AB 1766, as amended, Nazarian. Foster youth: transitional housing pilot project.
Existing law establishes the Aid to Families with Dependent Children-Foster Care (AFDC-FC) program, under which counties provide payments to foster care providers on behalf of qualified children in foster care. The program is funded by a combination of federal, state, and county funds, with moneys from the General Fund being continuously appropriated to pay for the state’s share of AFDC-FC costs.
Existing law requires the State Department of Social Services to adopt regulations to govern county transitional housing placement programs that provide supervised housing services to persons at least 16 years of age and not more than 18 years of age, with specified exceptions, who satisfy the requirements of the AFDC-FC program, are in out-of-home placement, as specified, and are participating in, or have successfully completed, an independent living program. Existing law requires that in order for a facility to participate in a transitional housing placement program, the facility shall obtain certification from the county department of social services or county probation department that the facility satisfies certain criteria.
This bill would authorize the County of Los Angeles, in conjunction with the University of California at Los Angeles andbegin delete aend deletebegin insert First Star, Incorporated, or a relatedend insert nonprofit child advocacy organization, to participate in a pilot project to establish the University-Affiliated First Star High School Academy, under the administration of the State Department of Social Services. The bill would require that the academy be licensed as a transitional housing placement provider, but would specify certain
alternative requirements for the project including, among others, that the academy serve foster children who are attending high school and are at least 13 years of age. The bill would require the department to prepare a report evaluating the effectiveness of the pilot project and to submit it to the Legislature by January 1, 2020. The bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the County of Los Angeles.
This bill would provide that the continuous appropriation for the state’s share of the AFDC-DF costs would not be made for purposes of implementing the bill.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
The Legislature find and declares all of the
2following:
3(a) Only 50 percent of foster youth graduate from high school.
4(b) Only 3 percent of former foster youth graduate from a
5four-year college, even though more than 70 percent express a
6desire to earn a college degree.
7(c) In Los Angeles County, 24 percent of former foster youth
8will have experienced homelessness within two years of leaving
9the foster care system.
10(d) Approximately 60 percent of young women in
foster care
11will become pregnant by 20 years of age.
12(e) Within two years of leaving the foster care system, 64 percent
13of young men and 30 percent of young women are incarcerated.
14(f) With approximately 5,200 youth aging out of foster care
15every year in California, the cost to state and local governments
16of homelessness, incarceration, and indigence of former foster
17youth is $165 million per year.
P3 1(g) The college environment has a holistic effect on students,
2and impacts not only the academic but also the psychosocial aspects
3of students’ development.
4(h) Large colleges and universities have specialists in the areas
5of medicine, law, psychology, sociology,
communication, and
6education who can greatly augment the services provided to foster
7youth by county child welfare agencies.
8(i) The existing First Star UCLA Bruin Guardian Scholar
9Summer Academy offersbegin delete a summer program to foster youth, which begin insert four, month-long annual residential summer programs
10consistsend delete
11on the campus of the University of California, Los Angeles, to
12foster youth in each of the four years of their high-school
13education, with at least one additional day of instruction per month
14during the remainder of each year. The academy consistsend insert of
15daylong scheduled classes, programs, and activities that provide
16two to four undergraduate academic credits each summer session,
17as well as the social
and emotional preparation necessary to flourish
18in college and the skills necessary to gain acceptance into college
19and successfully transition into adulthood.
20(j) Extending the First Star UCLA Bruin Guardian Scholar
21Summer Academy to a year-round placement option would allow
22foster youth to fully realize the benefits of this college environment.
Section 16523 is added to the Welfare and Institutions
24Code, to read:
(a) The department shall implement a pilot project in
26the County of Los Angeles, at the option of the county, in
27conjunction with the University of California at Los Angeles and
28begin delete aend deletebegin insert First Star, Incorporated, or a relatedend insert nonprofit child advocacy
29organization, to establish the University-Affiliated First Star High
30School Academy. The academy shall be licensed as a transitional
31housing placement provider pursuant to this article and Section
321559.110 of the Health and Safety Code, but shall include all of
33the following components:
34(1) The academy shall serve foster children who are attending
35high school and are at least 13 years of age, but who do not exceed
36the age limit specified in paragraph (2) of subdivision (a) of Section
3716522.1.
38(2) The academy shall be limited to a program described in
39paragraph (1) of subdivision (d) of Section 16522, however,
40residential facilities for participants and supervisory adults may
P4 1include configurations including, but not limited to, dormitory,
2multioccupant, clustered, hub, and other housing layouts and
3arrangements as are commonly found in a college or university
4environment.
5(3) The program staffing ratio ofbegin delete case managerend deletebegin insert
staff memberend insert to
6client shall not exceed one to three.
7(b) The academy shall be reimbursed atbegin insert 160 percent ofend insert the
8monthly rate specified in subparagraph (A) of paragraph (1) of
9subdivision (a)begin insert ofend insert Section 11403.3.
10(c) The department shall prepare a report evaluating the
11effectiveness of the pilot project and shall submit the report to the
12appropriate committees of the Legislature by January 1, 2020.
13(1) This subdivision shall become inoperative on January 1,
142024, pursuant to Section 10231.5 of
the Government Code.
15(2) The report to be submitted pursuant to this subdivision shall
16be submitted in compliance with Section 9795 of the Government
17Code.
No appropriation pursuant to Section 15200 of the
19Welfarebegin delete anend deletebegin insert andend insert Institutions Code shall be made for purposes of
20this act.
The Legislature finds and declares that a special law
22is necessary and that a general law cannot be made applicable
23within the meaning of Section 16 of Article IV of the California
24Constitution because of the unique circumstances in the County
25of Los Angeles with regard to the existing First Star UCLA Bruin
26Guardian Scholar Summer Academy.
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