BILL ANALYSIS
AB 2495
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 26, 2006
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Judy Chu, Chair
AB 2495 (Bass) - As Amended: April 18, 2006
Policy Committee: Human
ServicesVote:6 - 1
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
Yes Reimbursable: Yes
SUMMARY
This bill would provide benefits to children and families in the
Kinship Guardianship Assistance Program (KinGAP) that are
currently only available for foster children and children in the
Adoptions Assistance Program (AAP).
Specifically, this bill:
1)Increases benefits to include:
a) The specialized care increment the child would be
entitled to under the foster care program or in the AAP
program.
b) A $100 a year supplemental clothing allowance to which
the child would be entitled to under foster care.
2)Requires county welfare departments to provide each child in
KinGAP and his or her guardian with information regarding the
availability of independent living services when the child is
approaching his or her 16th birthday.
FISCAL EFFECT
The net savings from this bill will total approximately $2.5
million ($1.55 million federal, $250,000 GF, $700,000 county).
Specifically, this bill could:
1)Increase grant costs for the existing KinGAP caseload by up to
$15 million ($7.5 million GF, $7.5 million county).
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2)Increase KinGAP costs by approximately $1.5 million ($500,000
federal, $1 million GF) by providing a clothing allowance to
current KinGAP children.
3)Remove children from the child welfare services program saving
approximately $19 million ($9 million federal, $7 million GF,
$3 million county).
Assuming that about 15 percent of the foster children living
with relatives move to permanency through KinGAP, approximately
$28 million in annual grant expenditures would shift from the
foster care program to the KinGAP program. The funding for
KinGAP is different from the funding for foster care. Therefore,
this shift would have the following impact on the funding
sources:
1)The state General Fund share of KinGAP is less than the foster
care share. Therefore, it would save $1.5 million in GF for
grants for these children.
2)The county share for KinGAP is significantly less than the
foster care share, thus saving the counties $5.5 million for
these grants.
3)The federal funding source for KinGAP is the state's Temporary
Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant, as opposed
to the federal funding for foster care, which is open-ended
Title IV-E entitlement funding. Shifting these children would
save the federal government $9 million in Title IV-E funding
and cost the state $16 million in TANF block grant funding.
COMMENTS
1)Background. Currently, children that find a permanent home
with a relative through the KinGAP program are not allowed to
receive the annual supplemental clothing allowance they would
receive in the foster care program. In addition, children in
foster care who are eligible for specialized care increases to
their foster care grants due to special needs are not eligible
for permanency through the KinGAP program unless a social
worker determines that the services provided through the grant
increase are no longer necessary.
This is in contrast to children that find permanency through
adoption. Those children and their adoptive parents continue
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to receive a grant equal to the foster family home grant with
the specialized care increment that the children would have
received in foster care. This increased grant is provided as
a way to promote permanency for children that are considered
"hard to place" in the foster care system. In theory,
providing a larger monthly grant allows parents to adopt
children that might otherwise languish in the foster care
system until they age-out.
This bill seeks to allow the same incentives to relatives that
are willing to provide permanent homes to foster children
through legal guardianship.
2)Specialized Care Increment . Children in foster care
placements are potentially eligible for a specialized care
increment (SCI) to meet the additional daily care needs of a
foster care child who has a health and/or behavior problem.
This added payment is in addition to the basic foster care
rate, which ranges from $425 to $597 in foster family homes.
The SCI is paid with federal Title IV-E, state and county
funding, and varies by county. Currently, 55 counties have
specialized care systems. Some pay a flat rate, others pay a
rate based on local plans. According to the County Welfare
Directors Association (CWDA), the average rate is $300-$400,
and can be as little as $140 or as much as $695.
Approximately 10-15% of relatives receiving a foster care
grant also receive an SCI payment.
3)Clothing Allowance . Since 2000-01, foster care providers have
been entitled to a supplemental clothing allowance of $100 per
year, subject to the availability of funds, to help offset the
cost of foster children's clothing. Counties do not pay a
share of this payment. Annual costs for 2006-07 as proposed
in the Governor's budget are $6.2 million, $2.4 million in
federal funds and $3.8 million in state costs.
4)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
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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