BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 2552
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB
2552 (Holden)
As Amended May 27, 2016
Majority vote
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|Committee |Votes|Ayes |Noes |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
|----------------+-----+----------------------+--------------------|
|Human Services |7-0 |Bonilla, Grove, | |
| | |Calderon, Lopez, | |
| | |Maienschein, | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | |Mark Stone, Thurmond | |
| | | | |
|----------------+-----+----------------------+--------------------|
|Appropriations |19-0 |Gonzalez, Bigelow, | |
| | |Bloom, Bonilla, | |
| | |Bonta, Calderon, | |
| | |Chang, Daly, Eggman, | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | |Eduardo Garcia, | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | |Roger Hernández, | |
| | |Holden, Jones, | |
| | |Obernolte, Quirk, | |
AB 2552
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| | |Santiago, Wagner, | |
| | |Weber, Wood | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
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SUMMARY: Requires counties that participate in the Approved
Relative Caregiver (ARC) Funding Option Program to pay approved
relative caregivers an annual clothing allowance of $240 for
each child eligible for benefits for a cumulative total of three
years and with a sunset date of January 1, 2020.
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. (Welfare and Institutions Code
Section (WIC) 202)
2)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)
3)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. (WIC Code 309(e))
AB 2552
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4)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: According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, this bill may result in potentially significant costs
of approximately $750,000 (General Fund) beginning in 2016-17
and $1.5 million (General Fund) in 2017-18 and 2018-19 to
provide the clothing allowance. The State General Fund
appropriation for the ARC program is capped at $30 million.
Currently ARC expenditures by counties do not use the entire
amount of General Fund available and the unused portion is
returned to the General Fund. If, including the clothing
allowance, the total ARC payments do not exceed the $30 million
available, a smaller amount would be returned to the General
Fund, but the overall cost would already be accounted for in the
state budget. If, however, the additional amount spent results
in total ARC expenditures exceeding the amount of General Fund
appropriation, the difference would be a General Fund cost since
Proposition 30 requires any new benefits mandated by the State
to be paid for by the State.
COMMENTS:
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. The CWS
system seeks to help children who have been removed from their
homes reunify with their parents or guardians, whenever
appropriate. 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.
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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.
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.
ARC Program: Established in 2014 by SB 855 (Budget and Fiscal
AB 2552
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Review Committee), 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
approximately 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
for three years, distributed monthly, in counties that have
opted into the program."
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PRIOR LEGISLATION:
AB 1882 (Cooley) of 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 program. It died in
the Senate Appropriations Committee.
SB 855 (Budget and Fiscal Review Committee), Chapter 29,
Statutes of 2014, established the ARC Program and established
that participation for counties is optional.
Analysis Prepared by:
Kelsy Castillo / HUM. S. / (916) 319-2089 FN:
0003337