BILL ANALYSIS AB 408 Page 1 Date of Hearing: May 21, 2003 ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS Darrell Steinberg, Chair AB 408 (Steinberg) - As Amended: May 5, 2003 Policy Committee: JudiciaryVote:13-0 Human Services 5-0 Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: Yes Reimbursable: Yes SUMMARY As proposed to be amended, this bill makes several changes to dependency law to ensure that certain youth have stable relationships during and after foster care and to reduce restrictions on age-appropriate activities for all foster youth. Specifically, this bill: 1)Requires county social workers and dependency courts to consider the importance of certain relationships that are significant to a foster child. These provisions apply to youth who are at least 10 years old and have been in foster care at least six months and have been placed with nonrelatives. 2)Requires that every foster child be allowed to participate in age-appropriate extracurricular and social activities. This provision applies to all foster youth, regardless of age. FISCAL EFFECT Unknown state-reimbursable court and county social services costs, likely under $150,000 annually to identify and integrate significant relationships into case plans for certain children. COMMENTS 1)Rationale . This bill is designed to ensure that children leaving foster care have support within their communities and a life-long connection to a committed adult. The bill requires social workers to discuss individuals who are important to certain foster children and to integrate these individuals into case plans, including dependency court concerns. In AB 408 Page 2 addition, the bill requires foster parents to allow children to participate in age-appropriate activities. 2)CWDA Workload Concerns . The County Welfare Directors of California (CWDA) indicate that a combination of budget cuts and lack of annual cost-of-doing business adjustments have led to an estimated statewide county funding gap in excess of $1 billion. Therefore, they indicate the provisions of this bill are more of a burden than they would have been in prior years. Analysis Prepared by : Mary Ader / APPR. / (916) 319-2081