BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 2552
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Date of Hearing: April 12, 2016
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HUMAN SERVICES
Susan Bonilla, Chair
AB 2552
(Holden) - As Introduced February 19, 2016
SUBJECT: CalWORKs: relative caregivers.
SUMMARY: Requires counties that participate in the Approved
Relative Caregiver (ARC) Funding Option Program to pay approved
relative caregivers an annual clothing allowance, for a
cumulative total of three years, of $240 for each child eligible
for benefits.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Establishes a state and local system of child welfare
services, including foster care, for children who have been
adjudged by the court to be at risk or have been abused or
neglected, as specified. (WIC 202)
2)States that the purpose of foster care law is to provide
maximum safety and protection for children who are currently
being physically, sexually, emotionally abused, neglected, or
exploited, and to ensure the safety, protection, and physical
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and emotional well-being of children who are at risk of harm.
(WIC 300.2)
3)States the intent of the Legislature to preserve and
strengthen a child's family ties whenever possible and to
reunify a foster youth with his or her biological family
whenever possible, or to provide a permanent placement
alternative, such as adoption or guardianship. (WIC 16000)
4)Requires a social worker, within 30 days of taking a child
into temporary custody or whenever appropriate to identify and
locate all adults who are related to the child by blood,
adoption, or affinity within the fifth degree of kinship and
provide for the purposes of informing them of their right to
participate in the care and placement of the child, as
specified. (W&I Code 309(e))
5)Requires preferential consideration be given to a request by a
relative to have the child placed with the relative if the
child has been removed from the physical custody of the
child's parent(s). (W&I Code 361.3(a))
6)Establishes the ARC program as an optional program for
counties to provide funding to non-federally eligible foster
children equal to the rates paid to federally eligible foster
children. (WIC 11461.3)
FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown.
COMMENTS:
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Child Welfare Services: The purpose of California's Child
Welfare Services (CWS) system is to protect children from abuse
and neglect and provide for their health and safety. When
children are identified as being at risk of abuse, neglect or
abandonment, county juvenile courts hold legal jurisdiction and
children are served by the CWS system through the appointment of
a social worker. Through this system, there are multiple
opportunities for the custody of the child, or his or her
placement outside of the home, to be evaluated, reviewed and
determined by the judicial system, in consultation with the
child's social worker, to help provide the best possible
services to the child. The CWS system seeks to help children
who have been removed from their homes reunify with their
parents or guardians, whenever appropriate, or unite them with
other individuals they consider to be family. There are
currently over 62,000 children and youth in California's child
welfare system; over 7,600 of these youth are between the ages
of 18 and 20.
CalWORKs: The California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to
Kids (CalWORKs) program provides monthly income assistance and
employment-related services aimed at moving children out of
poverty and helping families meet basic needs. Federal funding
for CalWORKs comes from the Temporary Assistance for Needy
Families (TANF) block grant. The average 2015-16 monthly cash
grant for a family of three on CalWORKs (one parent and two
children) is $506.55, and the maximum monthly grant amount for a
family of three, if the family has no other income and lives in
a high-cost county, is $704. According to recent data from the
California Department of Social Services, over 497,000 families
rely on CalWORKs, including over one million children. Nearly
60% of cases include children under 6 years old.
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Maximum grant amounts in high-cost counties of $704 per month
for a family of three with no other income means $23.46 per day,
per family, or $7.82 per family member, per day to meet basic
needs, including rent, clothing, utility bills, food, and
anything else a family needs to ensure children can be cared for
at home and safely remain with their families. This grant
amount puts the annual household income at $8,448 per year, or
42% of poverty. Federal Poverty Guidelines for 2016 show that
100% of poverty for a family of three is $20,160 per year.
Aid for Dependent Children-Foster Care (AFDC-FC) and federally
eligible vs. non-federally eligible foster youth: AFDC-FC
provides foster care benefits to youth and can be either
federally-funded or state-only funded. In order to be federally
eligible for foster care, the home from which the child was
removed must meet Aid for Dependent Children (AFDC) eligibility
criteria from 1996 AFDC in the month the petition is filed or in
any of the 6 months prior to the month the petition is filed.
In 1996, the income limit for a family of 3 to qualify for AFDC
was $723. Because some foster youth are ineligible to receive
federally funded foster care benefits, the State of California
created State AFDC-FC, which is a blend of State and County
funds and provides funding to foster children placed with
non-relative foster parents at the same rate as foster youth who
are federally eligible. However, prior to 2014, all foster
youth who were placed with relative caregivers and who were
determined to be federally ineligible for AFDC-FC received
CalWORKs benefits and were funded at much lower rates than their
non-federally eligible counterparts who were placed with
non-relative foster parents. In response to this discrepancy,
the State created the Approved Relative Caregiver Program.
Approved Relative Caregiver (ARC) Program: Established in 2014
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by SB 855 (Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review), Chapter 29,
Statutes of 2014, the ARC program increased payments to children
placed with relative caregivers who do not qualify for state or
federal foster care benefits. Previously, these children were
only eligible for CalWORKs benefit rate levels, which are much
lower than foster care benefits. The ARC program is
county-optional and provides State General Fund dollars for
participating counties to increase the monthly payments to
approved relative caregivers in an amount equal to the basic
federal foster care rate. A county may opt out of the program
at any time, but must meet notification and other requirements.
Eligibility criteria require that relative caregivers must be
approved and live in California and meet health and safety
standards that mirror those for licensed foster parents; and
children must be under the jurisdiction of the juvenile court in
a county that has opted into the ARC program and not federally
eligible under Title IV-E of the Social Security Act. Those
participating in an ARC program do not receive special care
increments, such as clothing allowances and infant care
supplements. Currently 48 of California's 58 counties have
opted into the ARC program and serve a total of roughly 6,252
adult relative caregivers. Los Angeles County serves nearly 54%
of the program's caregivers with approximately 3,431 adult
relative caregivers served, according to information from DSS.
Need for this bill: According to the author's office, "Relative
caregivers are the backbone of our child welfare system.
Relative foster placements are more cost effective, tend to lead
to more long term placement stability, and offer better
connections to the child's community, but these children still
don't receive funding equal to what they would receive with a
non-relative. [This bill] lessens the discrepancy by providing
additional funds to the families in the Approved Relative
Caregiver Program, in the form of a clothing allowance. The
clothing allowance would consist of an additional $240 a year
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for three years, distributed monthly, in counties that have
opted into the program."
PRIOR LEGISLATION:
AB 1882 (Cooley), 2014, would have required a county child
welfare agency to determine whether relative foster caregivers
are eligible for assistance under the CalWORKs program or
through the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program. It died
in the Senate Appropriations Committee.
SB 855 (Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review), Chapter 29,
Statutes of 2014, established the Approved Relative Caregiver
(ARC) Program and established that participation for counties is
optional.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
The Alliance for Children's Rights
National Association of Social Workers, CA Chapter (NASW-CA)
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Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by:Kelsy C. Castillo / HUM. S. / (916)
319-2089