BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 787
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 23, 2013
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY
Bob Wieckowski, Chair
AB 787 (Stone) - As Amended: March 19, 2013
PROPOSED CONSENT
SUBJECT : Fostering Connections to Success Act: NONMINOR
DEPENDENTS
KEY ISSUE : SHOULD technical and clarifying changes BE MADE TO
CALIFORNIA'S FOSTERING CONNECTION TO SUCCESS ACT TO HELP FOSTER
YOUTH BETTER PREPARE AND TRANSITION TO ADULTHOOD?
FISCAL EFFECT : As currently in print this bill is keyed fiscal.
SYNOPSIS
AB 12 (Beall & Bass) Chap. 559, Stats. 2010, a landmark piece of
child welfare legislation, opted California into two key
provisions of the federal Fostering Connections to Success and
Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008: (1) Re-enacting California's
existing state and county-funded Kinship Guardian Assistance
Payment Program (KinGap) to align it with new federal
requirements and to allow the state to bring federal financial
participation into our kinship guardian assistance program for
the first time; and (2) providing transitional foster care
support to qualifying foster youth ages 18 to 21. The goal of
that legislation is to assist foster youth in their transition
to adulthood by providing them with the opportunity to create a
case plan tailored to their individual needs, which charts their
course towards independence through incremental levels of
responsibility. This bill, like two previous bills, makes
technical and clarifying changes to AB 12 in order to help
ensure its successful implementation. In particular, this bill
allows reentry into a nonminor dependency status for a nonminor
dependent who is under 21 and whose guardian, relative or
adoptive parent has died. This bill passed out of the Assembly
Human Services Committee on consent. The bill is supported by
advocacy organizations and law enforcement. There is no known
opposition to this bill.
SUMMARY : Makes various technical and clarifying changes to the
California Fostering Connections to Success Act of 2010.
AB 787
Page 2
Specifically, this bill :
1)Allows re-entry into nonminor dependency status for former
nonminor dependents (NMDs) who reached permanency, but whose
guardian, relative or adoptive parent died before their 21st
birthday.
2)Allows probation officers to place NMDs into approved
transitional services placements.
3)Removes case management requirements for non-federal IV-E
eligible state KinGap youth prospectively to align with case
management requirements under federal Title IV-E eligible
KinGap youth requirements.
4)Clarifies how the court may terminate jurisdiction over a NMD,
but still retain the ability to monitor them as a nonminor.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Establishes the California Fostering Connections to Success
Act of 2010, which, among other provisions:
a) Provides for the extension of transitional foster care
to eligible youth up to age 19 in 2012, age 20 in 2013, and
upon appropriation by the Legislature, age 21 in 2014 as a
voluntary program for youth who meet specified work and
education participation criteria; and,
b) Requires changes to the KinGAP program in order to allow
for federal financial participation in the program. (AB 12
(Beall), Chap. 559, Stats. 2010.)
2)Defines a "nonminor dependent" as a current or former foster
child between the ages of 18 and 21 who is in foster care
under the responsibility of the county welfare department,
county probation department, or an Indian tribe and is
participating in a transitional independent living plan.
(Welfare & Institutions Code Section 11400. Unless stated
otherwise, all further statutory references are to that code.)
3)Defines a "transition dependent" as a minor who is between 17
years, five months and 18 years of age who is subject to the
court's transition jurisdiction. (Section 450.)
4)Defines a "nonrelative extended family member" as any adult
AB 787
Page 3
caregiver who has an established familial or mentoring
relationship with a child and requires a county welfare
department to verify the existence of this relationship, as
specified. (Section 362.7.)
5)Allows a juvenile court to adjudge a child or a nonminor as a
ward or a dependent of the court for specified reasons,
including but not limited to if the child or nonminor has been
neglected or abused or has committed a crime, as specified.
(Sections 300 and 601.)
6)Provides that a nonminor, age 18-21, shall continue to receive
foster care assistance under certain conditions, including
that the nonminor is otherwise eligible for AFDC-FC benefits,
has signed a mutual agreement, and one or more of the
following conditions exist:
a) The nonminor is working toward their high school
education or an equivalent credential.
b) The nonminor is enrolled in a postsecondary institution
or vocational education program.
c) The nonminor is participating in a program or activity
designed to promote or remove barriers to employment.
d) The nonminor is employed for at least 80 hours per
month.
e) The nonminor is incapable of doing any of the activities
described in (a) through (d) due to a medical condition,
and that incapability is supported by regularly updated
information in the case plan of the nonminor. (Section
11403.)
7)Requires states, under federal law, to develop a transition
plan with foster youth, addressing specified outcome areas 90
days prior to emancipation. (Public Law (P.L.) 110-148; P.L.
110-351.)
8)Defines a "mutual agreement" as an agreement of consent for
placement in a supervised setting between a minor or nonminor
dependent and the placing agency that, in the case of a
nonminor dependent, documents the continued need for
supervised out-of-home placement and the agreement between the
nonminor and the social worker or probation officer to work
together to facilitate implementation of the mutually
developed supervised placement agreement and transitional
living plan. (Section 11403.)
AB 787
Page 4
9)Authorizes a court to resume jurisdiction over a former NMD
under specified circumstances, provided the nonminor signs a
mutual transition or voluntary reentry agreement. (Sections
303 and 388.)
COMMENTS : The California Fostering Connections to Success Act
(FCSA) of 2010 was landmark child welfare legislation, however,
it was also substantial in size, amounting to 207 pages at the
time of adoption. Due to the complexity and fundamental
improvements this act made to the state's welfare system, follow
up legislation has been needed since its adoption to help ensure
its successful implementation.
Since its passage, the Legislature has passed and the state has
adopted two successive measures to this effect; AB 212 (Beall)
from 2011 and AB 1712 (Beall) from 2012. Like its predecessors,
AB 787 continues the Legislature's efforts to ensure the FCSA is
properly implemented to provide necessary and integral support
services to foster youth as they prepare and transition into
adulthood.
Background on California Fostering Connections to Success Act of
2010 : AB 12 (Beall & Bass) was a landmark piece of child
welfare legislation in California opting the state into 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:
1)Re-enacted California's existing state and county-funded
KinGAP 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,
2)Provides transitional foster care support to qualifying foster
youth ages 18 to 21, phased-in over three years, beginning in
2012.
The goal of AB 12 is to assist foster youth, or "nonminor
dependents" as they are referred to in statute, in their
transition to adulthood by providing them with the opportunity
to create a case plan alongside their case worker tailored to
their individual needs, which charts the course towards
AB 787
Page 5
independence through incremental levels of responsibility. It
is a voluntary program grounded in evidence of how the option of
continued support to age 21 can counter the dismal outcomes
faced by youth who are forced to leave the foster care system at
age 18, including high rates of homelessness, incarceration,
reliance on public assistance, teen pregnancy, and low rates of
high school and postsecondary graduation.
In essence, AB 12 seeks to mirror the type of continued guidance
and assistance most young adults receive from their parents and
families in their late teens and early twenties. Following this
paradigm, AB 12 provides nonminors with the option to petition
to reenter care if they opt out of extended care and want to
return before age 21, provided they meet the eligibility
criteria set forth in federal and state law.
In order to be eligible to continue foster care benefits up to
age 21, a nonminor dependent youth must: continue under the
jurisdiction of the juvenile court; sign a mutual agreement
which commits both the nonminor and the placing agency to
certain responsibilities; reside in an approved, supervised
placement; work alongside their caseworker to prepare and
participate in their transitional independent living case plan;
and have their status reviewed every six months. In addition,
pursuant to the federal Fostering Connections Act, a youth must
meet one of five work or education-related eligibility criteria:
1)Is completing secondary education or a program leading to an
equivalent credential;
2)Is enrolled in an institution which provides postsecondary or
vocational education;
3)Is participating in a program or activity designed to promote,
or remove barriers to employment;
4)Is employed for at least 80 hours per month; or
5)Is incapable of doing any of the activities described above
due to a medical condition.
Re-Entry for Former NMDs : Current law provides opportunities
for the court to resume jurisdiction of a former minor dependent
or ward of the court for specified reasons, including that the
parent, guardian or adoptive parent with whom the youth reached
permanency has passed away. In these cases, the county may
petition the court to resume jurisdiction so that the child can
remain in a healthy and safe environment. However, this same
opportunity was inadvertently left out of previous FCSA measures
AB 787
Page 6
for NMDs who had reached permanency prior to 18. This has
resulted in some NMDs being left without a parent or guardian
and without the ability to voluntarily re-enter foster care. AB
787 remedies this by allowing for the voluntary re-entry of NMDs
into foster care, either through the request of the NMD or under
a petition filed by the county.
Appropriate Placements for NMDS Who are Wards of the Court :
Current law allows NMDs to be placed into appropriate
transitional housing services placements to help provide them
the supportive services to prepare for independent living and
adulthood. However, for the placement of NMDs who are wards of
the court, probations officers have the authority to place wards
into appropriate placements, but not the same authority to place
NMDs who are wards into appropriate transitional housing
placements as established by the FCSA. This is a necessary
authority inadvertently not provided to probation officers, who
have legal jurisdiction over the NMD by order of the court. AB
787 solves this by simply adding in appropriate references to
nonminors in existing sections under which probation officers
have placement authority over wards now.
Kinship Guardian Assistance Payment Program Case Management :
Under the FCSA, the state expanded the definition of a relative
to include nonrelative extended family members. This allows
courts to place minors and NMDs with a relative or a nonrelative
extended family member as their permanent guardian and dismiss
dependency, but also provides them support services through the
KinGap Program to maintain and ensure the success of their
permanency placement. However, whereas federally-funded KinGap
services do not require county case management, state-funded
KinGap does. This bill brings state KinGap Program requirements
into alignment with federal KinGap Program requirements by
eliminating the county case management requirement for state
KinGap Program recipients. This also results in a cost savings
to the state by eliminating unnecessary county case management
requirements.
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : One of the bill's co-sponsors, the
California Alliance for Children's Rights, writes in support of
the bill:
The extended foster care benefits provided through the
California FCSA have been available since January 1, 2012.
Over the course of the last year, as youth began exercising
AB 787
Page 7
their option to remain in foster care after the age of 18,
we have identified several areas of the California
Fostering Connections to Success Act that require technical
or conforming changes in order to ensure that the true
promise of this landmark bill is achieved. The
beneficiaries of these amendments contained in AB 787 will
be the youth whom The Alliance for Children's Rights serves
as they "age out" of the foster care system. AB 787 will
ensure that these vulnerable young adults will be able to
take full advantage of the opportunities offered through
the California Fostering Connections to Success Act.
The California Alliance for Child and Family Services adds:
We strongly support the provisions in AB 787 to ensure
smooth transitions for foster youth who choose to remain in
foster care after they turn 18. Of specific interest to
the California Alliance of Child and Family Services, this
bill will allow probation officers to place non-minor
dependents into foster care placements such as foster
families and transitional housing; and will allow non-minor
dependents who were adopted or placed in guardianships and
whose parent or guardian dies before the youth is 21, to
re-enter extended foster care as long as they continue to
meet the eligibility requirements for care.
Prior Legislation : AB 12 (Beall and Bass), Chap. 559, Stats.
2010 established the California Fostering Connections to Success
Act of 2010, which extended transitional foster care services to
eligible youth between 18 and 21 years of age, and required
California to seek federal financial participation in kinship
guardianship assistance payments. AB 212 (Beall), Chap. 459,
Stats. 2010, and AB 1712 (Beall), Chap. 846, Stats. 2012, made
technical and clarifying changes to the Act.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Alliance for Children's Rights (co-sponsor)
California Alliance of Child and Family Services (co-sponsor)
County Welfare Directors Association of California (co-sponsor)
Aspiranet
California Coalition for Youth
California Police Chiefs
AB 787
Page 8
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by : Leora Gershenzon / JUD. / (916) 319-2334