BILL ANALYSIS Ó SB 12 Page 1 Date of Hearing: July 14, 2015 ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY Mark Stone, Chair SB 12 (Beall) - As Amended June 2, 2015 SENATE VOTE: 35-0 SUBJECT: NONMINOR DEPENDENTS: WARDS KEY ISSUE: SHOULD FOSTER YOUTH WHO TRANSFER OVER TO THE JUVENILE DELINQUENCY SYSTEM AND TURN 18 WHILE there, WHO LIKELY HAVE NO SUPPORT SYSTEM TO HELP THEM TRANSITION TO ADULTHOOD, BE ELIGIBLE, with court approval, TO PARTICIPATE IN extended foster care until they reach 21 years of age? SYNOPSIS This bill, jointly sponsored by the Alliance for Children's Rights and the Youth Law Center, seeks to help ensure more successful implementation of the California Fostering Connection to Success Act (FCSA) of 2010 for more former foster youth transitioning to adulthood. The FCSA provides transitional foster care support to qualifying foster youths ages 18-21 by, among other things, allowing former foster youth to voluntarily remain in or re-enter the foster care system as nonminor dependents. Last year in AB 2454 (Quirk-Silva), Chap. 769, Stats. 2014, the Legislature expanded that group to allow former SB 12 Page 2 foster youth, who had been adopted or subject to a guardianship, but whose guardians or adoptive parents had failed to support them after they turned 18, to voluntarily re-enter extended foster care upon the approval of the juvenile court. This bill expands that by allowing youth between 18 and 21, who were subject to a foster care placement, but who crossed over to delinquency and who were adjudged to be a ward of the court while in foster care and were then in secure confinement when they turned 18, to seek extended foster care, subject to various conditions and with court approval. This bill continues the Legislature's efforts to ensure that more foster youth, ages 18-21, have the necessary support as they prepare and transition into adulthood. This bill is supported by children's groups, including Children Now and the National Center for Youth Law, who argue that these youth, who often have no support and nowhere to turn, are at greatest need for extended foster care services and for whom these critical benefits truly may be what prevents homelessness and hopelessness. It passed the Assembly Human Services Committee unanimously. It is opposed by the Chief Probation Officers of California who are concerned that the program is not adequately funded today, so expansion is not appropriate and, regardless, probation should not be providing any of the extended foster care services. SUMMARY: Expands eligibility for extended foster care to nonminors who have crossed over from the dependency system to the delinquency system. Specifically, this bill permits a youth between the ages of 18 and 21 to petition the court to resume dependency jurisdiction or assume transition jurisdiction over him or her, provided the youth: 1)Had been adjudged a ward of the court; 2)Was subject to an order for foster care placement at the time SB 12 Page 3 the petition to adjudge him or her a ward of the court was filed; and 3)Was held in secure confinement at 18 years of age. EXISTING LAW: 1)Provides that a juvenile court has jurisdiction over a child as a dependent when that child is subject to abuse or neglect. (Welfare and Institutions Code Section 300. Unless stated otherwise, all further statutory references are to that code.) 2)Provides that a juvenile court has jurisdiction over a child when that child has committed acts that trigger delinquency jurisdiction rendering the child a ward. (Sections 601 and 602.) 3)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 Kinship Guardianship Assistance Payment (Kin-GAP) program in order to allow for federal financial participation in the program. (AB 12 (Beall), Chap. 559, Stats. 2010.) 4)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. SB 12 Page 4 (Section 11400(v).) 5)Defines "nonminor former dependent or ward" as either: a) A nonminor who reached 18 years of age while subject to an order for foster care placement, for whom dependency, delinquency, or transition jurisdiction has been terminated, and who is still under the general jurisdiction of the court; or b) A nonminor who is over 18 years of age and, while a minor, was a dependent child or ward of the juvenile court when the guardianship was established, as specified, and the juvenile court dependency or wardship was dismissed following the establishment of the guardianship. (Section 11400(aa).) 6)Allows a former nonminor dependent or ward who turned 18 years of age while under the order of a foster care placement and who is under the age of 21 to petition the court to resume dependency jurisdiction. (Section 388.) 7)Provides for the voluntary continuation or reentry into foster care for nonminor dependents who meet general Aid to Families with Dependent Children-Foster Care requirements, as specified. Permits re-entry into extended foster care for a nonminor dependent whose guardian or adoptive parent died if the nonminor dependent is between the age of 18 and 21. (Section 11403.) 8)Allows a nonminor former dependent who previously received extended Kin-GAP or adoption assistance benefits but whose guardian or adoptive parent died or no longer provides ongoing support, to petition the court to resume dependency under the extended foster care program, as specified. (Section 388.1.) FISCAL EFFECT: As currently in print this bill is keyed fiscal. SB 12 Page 5 COMMENTS: This bill seeks to improve the California Fostering Connection to Success Act of 2010, which provides transitional foster care support to qualifying foster youths ages 18-21 by, among other things, allowing former foster youth who crossed over to the delinquency side of the juvenile court to voluntarily re-enter the foster care system as nonminor dependents to receive supportive services to help them more successfully transition to adulthood. In particular, this bill allows vulnerable former foster youth who were made wards of the court while in a foster care placement and who were held in a secure confinement at 18 - when they would have emancipated from foster care - to be eligible to voluntarily enter transitional foster care and receive critical support services. In support, the author writes: Our obligation to these youth is the same as any parent, to ensure that youth who have spent their formative years parented by the child welfare system receive ongoing support in navigating adult life. Research tells us that this oversight has serious consequences as youth who cross over into the delinquency system from child welfare are twice as likely to experience unemployment, homelessness, incarceration, mental health disorders and educational challenges as those youth in the child welfare or probation system. Failure to meet the formal requirements of extended foster care, has left this small but highly vulnerable population of former foster youth on their own with nowhere to turn for help. No youth should have to face these grave challenges alone, without the support we intended they receive. SB 12 actualizes the Legislature's original intent in passing the Fostering Connections to Success Act, by remedying the inadvertent exclusion from extended foster care of a very small but most vulnerable population of former foster youth. This bill will provide a safety net SB 12 Page 6 to this most vulnerable population of youth by allowing youth previously in foster care who crossed over to the delinquency system and then were temporarily in a secure juvenile facility at 18 to re-enter the foster care system and, with court approval, receive the critically needed support to develop connections to a caring adult and to become a healthy and productive member of our communities. 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: 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, Provides transitional foster care support to qualifying foster youth ages 18-21, phased-in over three years, beginning in 2012. It is now fully implemented. The goal of the FCSA is to assist nonminor dependents 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, reliance on public assistance, teen pregnancy, and low rates of high school and postsecondary SB 12 Page 7 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 state law. To be eligible to continue foster care benefits up to age 21, a nonminor dependent 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. Foster Youth Too Often End Up in the Delinquency System And May Need Even Greater Support to Transition Effectively to Adulthood. Foster youth are far more likely than the general population to become involved with the juvenile justice system: Youth put in care were three times more likely to be arrested, convicted, and imprisoned as adults compared to those who were allowed to remain at home. This indicates that, after controlling for abuse severity, foster care experience has some additional impact on future criminality beyond the effects of abuse and neglect. . . . For children and juveniles in out-of-home placements, experiences of abuse and neglect are often compounded by other negative experiences and factors. . . . The SB 12 Page 8 extensive needs of children who are placed in foster care often go unmet, increasing the likelihood that youth will engage in future delinquent behavior. (Erin McLaughlin, Dual-System Youth: The Need for Systems Integration to Improve Outcomes for Foster Youth who Commit Delinquent Acts 16-17 (2009).) Foster youth are "not only more likely to be arrested as juveniles than their peers not in care, they are also more likely to be arrested at a younger age and more likely to recidivate." (Id. at 11.) If a foster child commits a crime and becomes a ward of the court as a delinquent, the child's status as a dependent is terminated since a child cannot, as a general rule and except as discussed below, be both a dependent and a ward of the juvenile court at the same time. If the child successfully completes a detention by the juvenile court, the child will normally be returned to his or her parents. However, if the child came to delinquency out of the foster care system, it may not be safe for that child to return home or there may be no support for the child at that home. Thus the youth is either released into homelessness or released to the home from which they were initially removed to foster care, without any supports that the child welfare system could have provided. In an effort to address this issue and allow for better oversight of youth who have been involved in both the foster care and delinquency systems, in 2004 the Legislature passed legislation to allow counties, should they so choose, to adopt dual status protocols which permit children to be both dependents and wards at the same time. (AB 129 (Cohn), Chap. 468, Stats. 2004.) Dual status for children who are both wards and dependents allows for better oversight and coordination between child welfare and probation and helps ensure that children who have completed their detention are not held limbo with no safe home to which to return. SB 12 Page 9 This voluntary program authorizes the probation department and the child welfare services department in any county, in consultation with the presiding juvenile court judge, to create a dual status protocol to permit a youth who meets specified criteria to be designated simultaneously as both a dependent child and a ward of the juvenile court. According to the Judicial Council website, 15 of California's 58 counties have elected to develop these protocols: Butte, Colusa, Del Norte, Los Angeles, Inyo, Modoc, Placer, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Joaquin, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Siskiyou, Sonoma and Stanislaus. The remaining 43 counties have not elected to establish dual jurisdiction protocols, thus have no way to provide critical support services available from the dependency system to these former foster youth exiting from the delinquency system. Even in dual status counties, the child welfare agency does not always stay involved with youth in delinquency, and thus support services may not be readily available when a youth completes his or her time in a juvenile facility. This Bill Extends Transitional Foster Care Support to Those Youth Who May Most Need Extra Assistance to Survive and Thrive. 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 nonminor dependent if he or she meets the specified criteria. Last year, this same opportunity was added for nonminor dependents 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. (AB 2454 (Quirk-Silva), Chap. 769, Stats. 2014.) SB 12 Page 10 This bill expands access to extended foster care services to those youth who were in a foster care placement, were made a ward of the court while in the foster care placement, and were in a locked placement when they turned 18 years of age. While this is likely a small number of youth each year, these youth are exactly the youth who have the fewest resources available to them to help them succeed. They likely have no home, no family support and no job lined up. As California Against Slavery writes, these "same factors that make them vulnerable to unemployment and homelessness also make them vulnerable to traffickers. An extension of foster care benefits would allow more time for youth to adjust to independent life." ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT: The Youth Law Center, one of the bill's co-sponsors, writes: Youth who cross over from dependency to delinquency are precisely the at-risk population of youth that the federal Fostering Connections to Success Act intended states to serve. A study of child welfare and probation supervised youth that exited Los Angeles County's juvenile court system found youth that crossed over from dependency to delinquency experienced negative outcomes at twice the rate of youth coming into contact with only child welfare or probation. This study reveals that crossover youth are twice as likely to be heavy users of public systems, three times as likely to experience a jail stay, one-and-a-half times more likely to receive General Relief, and 50 percent less likely to be consistently employed than other groups of former foster youth. These youth desperately need the safety net provided by AB 12, and the supports to help them to become productive community members. (Footnote omitted.) SB 12 Page 11 The Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce very succinctly sums up the importance of the bill: "By extending eligibility for foster care up to age 21 for this small, but particularly at-risk population, California can reduce recidivism and prevent a lifetime of public dependence in favor of targeted housing, education, and health interventions." ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION: The Chief Probation Officers of California opposes the bill, arguing that the current extended foster care program is "underfunded and under-resourced. We should focus our attention on ensuring the program is working for the existing eligible population - and adequately funded." The organization adds that it does not believe that it is appropriate for these youth to be supervised by probation after the youth has completed the terms of probation: "In our view, if a youth on probation has successfully completed his or her term of supervision and for whatever reason his or her housing situation has become unstable, that is an issue specific to the welfare of the child and not a probation offense." The author notes that the decision about who supervises the youth in extended foster care - whether child welfare or probation - is made by individual counties and not the state. Related Current Legislation. AB 885 (Lopez), 2015, would have facilitated former foster youth re-entering extended foster care upon disruption of their permanent relationships. It was held on the Assembly Appropriations Suspense File. REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION: Support SB 12 Page 12 Alliance for Children's Rights (co-sponsor) Youth Law Center (co-sponsor) Anti-Recidivism Coalition California Against Slavery California Youth Empowerment Network Children Now Junior League of San Diego Legal Services for Prisoners with Children Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce National Association of Social Workers, California Chapter National Center for Youth Law Opposition Chief Probation Officers of California SB 12 Page 13 Analysis Prepared by:Leora Gershenzon / JUD. / (916) 319-2334