labor trafficking additionally face the risk of deportation, especially in light of increased federal enforcement. (d) A 2016 study examining the prevalence of trafficking among runaway and homeless youth found that in the Cities of Oakland and Los Angeles, the prevalence of labor trafficking was comparable to, or exceeded, the prevalence of child sex trafficking. The study further identified forced drug sales as the most common form of labor trafficking experienced by youth. (e) Child victims of labor trafficking, particularly those exploited through forced criminality, some of California‘s most vulnerable children, in the absence of clear statutory direction within the Welfare and Institutions Code as well as the absence of proper training and protocols in place for California counties’ child protection systems, face increased risks of long-term system involvement, detention, family separation, and deportation. (f) It is the intent of the Legislature that the provisions of Sections 16524.6 to 16524.10, inclusive, of the Welfare and Institutions Code reflect California’s recognition of human trafficking in all its forms, promote individualized assessment of each child’s circumstances, and support responses that prioritize protection, family unity, and access to appropriate services over punishment. (g) The Legislature further intends that amendments to the sections specified in subdivision (f) clarify and strengthen the child welfare system’s ability to identify and respond to situations involving labor trafficking, including forced criminality, in a manner consistent with California’s commitment to equity, trauma-informed practice, and the best interests of the child. SEC. 2. Section 300 of the Welfare and Institutions Code is amended to read: 300. A child who comes within any of the following descriptions is within the jurisdiction of the juvenile court which may adjudge that person to be a dependent child of the court: (a) The child has suffered, or there is a substantial risk that the child will suffer, serious physical harm inflicted nonaccidentally upon the child by the child’s parent or guardian. For purposes of this subdivision, a court may find there is a substantial risk of serious future injury based on the manner in which a less serious injury was inflicted, a history of repeated inflictions of injuries on the child or the child’s siblings, or a combination of these and other actions by the parent or guardian that indicate the child is at risk of serious physical harm. For purposes of this subdivision, “serious physical harm” does not include reasonable and age-appropriate spanking to the buttocks if there is no evidence of serious physical injury. (b) (1) The child has suffered, or there is a substantial risk that the child will suffer, serious physical harm or illness, as a result of any of the following: (A) The failure or inability of the child’s parent or guardian to adequately supervise or protect the child. (B) The willful or negligent failure of the child’s parent or guardian to adequately supervise or protect the child from the conduct of the custodian with whom the child has been left. (C) The willful or negligent failure of the parent or guardian to provide the child with adequate food, clothing, shelter, or medical treatment. (D) The inability of the parent or guardian to provide regular care for the child due to the parent’s or guardian’s mental illness, developmental disability, or substance abuse. (2) A child shall not be found to be a person described by this subdivision solely due to any of the following: (A) Homelessness or the lack of an emergency shelter for the family. (B) The failure of the child’s parent or alleged parent to seek court orders for custody of the child. (C) Indigence or other conditions of financial difficulty, including, but not limited to, poverty, the inability to provide or obtain clothing, home or property repair, or childcare. (3) Whenever it is alleged that a child comes within the jurisdiction of the court on the basis of the parent’s or guardian’s willful failure to provide adequate medical treatment or specific decision to provide spiritual treatment through prayer, the court shall give deference to the parent’s or guardian’s medical treatment, nontreatment, or spiritual treatment through prayer alone in accordance with the tenets and practices of a recognized church or religious denomination, by an accredited practitioner thereof, and shall not assume jurisdiction unless necessary to protect the child from suffering serious physical harm or illness. In making its determination, the court shall consider (1) the nature of the treatment proposed by the parent or guardian, (2) the risks to the child posed by the course of treatment or nontreatment proposed by the parent or guardian, (3) the risk, if any, of the course of treatment being proposed by the petitioning agency, and (4) the likely success of the courses of treatment or nontreatment proposed by the parent or guardian and agency. The child shall continue to be a dependent child pursuant to this subdivision only so long as is necessary to protect the child from risk of suffering serious physical harm or illness. (4) The Legislature finds and declares that a child who is sexually trafficked, a victim of human trafficking, as described in Section 236.1 of the Penal Code, or who receives food or shelter in exchange for, or who is paid to perform, sexual acts described in Section 236.1 or 11165.1 of the Penal Code, and whose parent or guardian failed to, or was unable to, protect the child, is within the description of this subdivision, and that this finding is declaratory of existing law. These children shall be known as commercially sexually exploited children. victims of human trafficking. (c) The child is suffering serious emotional damage, or is at substantial risk of suffering serious emotional damage, evidenced by severe anxiety, depression, withdrawal, or untoward aggressive behavior toward self or others, as a result of the conduct of the parent or guardian or who has no parent or guardian capable of providing appropriate care. A child shall not be found to be a person described by this subdivision if the willful failure of the parent or guardian to provide adequate mental health treatment is based on a sincerely held religious belief and if a less intrusive judicial intervention is available. (d) The child has been sexually abused, or there is a substantial risk that the child will be sexually abused, as defined in Section 11165.1 of the Penal Code, by the child’s parent or guardian or a member of the child’s household, or the parent or guardian has failed to adequately protect the child from sexual abuse when the parent or guardian knew or reasonably should have known that the child was in danger of sexual abuse. (e) The child is under five years of age and has suffered severe physical abuse by a parent, or by any person known by the parent, if the parent knew or reasonably should have known that the person was physically abusing the child. For the purposes of this subdivision, “severe physical abuse” means any of the following: any single act of abuse that causes physical trauma of sufficient severity that, if left untreated, would cause permanent physical disfigurement, permanent physical disability, or death; any single act of sexual abuse that causes significant bleeding, deep bruising, or significant external or internal swelling; or more than one act of physical abuse, each of which causes bleeding, deep bruising, significant external or internal swelling, bone fracture, or unconsciousness; or the willful, prolonged failure to provide adequate food. A child shall not be removed from the physical custody of the child’s parent or guardian on the basis of a finding of severe physical abuse unless the social worker has made an allegation of severe physical abuse pursuant to Section 332. (f) The child’s parent or guardian caused the death of another child through abuse or neglect. (g) The child has been left without any provision for support; physical custody of the child has been voluntarily surrendered pursuant to Section 1255.7 of the Health and Safety Code and the child has not been reclaimed within the 14-day period specified in subdivision (g) of that section; the child’s parent has been incarcerated or institutionalized and cannot arrange for the care of the child; or a relative or other adult custodian with whom the child resides or has been left is unwilling or unable to provide care or support for the child, the whereabouts of the parent are unknown, and reasonable efforts to locate the parent have been unsuccessful. (h) The child has been freed for adoption by one or both parents for 12 months by either relinquishment or termination of parental rights or an adoption petition has not been granted. (i) The child has been subjected to an act or acts of cruelty by the parent or guardian or a member of the child’s household, or the parent or guardian has failed to adequately protect the child from an act or acts of cruelty when the parent or guardian knew or [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]