BILL ANALYSIS Ó AB 212 Page 1 Date of Hearing: May 18, 2011 ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS Felipe Fuentes, Chair AB 212 (Beall) - As Amended: March 29, 2011 Policy Committee: Human ServicesVote:6 - 0 Judiciary 9 - 0 Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: Yes Reimbursable: Yes SUMMARY This bill makes various technical and clarifying changes to the California Fostering Connections to Success Act of 2010. Specifically, this bill: 1)Exempts parents from referral by the county child welfare department to the local child support agency for the payment of child support on behalf of an adult, nonminor dependent in foster care. 2)Makes technical changes to replace the phrase "period of trial departure" with "period of trial independence" as defined in law. 3)Conforms delinquency statutes related to the termination of parental rights to include the required guardianship study found in parallel dependency statutes. 4)Distinguishes between the case plan update and mutual agreement terms required for a nonminor dependent under the supervision of the child welfare agency and a nonminor Kinship Guardianship Assistance Payment (Kin-GAP) or Adoption Assistance Program (AAP) recipient. 5)Restores, after January 1, 2012, the ability for an otherwise eligible youth placed with a relative guardian prior to age 16, to continue receiving Kinship Guardian Assistance Payment (Kin-GAP) program assistance after age 18, until the youth reaches age 19, provided the youth is reasonably likely to receive their high school diploma or equivalent degree before AB 212 Page 2 age 19. FISCAL EFFECT Costs associated with this legislation are minor and absorbable within existing resources. COMMENTS 1)Rationale . This bill makes technical and clarifying changes to the California Fostering Connections to Success Act in order to help ensure its successful implementation. 2)The California Fostering Connections to Success Act . AB 12 (Beall & Bass; Chapter 559, Statutes of 2010) allowed the state to opt in to two provisions of the federal Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008 (Fostering Connections Act) (P.L. 110-351). Specifically, the California Fostering Connections to Success Act shifted California's existing state and county-funded Kin-GAP program to align it with new federal requirements and allow the state to bring federal financial participation into our kinship guardian assistance program for the first time; and, provided transitional foster care support to qualifying foster youth ages 18 to 21, phased-in over three years, beginning in 2012. Analysis Prepared by : Julie Salley-Gray / APPR. / (916) 319-2081