BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    �



                                                                  AB 212
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   May 18, 2011

                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
                                Felipe Fuentes, Chair

                    AB 212 (Beall) - As Amended:  March 29, 2011 

          Policy Committee:                              Human 
          ServicesVote:6 - 0 
                        Judiciary                             9 - 0 

          Urgency:     No                   State Mandated Local Program: 
          Yes    Reimbursable:              Yes

           SUMMARY  

          This bill makes various technical and clarifying changes to the 
          California Fostering Connections to Success Act of 2010.  
          Specifically, this bill: 

          1)Exempts parents from referral by the county child welfare 
            department to the local child support agency for the payment 
            of child support on behalf of an adult, nonminor dependent in 
            foster care.

          2)Makes technical changes to replace the phrase "period of trial 
            departure" with "period of trial independence" as defined in 
            law.

          3)Conforms delinquency statutes related to the termination of 
            parental rights to include the required guardianship study 
            found in parallel dependency statutes.

          4)Distinguishes between the case plan update and mutual 
            agreement terms required for a nonminor dependent under the 
            supervision of the child welfare agency and a nonminor Kinship 
            Guardianship Assistance Payment (Kin-GAP) or Adoption 
            Assistance Program (AAP) recipient.

          5)Restores, after January 1, 2012, the ability for an otherwise 
            eligible youth placed with a relative guardian prior to age 
            16, to continue receiving Kinship Guardian Assistance Payment 
            (Kin-GAP) program assistance after age 18, until the youth 
            reaches age 19, provided the youth is reasonably likely to 
            receive their high school diploma or equivalent degree before 








                                                                  AB 212
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            age 19.  

           FISCAL EFFECT  

          Costs associated with this legislation are minor and absorbable 
          within existing resources.

           COMMENTS  

           1)Rationale  . This bill makes technical and clarifying changes to 
            the California Fostering Connections to Success Act in order 
            to help ensure its successful implementation.

           2)The California Fostering Connections to Success Act  . AB 12 
            (Beall & Bass; Chapter 559, Statutes of 2010) allowed the 
            state to opt in to two provisions of the federal Fostering 
            Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008 
            (Fostering Connections Act) (P.L. 110-351).  Specifically, the 
            California Fostering Connections to Success Act shifted 
            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 our kinship 
            guardian assistance program for the first time; and, provided 
            transitional foster care support to qualifying foster youth 
            ages 18 to 21, phased-in over three years, beginning in 2012.

           Analysis Prepared by  :    Julie Salley-Gray / APPR. / (916) 
          319-2081