BILL ANALYSIS �
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Carol Liu, Chair
2013-2014 Regular Session
BILL NO: SB 528
AUTHOR: Yee
AMENDED: April 15, 2013
FISCAL COMM: Yes HEARING DATE: May 1, 2013
URGENCY: No CONSULTANT: Lynn Lorber
SUBJECT : Foster youth.
SUMMARY
This bill adds parenting minor and non-minor dependents
(foster youth) to the list of families who are eligible for
subsidized state and federal child care and development
services, and makes other changes related to foster youth.
BACKGROUND
Current law provides that, in order to be eligible for
federal and state subsidized child care and development
services, a family must be a current aid recipient, income
eligible, homeless, or one whose children are recipients of
protective services or identified as being at risk of being
abused, neglected or exploited and a family must need child
care for one of the following reasons:
1) The child is a recipient of child protective services,
is being, or is at risk of being, neglected, abused or
exploited.
2) The parents are engaged in vocational training,
employed or seeking employment, seeking permanent
housing, or are incapacitated. (Education Code �
8263(a))
Current law establishes priorities for enrollment in
federal or state subsidized child development services as
follows:
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1) First priority is for neglected or abused children
who are recipients of child protective services, or
children who are at risk of being neglected or abused.
2) Second priority shall be given equally to eligible
families regardless of the number of parents in the
home, who are income eligible. Within this priority,
families with the lowest gross monthly income in
relation to family size must be admitted first. If
two or more families are in the same priority in
relation to income, the family that has a child with
exceptional needs to be admitted first. (EC �
8263(b))
The California Fostering Connections to Success Act extends
transitional foster care services to eligible youth between
18 and 21 years of age as follows:
1) Effective January 1, 2012, extends foster care to
eligible youth up to their 19th birthday.
2) Effective January 1, 2013, extends foster care to
eligible youth up to their 20th birthday.
3) Effective January 1, 2014, extends foster care to
eligible youth up to their 21st birthday.
An eligible youth is a non-minor dependent who meets at
least one of the following five conditions:
1) Is completing high school or an equivalency
certificate program.
2) Is enrolled in a postsecondary or vocational
educational institution.
3) Is participating in a program designed to promote, or
remove barriers to, employment.
4) Is employed for at least 80 hours per month.
5) Is incapable of doing one of the above due to a
medical condition, and that incapability is supported
by case plan information that is brought up-to-date
regularly. (Welfare and Institutions Code � 11403)
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ANALYSIS
This bill adds parenting minor and non-minor dependents
(foster youth) to the list of families who are eligible for
subsidized state and federal child care and development
services, and makes other changes related to foster youth.
Specifically, this bill:
1) Adds to the list of families who are eligible for
federal and state subsidized child development
programs families in which one or both parents are
foster youth or non-minor dependents under 21 years of
age.
2) Adds to the list of reasons for which an eligible
family needs care foster youth or non-minor
dependents.
3) Requires child welfare agencies, school districts and
county offices of education, and child care resources
and referral agencies to make reasonable and
coordinated efforts to ensure that minor and non-minor
dependent parents who have not completed high school
have access to school programs that provide onsite or
coordinated child care, and that dependent parents are
given priority for subsidized child care.
4) Makes the following changes related to foster youth,
which are outside the jurisdiction of this Committee:
a) Requires a social worker to ensure
that a dependent child age 12 years or older has
received specified reproductive health
information, and has been informed of his or her
right to consent to specified medical and mental
health treatment.
b) Clarify that existing law which
authorizes a social worker or court to make
specified medical care decisions for a dependent
minor shall not be construed to limit the right
of the minor to consent to specified treatment.
c) Requires child welfare agencies to
ensure pregnant and parenting dependents have
access to case workers with specialized training,
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and that case plans are developed through a
process which includes specified adults involved
in the dependent's care.
d) States legislative intent to track
information related to the number of parenting
minor and non-minor dependents and makes that
information publicly available.
STAFF COMMENTS
1) Need for the bill . According to the author, "Research
from the University of Chicago suggests that extending
foster care to age 21 will roughly double the
incidence of parenting youth in foster care. Given
this, it is important that California's foster care
system adapt itself to meet the real needs of
parenting youth and their children. This bill seeks
to help support foster youth who are pregnant and
parenting be successful in their situation and help
end the intergenerational cycle within the foster care
system. It also aims to inform foster youth about
reproductive health in order to avoid problematic
situations before they start."
2) Extended foster care . A foster youth must fulfill one
of five requirements to be eligible to participate in
extended foster care (up to age 21). Extending
benefits to eligible foster until the age of 21 has
had unintended consequences for non-minor dependent
parents. For example, while adult parents are
eligible under programs such as California Work
Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) and
parenting minors may be eligible for subsidized child
care under particular programs, such as Cal-Learn (a
program under CalWORKs), parenting youth who remain in
extended foster care are not eligible for CalWORKS and
there are no specific child care programs or services
directed toward parenting non-minor dependents which
allow them to meet the requirements of extended foster
care. Non-minor dependent parents should currently be
eligible for subsidized child care based on income but
are not guaranteed a child care "slot" as are families
in CalWORKs Stage 1. Thus, parenting non-minor
dependents may feel pressured to exit extended foster care
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and enter CalWORKs in order to keep their child care
eligibility.
The California School Age Families Education Program
(Cal-SAFE) is voluntary for school districts to
implement, and includes education and support (such as
child care) for pregnant and parenting students.
Funding for Cal-SAFE is in categorical flexibility;
many programs have been reduced or eliminated.
3) Priorities for care . Current law establishes
priorities for which children receive child care and
development services, and families are placed on
waiting lists according to where they fall within the
priorities. This bill gives priority to children that
meet specified criteria for a state or federally
funded "slot" over any children on the waiting list;
families with at least one parent who is a non-minor
dependent would move to the priority list. Currently,
if a child care program has an available "slot" it
could be filled by a child on the waiting list, while
pursuant to this bill, that child would remain on the
list because the "slot" is prioritized for a child
that meets certain criteria. There are an estimated
200,000 children on the Centralized Eligibility List.
4) Eligibility vs. priority enrollment . This bill adds
parenting minor and non-minor dependents to the list
of families who are eligible for subsidized state and
federal child care and development services. The
author's desire is to also add these families to those
with priority for enrollment in subsidized child care
and development programs. Staff recommends an
amendment to specifically add families in which one or
both parents are foster youth or non-minor dependents
under 21 years of age.
5) No displacement . The author's intent to ensure that
children currently receiving care are not displaced by
a child given priority by this bill. The receiving
program would have to have an available "slot" or
funding for the incoming child. This bill does not
clearly prohibit the displacement of a child currently
receiving care. Staff recommends an amendment to
specify that priority enrollment shall be granted
pursuant to this bill when slots become available.
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6) Other policy considerations . This bill was heard and
passed by both the Senate Human Services Committee and
the Judiciary Committee. This analysis addresses only
portions of this bill that are within this Committee's
jurisdiction, which is limited to eligibility and
priorities for subsidized child care (Section 1 of the
bill).
7) Technical amendments . The author accepted amendments
in the Senate Judiciary Committee which are to be
adopted in this Committee:
a) Page 10, line 31, replace "diseases" with
"infections"
b) Page 13, line 38, replace "minor" with
"dependent"
c) Page 14, line 13, replace "teens" with
"dependents"
8) Prior legislation . SB 244 (Wright, 2009) would have
granted priority for eligibility of and enrollment for
children of foster youth and adopted children ages
birth to five if enrolling in a licensed child care
program or one offered by a school district or county
office of education. SB 244 also addressed priorities
for enrollment of dependent children in the California
State Preschool Program. SB 244 passed the Assembly
Human Services Committee but was not heard by the
Assembly Education Committee.
AB 769 (Torres, 2009) would have extended priority for
enrollment in a state preschool program to children
who have a biological parent who is, or who has been
within the previous six months, under the jurisdiction
of the delinquency or dependency court. AB 769 was
vetoed by the Governor, whose veto message read:
This bill results in significant Proposition 98
General Fund costs pressures. Absent additional
funding to support this policy shift, enacting
this measure would result in denying access to
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state funded preschool programs to other low
income families who are currently on waiting
lists for subsidized care. Moreover, children of
those under the jurisdiction of the juvenile
court system already may access child care on a
priority basis under current law, to the extent
that they are at risk of abuse or neglect.
SUPPORT
None on current version.
OPPOSITION
None on file.