BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 2454
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 8, 2014
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HUMAN SERVICES
Mark Stone, Chair
AB 2454 (Quirk-Silva) - As amended: April 2, 2014
SUBJECT : Foster youth: nonminor dependents.
SUMMARY : Permits a former nonminor dependent (NMD) who was
receiving Kinship Guardianship Assistance Payment (Kin-GAP)
Program or Adoption Assistance Payment (AAP) Program assistance
after they turned 18 years of age and whose guardian(s) or
adoptive parent(s) are failing to provide ongoing support for
the NMD, as conditioned upon the receipt of Kin-GAP or AAP
services, to voluntarily re-enter extended foster care upon the
approval of the juvenile court.
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 21 as a voluntary program for
youth who meet specified work and education participation
criteria; and,
b) Requires changes to the Kin-GAP program in order to
allow for federal financial participation in the program.
(Chapter 559, Statutes of 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 Indian Tribe and is
participating in a transitional independent living plan. (W&I
Code 11400(v))
3)Provides for the voluntary continuation or reentry into foster
care for nonminor dependents who meet general Aid to Families
with Dependent Children-Foster Care (AFDC-FC) requirements and
when the nonminor youth has signed a voluntary mutual
agreement, as specified. (W&I Code 11403)
4)Permits re-entry into extended foster care for a NMD whose
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guardian or adoptive parent died if the NMD is between the
ages of 18 and 21. (W&I Code 11403(c))
5)Makes Legislative findings and declarations that the
continuation of the state-funded Kin-GAP Program is necessary
to ensure that wards and dependent children of the juvenile
court whose placement in the home of an approved relative that
is funded under the California Work Opportunity and
Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program are equally eligible
for the benefits derived from legal permanency with the
related guardian and that the state can maximize improvements
to federal permanency outcome measures by exiting nonfederally
eligible youth to the state's subsidized kinship guardianship
program. (W&I Code 11360)
6)Establishes the AAP to recruit, retain and maintain healthy
and successful adoptions of youth in the child welfare system
by providing supportive benefits on behalf of the adopted
child to the adoptive parents. (W&I Code 16115)
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown.
COMMENTS :
Kinship Guardianship Assistance Payment (Kin-GAP) Program : The
Kin-GAP program was established by SB 1901 (McPherson), Chapter
1055, Statutes of 1998, to provide children exiting dependency
into permanency with a relative or legal guardian. It was
expanded by AB 1808 (Assembly Budget Committee) Chapter 75,
Statutes of 2006 to include probation youth who were exiting
delinquency. The intent of the Kin-GAP program is to help
improve permanency opportunities for foster youth by providing
integral support benefits to help enable the foster youth's
relatives to open their home to the youth.
The Kin-GAP Program offers a subsidy on behalf of children that
is 100% of the basic foster care rate, based upon age. Movement
to Kin-GAP is not automatic. The court, with a recommendation
from the county social worker or probation officer, has
discretion regarding whether termination of court involvement is
in the child's best interest. Relative caregiver's
participation in Kin-GAP is strictly voluntary, and not mandated
by any regulations or statutes. Each family's situation is
unique, therefore the decision regarding a child's permanent
plan must be mutual between the county, the relative, and child
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where age appropriate, in order to ensure that the chosen
alternative will be successful.
Adoption Assistance Program : California's AAP was created to
reduce the number of children in foster care and help to provide
stable, secure adoptive homes for eligible children. The amount
of AAP support is based on the child's needs and family's
circumstances, with eligibility periodically reassessed.
Payments continue until the child reaches age 18, unless a
mental or physical disability creates eligibility until the age
of 21. For children who are federally eligible, the costs of
AAP benefits are shared among the federal government, state, and
relevant county. For children who are not federally eligible,
the costs are shared by the state and county only.
Recognizing that adoptive parents often experience financial
difficulty meeting the special needs of children who formerly
were placed in California's foster care system, the State
Legislature created the AAP to mitigate that financial
difficulty in order to provide children in foster care the
security and stability of a permanent home through adoption.
Children may receive a federally funded subsidy under Title IV-E
or a state funded subsidy per state guidelines.
To apply for the AAP, adoptive families must submit a completed
Request for Adoption Assistance (AAP 1) form, which is provided
by their licensed adoption agency. The responsible public
agency will determine the child's special needs eligibility for
participation in the program. If the child is deemed eligible,
the responsible public agency will negotiate a signed adoption
assistance agreement, or a deferred adoption assistance
agreement will be executed with the adoptive parents, prior to
finalization of the adoption. A reassessment of the child's
needs and family's circumstances is conducted every two years.
The amount of financial assistance is based upon the special
needs of the child and circumstances of the family.
California Fostering Connections to Success Act of 2010 : AB 12
(Beall & Bass) Chapter 559, Statutes of 2010, 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:
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1)Re-enacted 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 guardianship 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 NMDs in their
transition to adulthood, by providing them with the opportunity
to create a case plan alongside their case workers 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.
In essence, AB 12 language 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 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 his or her caseworker to prepare and
participate in the transitional independent living case plan;
and have his or her status reviewed every six months. In
addition, pursuant to the federal Fostering Connections Act, a
youth must meet one of the following five work- or
education-related eligibility criteria:
1)Is completing secondary education or a program leading to an
equivalent credential;
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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.
Foster care benefits eligibility gap for Kin-GAP and AAP : The
state's Fostering Connections to Success Act brought Kin-GAP and
AAP benefit eligibility into alignment with federal eligibility
expansions. However, over the past three years, several policy
changes intended to expand eligibility for Kin-GAP and AAP
benefits have created varying levels of eligibility as follows:
Relative Guardian
Foster youth who entered into a Kin-GAP or AAP permanency
arrangement with a relative guardian prior to age 16 have
their benefits terminated at age 18.
A developmentally disabled foster youth or foster youth with
mental health needs who entered into a Kin-GAP or AAP
permanency arrangement with a relative at any age can continue
to receive those benefits until age 21.
However, if the foster youth entered into a Kin-GAP or AAP
arrangement after 16, their benefits can continue until age 21
if the youth meets the five work- or education-related
eligibility criteria indicated above.
Need for this bill : 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 three successive measures to this effect; AB 212 (Beall)
in 2011, AB 1712 (Beall) in 2012, and AB 787 (Stone) in 2013.
Like its predecessors, this bill continues the Legislature's
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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.
Re-entry for former NMDs: Current law provides opportunities
for the court to resume jurisdiction of a former nonminor
dependent or ward of the court for specified reasons. In these
cases, a youth who was receiving foster care services when they
turned 18 may opt to re-enter foster care so that he or she may
remain in a healthy and safe environment and draw down services
to help him or her transition into adulthood. However, this
same opportunity was inadvertently left out of previous FCSA
measures for NMDs who had reached permanency through permanent
guardianship or adoption, but whose adoptive parents or
guardians have failed to provide ongoing support while the youth
was between the age of 18 and 21. Although rare, this has
resulted in some NMDs being left without the parent or guardian
who had committed to providing for their health, safety and
wellbeing, but also without the ability to voluntarily re-enter
foster care.
This bill remedies this by amending Section 388 of the Welfare
and Institutions Code to allow for the voluntary re-entry of
NMDs into foster care through the request of the NMD and
agreement by the court that it is in the NMDs' best interest to
re-enter foster care.
DOUBLE REFERRAL . This bill has been double-referred. Should
this bill pass out of this committee, it will be referred to the
Assembly Judiciary Committee.
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REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
None on file.
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by : Chris Reefe / HUM. S. / (916) 319-2089