BILL NUMBER: SCR 44	ENROLLED
	BILL TEXT

	ADOPTED IN SENATE  JUNE 27, 2011
	ADOPTED IN ASSEMBLY  JUNE 15, 2011
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  JUNE 9, 2011

INTRODUCED BY   Senator Liu

                        MAY 2, 2011

   Relative to Foster Care Month.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SCR 44, Liu. Foster Care Month 2011.
   This measure would designate the month of May 2011 as Foster Care
Month in California.



   WHEREAS, All children need and deserve to feel love, a sense of
belonging, and the continuity of family and loved ones to support and
guide them in their growth and development; and
   WHEREAS, This need is especially urgent for California's 60,000
children in foster care, who have experienced the trauma of neglect,
abuse, and separation from family and loved ones; and
   WHEREAS, Thanks to the focus and commitment of Californians
working in public and private organizations in child welfare,
probation, mental health, public health, education, and the courts,
and the extraordinary commitment of those who open their homes and
work with jurisdictions to meet the needs of foster youth for safety,
permanency, and well-being, more of California's youth are able to
live and grow up with the support of permanent, caring families; and
   WHEREAS, In recent years, California has made great strides in
attaining permanency for thousands of children and youth in foster
care; and
   WHEREAS, Throughout the state, children and youth are benefiting
from a focus by child welfare jurisdictions on creating permanent
family connections from the moment a child enters child welfare
supervised care; and
   WHEREAS, During 2009-2010, almost 60 percent, about 19,000, of the
children leaving foster care were returned to their families; and
   WHEREAS, For those children and youth who could not safely return
to their own families, we celebrate that nearly 6,500 were adopted
during that period and almost 3,000 attained permanence through
guardianship with relatives or other adults; now, therefore, be it
   Resolved by the Senate of the State of California, the Assembly
thereof concurring, That the Legislature designates the month of May
2011 as Foster Care Month in California; and be it further
   Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate transmit copies of this
resolution to the author for appropriate distribution.