BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 2573
Page 1
Date of Hearing: May 14, 2014
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Mike Gatto, Chair
AB 2573 (Stone) - As Amended: April 21, 2014
Policy Committee: Human
ServicesVote:7 - 0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
Yes Reimbursable: Yes
SUMMARY
This bill provides that the juvenile court may assume or resume
transition jurisdiction of a former nonminor dependent (NMD)
foster youth without consideration of whether the rehabilitative
goals of the NMD have been met.
FISCAL EFFECT
Potential state costs for extended foster care and adoption
assistance benefits for former nonminor dependents who reenter
the system. Annual costs would be in the range of $12,000 to
$36,000 (GF) per case, depending on the placement type.
Department of Social Services anticipates few cases.
COMMENTS
1)Purpose . The author notes that the California Fostering
Connections to Success Act (Act) of 2010 was landmark child
welfare legislation. However, due to its substantial size and
complexity, follow-up legislation has been needed since its
adoption to ensure its successful implementation. Since its
passage, the state has adopted three clean up measures to
ensure the Act is properly implemented to support foster youth
as they transition into adulthood.
This bill continues the Legislature's efforts to ensure the
Act is properly implemented by seeking to allow for the
voluntary re-entry of NMDs into foster care through the
request of the youth and agreement by the court that it is in
the youths' best interest to re-enter foster care, despite
whether the NMD has met his or her rehabilitative goals.
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2)The Fostering Connections Act. In October 2008, President Bush
signed the Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing
Adoptions Act of 2008. That act seeks to improve the lives of
children in foster care, provide greater assistance to
relative caregivers and improve incentives for adoption. Key
provisions of the legislation allow for kinship guardianship
assistance, similar to California's Kin-Gap program, and
extension of assistance to foster children up to age 21.
3)The California Fostering Connections to Success Act of 2010 .
AB 12 (Beall & Bass) opted the state into two provisions of
the federal Fostering Connections Act. Specifically, it
aligned Calfornia's Kin-GAP program with new federal
requirements to bring federal financial dollars into
California's program for the first time. It also provided
transitional foster care support to foster youth ages 18-21,
phased-in over three years, beginning in 2012.
The goal of AB 12 was to assist foster youth who are 18 to 20
years old, or nonminor dependents as they are referred to in
statute, in their transition into adulthood, by providing them
the opportunity to create a case plan alongside their
caseworkers tailored to their individual needs. It is a
voluntary program designed to counter the outcomes faced by
youth who are forced to leave the foster care system at age
18, including high rates of homelessness, incarceration,
reliance on public assistance, teen pregnancy, and low rates
of high school and college graduation.
4)Nonminor Dependents . Under current law the court can resume
jurisdiction of a former NMD or ward of the court for
specified reasons. In these cases, a youth who was receiving
foster care services when they turned 18 may opt to re-enter
foster care so that he or she may remain in a healthy and safe
environment and draw down services to help him or her
transition into adulthood. However, this same opportunity is
not available for NMDs under the delinquency jurisdiction of
the court who exit from foster care because they have been
alleged to have not met their rehabilitative goals. Although
rare, this has resulted in some NMDs being left without the
ability to voluntarily re-enter foster care.
There are a number of unique scenarios that could result in a
NMD being dismissed from the state's foster care system by the
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juvenile court, such as cases of commercially and sexually
exploited children these youth may be in restrictive probation
placements after being arrested for solicitation. They may
abandon their foster care placement to return to their abusers
only to realize that returning to the abuser is not the right
decision. However, because the youth ran way, they can be
labeled absent without leave ruled not to have met their
rehabilitative goals, and removed from the state's foster care
system.
5)Related legislation . AB 2454 (Quirk) 2014, allows a former
dependent under 21 years of age to voluntarily re-enter
extended foster care upon the approval of the juvenile court
if the former dependent had been receiving extended
assistance, but the guardian or adoptive parent is failing to
provide ongoing support. This bill passed out of this
committee on April 30, 2014 and is pending referral in the
Senate.
Analysis Prepared by : Jennifer Swenson / APPR. / (916)
319-2081