BILL NUMBER: AB 919	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Dababneh

                        FEBRUARY 26, 2015

   An act relating to foster youth.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 919, as introduced, Dababneh. Foster youth: permanency.
   Existing law provides for the out-of-home placement, including
foster care placement, of children who are unable to remain in the
custody and care of their parents. Existing law requires the juvenile
court to hold a permanency hearing no later than 12 months after a
child has entered foster care to determine the permanent plan for the
child. Existing law authorizes the juvenile court to order one of
several permanent plans, including an order that the child be placed
in long-term foster care, subject to periodic review.
   This bill would state the intent of the Legislature to enact
legislation that improves permanency outcomes and stability for older
children in foster care by, among other things, providing resources
and incentives to counties to improve permanency outcomes for older
children and youth in foster care.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  (a) The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
   (1) As of September 30, 2014, there were 62,545 California
children living in the foster care system, with 16,561 children, or
approximately 26 percent, in foster care for over three years, and
9,780 children, or approximately 16 percent, in care for over five
years. Adult outcomes are often poor for the children who remain in
foster care long term. Within two years of exiting the foster care
system, approximately 50 percent will be homeless, in prison,
victimized, or dead.
   (2) Families committing to adoption or guardianship of children in
foster care may face challenges unique to the adoption or
guardianship experience that result from the trauma of the child's
adverse childhood experiences. These challenges can create stress
that puts the adoption or guardianship at risk of disruption and
potentially result in the child's reentry into the foster care
system.
   (3) Provisions of the federal Preventing Sex Trafficking and
Strengthening Families Act (Public Law 133-183) address the need to
enhance efforts to improve permanency outcomes for older children in
care by eliminating the use of other planned permanent living
arrangements as a permanent plan for children under 16 years of age.
   (4) The new federal law also requires documentation of intensive
and ongoing efforts to achieve permanence for youth with a case plan
for another planned permanent living arrangement, and adds additional
case plan and case plan review system requirements for children 16
years of age and older.
   (b) It is the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation that
improves permanency outcomes and stability for older children in
foster care and brings California into compliance with provisions of
the Federal Preventing Sex Trafficking and Strengthening Families Act
by doing all of the following:
   (1) Providing resources and incentives to counties to improve
permanency outcomes for older children and youth in foster care by
updating current California law to require that any federal adoption
incentives received be used for that purpose.
   (2) Improving the stability of adoptive and guardianship families
by requiring the State Department of Social Services, county adoption
agencies, county child welfare agencies, and licensed adoption
agencies to provide potential adoptive families and guardians
information, in writing, regarding the importance of working with
mental health providers that have specialized adoption or permanency
clinical training and experience if the family needs clinical support
and the desirable clinical expertise the family should look for when
choosing an adoption- or permanency-competent mental health
professional.
   (3) Improving permanency outcomes for children in foster care by
doing all of the following:
   (A) Requiring child-centered specialized permanency services prior
to deeming a child "unlikely to be adopted," "not a proper subject
for adoption," or "having no one willing to take legal guardianship,"
and prior to, and after, making a permanency plan for another
planned permanent living arrangement or ordering a child into
long-term foster care.
   (B) Eliminating the use of another planned permanent living
arrangement as a permanency plan for children under 16 years of age.
   (C) Adding "placement with a fit and willing relative" as a
permanency planning option.