BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 787
Page 1
Date of Hearing: May 8, 2013
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Mike Gatto, Chair
AB 787 (Stone) - As Amended: March 19, 2013
Policy Committee: JudiciaryVote:10
- 0
Human Services 7 - 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)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 Kinship Guardianship Assistance Program
(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.
FISCAL EFFECT
The cost associated with allowing re-entry for nonminor
dependents who have lost a parent or guardian should be
relatively minor and will likely be offset by the administrative
savings associated with removing the case management
requirements for state-only KinGAP youth.
AB 787
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COMMENTS
1)Rationale . The author notes that the California Fostering
Connections to Success Act (FCSA) of 2010 was landmark child
welfare legislation. However, due to its substantial size,
amounting to 207 pages at the time of adoption, and
complexity, follow-up legislation has been needed since its
adoption to help ensure its successful implementation.
Since its passage, the state has adopted two successive
measures to this effect; AB 212 (Beall), 2011, and AB 1712
(Beall), 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.
2) The Fostering Connections Act. In October 2008, President
Bush signed H.R. 6893 (P. L. 110 - 351), the Fostering
Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008.
That act seeks to improve the lives of children in foster
care, provide greater assistance to relative caregivers and
improve incentives for adoption. Key provisions of the
legislation allow for kinship guardianship assistance, similar
to California's Kin-Gap program, and extension of assistance
to foster children up to age 21.
3)California Fostering Connections to Success Act of 2010 . AB
12 (Beall & Bass) opted 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:
a) 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.
b) 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 was to assist foster youth, or nonminor
AB 787
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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
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.
Analysis Prepared by : Julie Salley-Gray / APPR. / (916)
319-2081