BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 885
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Date of Hearing: April 21, 2015
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY
Mark Stone, Chair
AB 885
(Lopez) - As Introduced February 26, 2015
PROPOSED CONSENT
SUBJECT: NONMINOR DEPENDENTS: FAILED PERMANENCY
KEY ISSUE: SHOULD A FORMER FOSTER YOUTH WHO IS UNDER 21, BUT
WHOSE PERMANENCY PLAN HAS FAILED, BE PERMITTED TO VOLUNTARILY
RE-ENTER EXTENDED FOSTER CARE WITH THE APPROVAL OF THE JUVENILE
COURT?
SYNOPSIS
This bill, sponsored by the Alliance for Children's Rights,
seeks to help ensure more successful implementation of the
California Fostering Connection to Success Act (FCSA) of 2010.
The FCSA provides transitional foster care support to qualifying
foster youths ages 18-21 by, among other things, allowing more
former foster youth to voluntarily re-enter the foster care
system as nonminor dependents. Last year in AB 2454
(Quirk-Silva), Chap. 769, the Legislature expanded that group to
include former foster youth, who had been receiving Kinship
Guardianship Assistance Payment (Kin-GAP) Program or Adoption
Assistance Payment (AAP) Program assistance after they turned 18
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and whose guardians or adoptive parents had failed to support
them, to voluntarily re-enter extended foster care upon the
approval of the juvenile court. This bill expands that slightly
by allowing these youth to re-enter foster care even if their
guardians or adoptive parents are still receiving aid on their
behalf. This bill continues the Legislature's efforts to ensure
that the FCSA is properly implemented and that more foster
youth, ages 18-21, have the necessary support services as they
prepare and transition into adulthood. This bill passed the
Assembly Human Services Committee unanimously. It is supported
by various children's groups, the County Welfare Directors
Association and the Family Law Section of the State Bar. It has
no opposition.
SUMMARY: Facilitates former foster youth re-entering extended
foster care upon disruption of their permanent relationships.
Specifically, this bill:
1)Removes the requirement that aid no longer be received in
order for a nonminor former dependent (NMD), who received
extended Kinship Guardianship Assistance Payment (Kin-GAP) or
Adoption Assistance Payment (AAP) assistance, but whose
guardian or adoptive parent no longer provides ongoing
support, to petition the court to resume dependency under the
extended foster care program.
2)Removes the requirement that a nonminor former dependent child
or ward of the juvenile court be receiving Aid to Families
with Dependent Children-Foster Care (AFDC-FC) benefits, as
specified, as one criterion for continued eligibility to
receive aid. Instead requires that the dependent or ward be
otherwise eligible to receive AFDC-FC benefits, as specified.
3)Makes technical amendments to remove outdated statutory
language.
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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.
(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 and
under the responsibility of the county welfare department,
county probation department, or Indian tribe and is
participating in a transitional independent living plan.
(Welfare & Institutions Code Section 11400(v). Unless stated
otherwise, all further statutory references are to the Welfare
& Institutions Code.)
3)Provides for the voluntary continuation or reentry into foster
care for NMDs who meet general Aid to Families with Dependent
Children-Foster Care (AFDC-FC) requirements, as specified.
(Section 11403.)
4)Permits re-entry into extended foster care for a NMD whose
guardian or adoptive parent died if the NMD is between the age
of 18 and 21. (Section 11403(c).)
5)Allows a nonminor former dependent who previously received
extended Kin-GAP or AAP benefits but whose guardian or
adoptive parent died or no longer provides ongoing support, to
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petition the court to resume dependency under the extended
foster care program, as specified. (Section 388.1.)
6)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. (Section 11360.)
FISCAL EFFECT: As currently in print this bill is keyed fiscal.
COMMENTS: This bill seeks to expand on legislation from last
year to help former foster youth, between 18 and 21 years of
age, whose permanency plans have failed, re-enter the foster
care system. That bill, AB 2454 (Quirk-Silva), Chap. 769,
Stats. 2014, addressed the needs of youth who were adopted out
of foster care or who had a guardianship established but, for
whatever reasons, had those relationships fail after the youth
turned 18 but before turning 21. A youth who emancipates out of
the foster care system is eligible for extended foster care up
to the age of 21. However, if that former foster youth had been
adopted or was under a guardianship when he or she turned 18 and
that relationship then failed, the youth was, before last year's
legislation, not eligible for extended foster care. AB 2454
allowed these youths to seek re-entry into the foster care
system, but only if their adoptive parents or guardians no
longer received aid on their behalf. This bill expands that
slightly by allowing these youth to re-enter foster care even if
their guardians or adoptive parents are still receiving aid on
their behalf. This bill continues the Legislature's efforts to
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ensure that the FCSA is properly implemented and that more
foster youth, ages 18-21 have the necessary support services as
they prepare and transition into adulthood.
In support of the bill, the author states: "This legislation is
needed in order to ensure that all former foster youth are
afforded the right to re-enter care if their permanent
relationship disrupts without having to overcome administrative
barriers to re-entry."
California Fostering Connections to Success Act of 2010. The
California Fostering Connections to Success Act of 2010 was
landmark child welfare legislation to opt the state into two
provisions of the federal Fostering Connections to Success and
Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008 (Fostering Connections Act).
Specifically, the FCSA:
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
California's kinship guardianship assistance program for the
first time; and,
2.Provides transitional foster care support to qualifying foster
youth ages 18-21, phased-in over three years, beginning in
2012.
The goal of the FCSA is to assist NMDs in their transition into
adulthood, by providing them with the opportunity to create a
case plan alongside their caseworkers tailored to their
individual needs, which charts the course towards independent
living 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,
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reliance on public assistance, teen pregnancy, and low rates of
high school and postsecondary graduation.
In essence, FCSA 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. It provides
nonminors with the option to petition to re-enter 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 sate law.
To be eligible to continue foster care benefits up to age 21, a
NMD 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 five work-
or education-related eligibility criteria.
Affected Programs. The Kin-GAP program is intended to help
improve permanency opportunities for foster youth with relatives
or legal guardians by providing financial support to help enable
the foster youth's relatives to open their home to the youth.
This support is not automatically given. 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. Each family's
situation is unique, therefore the decision regarding a child's
permanent plan must be mutual between the county, the relative,
and the child where age appropriate, in order to ensure that the
chosen alternative will be successful.
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California's AAP was created to reduce the number of children in
foster care and help provide stable, secure adoptive homes for
eligible children. The amount of AAP support is based on the
child's needs and family's circumstances, and continues until
the child reaches age 18, unless a mental or physical disability
creates eligibility until the age of 21. The AAP mitigates the
financial difficulty many adoptive parents experience when
meeting the special needs of children who were formerly placed
in California's foster care system.
This Bill Extends Transitional Foster Care Support to More
Former Foster Youth. 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. In addition, the law
specifically allows a former foster youth, whose adoptive parent
or guardian dies before the youth turns 21, to re-enter as a NMD
if he or she meets the specified criteria.
Last year, this same opportunity was added for NMDs who have
reached permanency through permanent guardianship or adoption,
but whose adoptive parent or guardian then fail to provide
ongoing support while the youth is between the age of 18 and 21.
However, that new law extending foster care re-entry rights to
nonminors currently requires adoptive parents and guardians who
are receiving AAP or Kin-GAP benefits on behalf of a youth to
terminate those benefits prior to the youth becoming eligible to
petition for re-entry. This can create a significant barrier to
re-entering foster care, because the youth often has no control
over when or whether this funding is terminated. Also, current
law bases re-entry on the type of aid that the youth is
receiving, and thus inadvertently excludes youth that may have
exited to permanency but might not be receiving any benefit or
receiving an alternative benefit, like SSI. This bill
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eliminates those administrative hurdles and allows more
struggling former foster youth to re-enter transitional foster
care.
According to the Alliance for Children's Rights: "Alliance
attorneys have encountered numerous cases where guardianship or
adoptions disrupt after age 18 and the young person is left
homeless and without recourse. Now that AB 2454 passed,
Alliance attorneys are helping youth to re-enter. However, the
provisions in AB 2454 that require benefits to have already
terminated are presenting barriers to re-entry. Even the
attorneys have difficulty ascertaining whether funding has
terminated or who to contact in order to initiate the process to
terminate the funding. All the while, the youth goes days or
weeks without being able to access the right to re-entry."
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
Alliance for Children's Rights (sponsor)
California Alliance of Child and Family Services
Children Now
County Welfare Directors Association of California
Family Law Section of the State Bar
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Legal Services for Prisoners with Children
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by:Leora Gershenzon / JUD. / (916) 319-2334