BILL ANALYSIS Ó ACR 204 Page 1 Date of Hearing: August 30, 2016 ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON RULES Richard S. Gordon, Chair ACR 204 (Quirk) - As Introduced August 25, 2016 SUBJECT: Court Adoption and Permanency Month SUMMARY: Designates November 2016 as Court Adoption and Permanency Month and encourages the courts and their local communities to join in activities to expedite permanency for children. Specifically, this resolution makes the following legislative findings: 1)Consistent with its commitment to support practices and procedures that promote access to justice and improved case outcomes for California's children and families, the Judicial Council has recognized November as Court Adoption and Permanency Month every year since 1999. 2)Each year in California nearly half a million incidents of child abuse and neglect are reported and about 25,200 children enter child welfare-supervised foster care for the first time. Nearly 61,900 California children live apart from their families in child welfare-supervised out-of-home care. 3)Thirty-eight percent of the children in foster care in California have lived apart from their families for two or more years. Twenty-four percent of the youth in care are transitional-age youth between 16 and 20 years of age. ACR 204 Page 2 4)Of the more than 29,600 California children who left foster care in the 12 months preceding May 2016, 52 percent were reunited with their families, 21 percent were adopted, and 7 percent exited foster care without reunifying or obtaining a permanent home by the time they reached the age of majority. 5)The Judicial Council remains committed to working with the Governor, the Legislature, and local courts and communities to ensure that every abused or neglected child finds a safe, stable, and permanent home with a loving family as quickly as possible. FISCAL EFFECT: None REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION: Support None on file Opposition None on file Analysis Prepared by:Nicole Willis / RLS. / (916) 319-2800 ACR 204 Page 3