BILL ANALYSIS
AB 1905
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 14, 2010
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Felipe Fuentes, Chair
AB 1905 (Cook) - As Amended: March 17, 2010
Policy Committee: Human
ServicesVote:6 - 0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
Yes Reimbursable: Yes
SUMMARY
This bill clarifies that the approval of an approved relative
foster care provider should remain intact during the reapproval
process and that the reapproval process should not result in the
delay or termination of foster care grants for relative homes.
FISCAL EFFECT
There are no significant costs associated with this legislation.
Eliminating the need for county social workers to temporarily
shift relative caregivers from the federal foster care program
to a state-only program could result in some administrative
savings for the counties.
COMMENTS
1)Background . Federal law does not require licensure of relative
caregiver homes receiving federal Title IV-E foster care
payments. It does, however, require states to apply the same
licensing standards to both relative and non-relative homes.
While California explicitly exempts relative caregiver homes
from licensure, in response to the federal Adoptions and Safe
Families Act of 1997, the state conformed to federal law when
it implemented an approval process for relative homes,
administered by counties.
However, the state has effectively established a higher
standard for relative caregivers than for non-relative homes
because DSS required counties to perform an initial assessment
of relative caregiver homes, followed by an annual
reassessment for all relative caregivers. Only a portion of
AB 1905
Page 2
non-relative caregivers are required to be reassessed on an
annual basis. DSS has also required, through this higher
standard, that foster care payments to relative caregivers be
terminated if the annual reassessment is not completed within
one year of the initial approval.
2)Rationale . As a result of the higher standards for relative
homes, according to the author, the state and counties are
needlessly losing federal funding for relative placements.
The sponsor of this bill, the County of San Bernardino,
states:
"Due to high workloads at the local level and the fact that
the state underfunds the county workload for annual
reassessments, counties struggle to complete these reviews on
time. We currently have approximately 1,500 children placed
with relatives. Due to the reduction in our Child Welfare
Service allocation, processing the annual reassessment in a
timely fashion has become an extremely daunting task?As a
result of late reassessment, under state regulations, the
federal funding for these placements stop, resulting often in
an "overpayment" to that home for the month the home was not
deemed in compliance. For any overpayment to a relative
caregiver, the state must re-pay the federal government its
share and cannot recoup these costs from either foster parents
or counties based on current law."
This bill would allow approved relative caregivers to remain
eligible for federal foster care payments pending an annual
reassessment as the state standard for relative home approval
currently exceeds federal and state licensing requirements.
Analysis Prepared by : Julie Salley-Gray / APPR. / (916)
319-2081