BILL ANALYSIS
AB 1982
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 5, 2006
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Judy Chu, Chair
AB 1982 (Bass) - As Amended: March 23, 2006
Policy Committee: Human
ServicesVote:6 - 0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
Yes Reimbursable: Yes
SUMMARY
This bill extends eligibility in the Kinship Guardianship
Assistance Program (KinGAP) to wards of the juvenile court by
allowing a ward of the juvenile court to be eligible for KinGAP
if he/she meets the following criteria:
1)Has been living with a relative for at least 12 consecutive
months.
2)Has had a kinship guardianship established as part of his/her
permanency planning.
3)Has had his/her case terminated within the juvenile court.
FISCAL EFFECT
1)Once a child's case is terminated within the juvenile court,
he or she is no longer under the supervision of the county
probation department. Therefore, moving children from
probation supervised foster care to a permanent legal
guardianship results in a program savings because the family
now only receives a monthly cash grant under KinGAP and there
are no longer any case management services provided.
2)Because of the discontinuation of services provided by the
probation department, this bill represents an overall program
savings. However, those savings are primarily in federal
entitlement funding (Title IV-E) and county-funded probation
departments. For the state, there is a cost to the Temporary
Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant in the amount
of approximately $400,000, to cover the CalWORKs portion of
AB 1982
Page 2
the KinGAP grant for less than 100 children. About one fifth
of this funding would be offset by corresponding State General
Fund savings.
COMMENTS
1)Background. The KinGAP program was created by SB 1901
(McPherson), Chapter 1055, Statutes of 1998, to give relatives
an option of taking permanent custody of foster children,
avoiding continued supervision of the child welfare agency and
juvenile court, and receive assistance at the higher foster
care payment rate than would be available under the CalWORKs
program. The average payment per child under KinGAP is
$515.65; for CalWORKs the average payment per person is
$214.41. In the KinGAP program, the state has chosen to use
TANF funding to offset the amount of the grant the child would
receive under CalWORKs. The remainder is paid for by state and
county funds.
Currently, only foster children supervised by county child
welfare programs are eligible to move into the KinGAP program
once a relative accepts permanent guardianship. The foster
children supervised by county probation departments are not
eligible. Though there are very few children likely to meet
the criteria for KinGAP in the county probation caseload,
there are some that are good candidates and could move to a
more permanent standing if eligible for KinGAP. Because of
their ineligibility, the author's office contends there are
children in the system who remain there only because they have
no permanent placement and a relative cannot afford to accept
guardianship without on-going financial support.
According to the author's office, despite the requirement that
the delinquency systems develop permanency plans for children
who no longer require formal court supervision or services,
children in the delinquency system do not have access to the
same resources as dependency children. This lack of access
often limits permanency options for these children.
2)Potentially Eligible Children. According to the most recent
caseload data available, there are approximately 92,000 foster
children in California, including 10,000 foster children that
are wards of the juvenile court and therefore supervised by
county probation officers. Of those 10,000, approximately
7,000 are either residing in group homes or have run away. Of
the remaining 30 percent of the caseload, only about 200
AB 1982
Page 3
foster children are residing with kin. Based upon the current
movement of children from the dependency foster care program
to KinGAP, less than half of the 200 probation-supervised
children would end up in KinGAP.
3)Federal TANF Block Grant. Each year California receives $3.7
billion in federal TANF block grant funds. The majority of
these funds are used for the California Work Opportunity and
Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program. However, federal
law permits the expenditure of TANF funds on a variety of
programs and activities.
TANF funds can be spent for any purpose permitted under the
old Aid to Families with Dependent Children program or a
portion of the funds may be transferred to the Title XX Social
Services Block Grant and then expended in accordance with the
federal rules pertaining to Title XX.
This flexibility has allowed the Legislature to attempt to
strike a balance between using the funds to support families
in the CalWORKs program and using them to offset the state GF
in other programs, in order to partially address the state's
budget deficit.
Unexpended TANF funds can be carried over indefinitely into
future years. Traditionally, California has been able to carry
forward several hundred million dollars in TANF funding, which
is used to fund the CalWORKs program or to offset General Fund
in other parts of the state budget.
Analysis Prepared by : Julie Salley-Gray / APPR. / (916)
319-2081