BILL ANALYSIS
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 665
Author: Torrico (D)
Amended: 7/23/09 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE : 5-0, 6/23/09
AYES: Liu, Maldonado, Alquist, Runner, Yee
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 78-0, 6/1/09 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : State adoption services: incentive bonuses
SOURCE : California Alliance of Child and Family
Services
DIGEST : This bill expands the use of improving adoption
incentive bonus dollars.
Senate Floor Amendments of 7/23/09 attempt to give counties
more flexibility in spending funds generated by improve
placements into permanent homes of older foster children.
ANALYSIS :
Existing Federal Law
1.Creates, under the Fostering Connections to Success and
Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008, a monetary incentive
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program for states that increase, over the previous year,
the number of finalized adoptions for foster youth.
2.Specifies that these incentive dollars be used for
children and family services.
3.Defines "older child adoption" as the final adoption of a
child who has attained age nine and who at the time of
adoptive placement, was in foster care under the
supervision of the state.
Existing State Law
1.Provides for child welfare services, an array of social
services whose purpose is to protect and promote the
well-being of children, including foster care children.
2.Requires the state to reinvest the federal adoption
incentive funds into the foster care system in order to
provide adoption services for older children.
This bill:
1.Expands, from only "adoptions" to "any legal permanency
outcome," the number of ways the state is allowed to
expend federal adoption incentive bonus dollars. Legal
permanency outcomes would include, but not be limited to,
adoption, guardianship and reunification.
2.Requires counties or DSS to expend incentive bonuses to
improve or sustain legal permanency outcomes for older
children.
3.Updates the name, from Adoption Promotion Act of 2003 to
the Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing
Adoptions Act of 2008 (Fostering Connections Act), of the
federal legislation that authorized the adoption
incentive payments to states.
Background
In October of 2008, Congress passed and the President
signed the Fostering connections to Success and Increasing
Adoptions Act. The act renewed the federal adoption
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incentive grant program, which was created to provide
financial rewards to states for increasing the number of
children adopted out of foster care. Congress renewed the
program for five years, doubled the incentive bonuses to
states from $4,000 to $8,000 per adoption of older foster
youth, doubled the bonuses from $2,000 to $4,000 for
adoptions of foster youth with special needs, created a
$1,000 payment per foster youth adopted when a state
exceeds it highest annual total of adoptions from foster
care, and reset the adoption baseline year for calculating
incentives from 2002 to 2007.
In federal fiscal year 2008, California finalized 7,580
adoptions, 99 more than in the previous year. This
resulted in $1.1 million in federal bonuses that California
will receive in 2009-10.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 7/23/09)
California Alliance of Child and Family Services (source)
Alternative Family Services
California Association of Adoption Agencies
California Youth Connection
California Youth Permanency Task Force
Childhelp
County Welfare Directors Association
Crossroads Treatment Centers, Inc.
David and Margaret Youth and Family Services
Family Builders By Adoption
Five Acres - the Boys & Girls' Aid Society of Los Angeles
Hathaway-Sycamores Child and Family Services
Kinship Center
Lincoln Child Center
Penny Lance Centers
Rebekah Children's Services
Sierra Adoption Services
TLC Child & Family Services
Valley Teen Ranch
Youth for Change
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ASSEMBLY FLOOR :
AYES: Adams, Ammiano, Anderson, Arambula, Beall, Tom
Berryhill, Blakeslee, Blumenfield, Brownley, Buchanan,
Caballero, Charles Calderon, Carter, Chesbro, Conway,
Cook, Coto, Davis, De La Torre, De Leon, DeVore, Duvall,
Emmerson, Eng, Evans, Feuer, Fletcher, Fong, Fuentes,
Fuller, Furutani, Gaines, Galgiani, Garrick, Gilmore,
Hagman, Hall, Harkey, Hayashi, Hernandez, Hill, Huber,
Huffman, Jeffries, Jones, Knight, Krekorian, Lieu, Logue,
Bonnie Lowenthal, Ma, Mendoza, Miller, Monning, Nava,
Nestande, Niello, Nielsen, John A. Perez, V. Manuel
Perez, Portantino, Price, Ruskin, Salas, Saldana, Silva,
Skinner, Smyth, Solorio, Audra Strickland, Swanson,
Torlakson, Torres, Torrico, Tran, Villines, Yamada, Bass
NO VOTE RECORDED: Bill Berryhill, Block
CTW:cm 8/17/09 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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