BILL ANALYSIS Ó AB 1879 Page 1 Date of Hearing: May 11, 2016 ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS Lorena Gonzalez, Chair AB 1879 (McCarty) - As Amended April 13, 2016 ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Policy |Human Services |Vote:|6 - 0 | |Committee: | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |-------------+-------------------------------+-----+-------------| | |Judiciary | |10 - 0 | | | | | | | | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: YesReimbursable: No SUMMARY: This bill requires that child-centered specialized permanency services be provided to specified foster youth in order to facilitate the placement of these youth with permanent families. Specifically, this bill: 1)Requires a court, when it has determined that it is not in the best interests of a child to hold a hearing to terminate parental rights, to order the provision of child-centered specialized permanency services. AB 1879 Page 2 2)Permits a court to order the provision of child-centered specialized permanency services for a nonminor dependent for whom the court has ordered placement in long-term foster care. 3)Includes child-centered specialized permanency services among the efforts a child welfare agency or probation department must show the court it has made in an attempt to achieve permanency for the child or nonminor dependent when the court is reviewing the status of a dependent child or nonminor dependent or ward of the juvenile court, as specified. 4)Stipulates that permanent placement services, designed to provide an alternate permanent family structure for children who because of abuse, neglect or exploitation cannot safely remain at home and who are unlikely to ever return home, must, as needed to achieve a permanent family, include child-centered specialized permanency services. 5)Requires information regarding, and documentation of the provision of, child-centered specialized permanency services to be included in a youth's case-planning processes, as specified. FISCAL EFFECT: 1)Unknown significant annual costs, likely in the $20 million range (GF*), to arrange and provide additional services. The exact cost is not known because some services are required while others must be ordered by the court as needed. This bill applies to approximately 38,000 youth. Estimates indicate it will take approximately seven hours of social worker time annually per case to arrange services and to provide the AB 1879 Page 3 administrative related services. 2)Unknown significant annual costs, likely in the tens of millions of dollars (Fed/GF), to provide the counseling, therapeutic, mental health and other medical type services. These costs could be partially offset to the extent that these services are provided under current law for youth who are assessed as needing them. 3)Unknown, but likely significant annual costs in the hundreds of thousands of dollars (GF*) for county probation departments to provide additional services to youth under their jurisdiction. Estimates indicate it will take approximately eight hours of probation staff time per case for youth in "another planned permanent living arrangement" or APPLA. *Pursuant to Proposition 30 (November 2012) any legislation enacted after September 30, 2012, that has an overall effect of increasing the costs already borne by a local agency for programs or levels of service mandated by realignment (including child welfare services and foster care) only apply to local agencies to the extent that the state provides annual funding for the cost increase. COMMENTS: 1)Purpose. According to the author, within two years of leaving the foster care system, 50% of foster youth who age out of the system are homeless, victimized, incarcerated or dead. Even with extended foster care until 21, the odds are stacked against children who remain in the foster care system for years and then age out without a strong connection to a loving, supportive family. AB 1879 Page 4 This bill seeks to improve the outcomes for foster youth by requiring that child-centered specialized permanency services be provided for children at risk of long-term foster care and requiring that potential adoptive families and guardians be provided with information to support their hopefully long-term relationship with the foster child. 2)Background. Of the 66,000 children living in foster care in California, nearly 40% have been in care for over two years, 25% have been in care for over three years and almost 15% have been in care for over five years. The outcomes for children in long-term foster care or APPLA who end up emancipating from foster care without the support of a loving family are notoriously poor. Currently youth are provided with services to assist with permanency, including being assessed for mental health services - which may or may not be provided based upon the assessment. These services include: case planning and case management services, crisis intervention, general counseling, therapeutic day treatment services, psychiatric/psychological evaluation, aftercare, therapeutic milieu, counseling, mental health assessment, California Children's Services, family preservation services, concurrent planning, arranging ADA services, family engagement, outreach with the family, family case conferencing, community outreach assistance, and requesting a psychological education assessment. These services are chosen and outlined in the case plan based on the assessed needs of the child/youth. AB 1879 Page 5 This bill requires certain services and allows the court to order any service they deem to be a child-centered specialized permanency service - regardless of the social worker determinations or assessed need of the child. 3)Continuing Efforts. Recent state and federal legislation has sought to improve the lives of children who might otherwise spent their youth in foster care, often in groups homes, and emancipate without any connection to a supportive adult: a) The 2014 federal Preventing Sex Trafficking, and Strengthening Families Act made numerous changes to the foster care program and enacted new requirements regarding sex trafficking prevention and reporting, data collection, reasonable and prudent parent standards, adoption incentives payments, successor guardianship, and successful adulthood in order to help protect youth and provide them with permanent families. b) Conforming state legislation (SB 794 (Senate Committee on Human Services), Chap. 425, Stats. 2015), eliminated the option of long-term foster care placement or APPLA for dependent children under the age of 16, and required permanency review hearing documents for children who are 16 years of age or older and in an APPLA to include a description of the intensive and ongoing efforts of the child welfare agency to return the child to the home of the parent, place the child for adoption, or establish a legal guardianship, as appropriate. AB 1879 Page 6 c) AB 403 (Stone), Chap. 773, Stats. 2015, established a comprehensive reform effort by transitioning children away from congregate care into home-based family care with resource families. AB 403 also established targeted training and support that can better prepare families to help care for foster youth. This bill seeks to build on the federal and state legislative advances and help foster youth who might otherwise emancipate from foster care without family and without support by making every effort to find permanent families for these youth and, once that family is found, to help make that relationship more stable and more successful. Analysis Prepared by:Jennifer Swenson / APPR. / (916) 319-2081