BILL ANALYSIS ------------------------------------------------------------ |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 945| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |1020 N Street, Suite 524 | | |(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ------------------------------------------------------------ UNFINISHED BUSINESS Bill No: SB 945 Author: Liu (D), et al Amended: 8/24/10 Vote: 21 SENATE HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE : 4-0, 4/13/10 AYES: Liu, Romero, Runner, Yee NO VOTE RECORDED: Maldonado SENATE PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE : 7-0, 4/20/10 AYES: Leno, Cogdill, Cedillo, Hancock, Huff, Steinberg, Wright SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 9-0, 5/3/10 AYES: Kehoe, Cox, Corbett, Leno, Price, Walters, Wolk, Wyland, Yee NO VOTE RECORDED: Alquist, Denham SENATE FLOOR : 30-0, 5/10/10 AYES: Aanestad, Alquist, Ashburn, Calderon, Cedillo, Cogdill, Correa, Cox, DeSaulnier, Ducheny, Florez, Hancock, Hollingsworth, Huff, Kehoe, Leno, Lowenthal, Negrete McLeod, Padilla, Pavley, Price, Romero, Runner, Simitian, Steinberg, Walters, Wolk, Wright, Wyland, Yee NO VOTE RECORDED: Corbett, Denham, Dutton, Harman, Liu, Oropeza, Strickland, Wiggins, Vacancy, Vacancy ASSEMBLY FLOOR : Not available SUBJECT : Juvenile court jurisdiction: services and benefits CONTINUED SB 945 Page 2 SOURCE : Childrens Advocacy Institute DIGEST : This bill requires probation and parole officers to provide wards of the court formerly in foster care with notification regarding their eligibility for services and benefits available for former foster youth when the court terminates jurisdiction, or upon release of a ward from a non-foster care facility. This bill also contains language to avoid chaptering-out issues with AB 12 (Beall) and SB 1353 (Wright). Assembly Amendments (1) delete references to dual status foster children, make clarifying changes in the findings, and declarations, and (2) correct redundant sections of the Welfare and Institutions Code, and make technical clean-up changes related to chaptering amendments from SB 118 (Liu) Chapter 338, Statutes of 2009. ANALYSIS : Existing law: 1. Provides that a minor may be adjudged a dependent child or a ward of the juvenile court under specified circumstances. 2. Authorizes the court to place a minor who has been removed from the custody of his or her parent or guardian in foster care, among other placements. 3. Provides for the termination of the juvenile court jurisdiction when the minor reaches a specified age. 4. Authorizes the Department of Social Services (DSS) to develop statewide standards for the implementation and administration of the Independent Living Program. 5. Establishes that a case plan, which is required to be adopted by the county for each child receiving child welfare services, is the foundation and central unifying tool in child welfare services. SB 945 Page 3 6. Requires that a case plan include information about a parent's incarceration in a jail or prison during the time that a minor child of that parent is involved in dependency care. Existing Regulations 1. Specifies eligibility requirements for the Independent Living Program, and require county social workers and probation officers to determine eligibility for the program in conjunction with the preparation of a Transitional Independent Living Plan. 2. Requires county social workers and probation officers to ensure that foster or probation youth are given appropriate information about the opportunity to participate in the Independent Living Program.4. This bill clarifies that probation and parole officers are required to provide wards exiting from a juvenile justice detention facility with documentation of their status as former foster youth, and to inform them about their eligibility for services and benefits available to former foster youth to assist them with their transition to adulthood. This bill does not change existing eligibility for independent living program services or other services provided to former foster youth. FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes Local: Yes According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee, minimal reimbursable local costs, likely less than $50,000, for the workload associated with probation officers providing wards the required information and assistance. SUPPORT : (Verified 8/26/10) Children's Advocacy Institute (source) Aspiranet California PTA Family Law Section, State Bar of California Los Angeles County District Attorney Public Counsel Law Center SB 945 Page 4 ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : The author's office believes that the bill will result in youth learning about and using supportive services that may mitigate or reduce their current risk of limited academic achievement and of continued encounters with the criminal justice system. The author's office states: Each year in California more than 4,000 foster children turn 18 and exit the system. These youth face significant challenges in their transition to adulthood and are not faring well as other young adults. . . . Our state has created a number of new policies to assist foster youth. As a result, foster youth who age out of the system at 18 can access a variety of assistance and counseling programs. These programs help with housing, college planning and financing, and job and financial counseling. Unfortunately, a segment of the foster youth population, called "dual status youth," are unable to access services because they cannot prove their status as a former foster youth. Dual status youth are foster youth who have been under the jurisdiction of both the dependency courts to the juvenile delinquency court system. When these children emancipate from the juvenile delinquency court status, rather than from dependency court status, they are effectively denied access to private and non-profit programs designed to assist former foster youth. While there is no specific provision of California law that terminates a dual status youth's eligibility for transitional living services there is no process to ensure that these children receive proof of their history in the foster care system. Foster youth who are moved to the delinquency court system frequently do not return to their dependency status after satisfying their court-ordered detention or treatment due to the lack of placement availabilities. SB 945 Page 5 These youth fall between the cracks because foster care programs identify transitional youth based on their residency. Young people who are wards of the court (housed in juvenile court or treatment facilities) do not reside in homes reserved specifically for foster youth and therefore not able to prove their status as a foster youth. Although probation officers who oversee wards for the court are expected to advise and assist their wards with access to transitional living services, there is no clear process for the probation officers to follow to assist this population. SB 945 would ensure that upon the release of a ward from a nonfoster care facility, a probation officer or parole officer will provide the person with: A written notice stating that the youth is a former foster child and may be eligible for the services and benefits that are available to a former foster child through public and private programs. Information that informs the youth of the availability of federal and state programs that provide independent living services and benefits to former foster children. CTW:do 8/26/10 Senate Floor Analyses SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE **** END ****