California AB 403 UPDATED

“A California lawmaker is proposing an overhaul of the state’s foster care placement system, with the backing of Gov. Jerry Brown’s administration.

Asm. Mark Stone (D-Santa Cruz) says his measure would make group homes temporary destinations – rather than permanent homes – for kids who need help and services.

“What we’re doing is trying to move kids out of group homes – where we have very negative outcomes overall – into foster care systems where we have better-trained, better-equipped foster parents, foster families,” Stone says.

The legislation would implement recommendations from a state Department of Social Services report released last month.

The governor’s January budget proposal includes nearly $10 million to recruit and train new foster families, and increase pay for social workers in the foster care system.”

Bill Would Move California Foster Kids From Group Homes to Families[Capital Public Radio 2/19/15 by Ben Adler]

“Assemblymember Mark Stone (D-Monterey Bay) has introduced Assembly Bill 403, legislation that expresses the intent of the Legislature to comprehensively reform placement and treatment options for youth in foster care. The measure, sponsored by the California Department of Social Services (CDSS), builds upon years of policy changes to improve outcomes for youth in foster care. “When children go into foster care, they depend on us to make sure that they have a safe, comfortable, supportive place to stay, whether that is with a relative, a foster family, or a treatment center,” said Stone. “Current options along the continuum of care spectrum, particularly the existing model for group home placements, do not always meet these requirements. The reforms in this bill will provide youth with the support they need in foster care to return to their families or to find a permanent home if returning to their families is not an option.”

The goal of AB 403 is to make sure that youth in foster care have their day-to-day physical, mental, and emotional needs met; that they have opportunities to grow up in permanent and supportive homes; and that they can grow into self-sufficient, successful adults. Unfortunately, the existing continuum of care placement options for foster youth include long-term group home placements, as well as placements with foster families who do not always receive sufficient professional support to provide care for youth who have complex needs. Long-term placement in group homes is especially problematic because foster youth who live in these settings are more likely than those in family settings to suffer a variety of negative short- and long-term outcomes. Such placements are associated with an increased likelihood of being involved with the juvenile justice system and the adult correctional system, as well as low educational attainment levels.

Further, children who leave group home care to return to live with their families are more likely than those who were in placed in family-based care to return to the foster system. In 2014, about 3,000 of the 60,000 foster youth in California were placed in group home settings. AB 403 addresses these issues by ensuring that families who provide foster care receive targeted training and support so that they are better prepared to support youth living with them. The bill also advances California’s long-standing goal to move away from the use of long-term group home care by increasing youth placement in family settings and by transforming existing group home care into places where youth who are not ready to be placed with families can receive short term, intensive treatment. The measure creates a timeline to implement this shift in placement options, and it calls for the adoption of new standards and performance measures. “Whenever possible, children should live in their communities in home-based family care settings,” said Will Lightbourne, Director of CDSS. “This legislation will allow for development of critical elements, including increasing the supply of home-based family care and training for all providers who care for our children.” AB 403 follows recommendations from CDSS’s 2015 report, California’s Child Welfare Continuum of Care Reform, which was developed with feedback from foster youth, foster families, care providers, child welfare agency staff, policymakers, and other stakeholders.

For over a decade, California has implemented policies to reduce the number of children in out-of-home foster care placements, which has resulted in a decline from a high of over 100,000 youth in foster care in 1999 to about 60,000 in 2014. These policy changes have included preventative efforts to reduce the chance that a child is removed from his or her home, early intervention in child welfare cases, and assistance with finding permanent homes for children with relatives and through adoption. AB 403 advances the ongoing effort to improve outcomes for youth in foster care. Stone serves as Chair of the Assembly Judiciary Committee, which oversees legislation related to family law and dependency courts. In his first term, he served as the Chair of the Assembly Human Services Committee, which reviews legislation regarding child welfare and foster care. He has written laws to help foster youth graduate from high school and access information about their education, provide foster youth access to runaway and homeless youth shelters, and update the Fostering Connections to Success Act.”

Stone Proposes Law to Reform Placement Options
for Youth in Foster Care[Assemblyman Mark Stone pdf]

REFORM Puzzle Piece

Update:“The Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to back efforts to increase the number of foster children placed with relatives, rather than assigning them to group homes.

Supervisors Sheila Kuehl and Hilda Solis proposed that staffers come up with a plan to increase foster placements with relatives.

The move was prompted in part by Assembly Bill 403, the Continuum of Care Reform, set to take effective next January.

The law — which Kuehl and Solis called a “major shift in the way we approach child welfare” — requires that children be directed away from long- term group homes and placed in a family setting whenever possible.

“L.A. County has already proven that we know how to increase relative placements,” Kuehl said. “With the Continuum of Care Reform on the horizon and research indicating that children placed with relatives have better educational, health and behavioral outcomes, it’s a no-brainer to build on our success.”

An important element of the plan will be a method for identifying family members as soon as possible after a child is removed from an abusive or neglectful situation.

Currently, more than half of the approximately 18,000 children in out-of- home care in the county are placed in the homes of relatives, compared to 29 percent nationally and 40 percent statewide, according to the supervisors’ motion.

“While Los Angeles County exceeds the national rate for placing foster youth with relatives, there is always more work to be done to increase and support relative placements,” Solis said. “This motion provides a pathway to reduce delays in placing children with their relatives and to increase placement options.”

Last year, the board opted into a state program that offers “kinship caregivers” — family members who take in a foster child — the same financial support as other foster parents.

About half of the county’s kinship caregivers are 51-70 years old. Many live on fixed incomes, making it hard for them to cover the costs of caring for a child who may have landed on their doorstep in the middle of the night after an incident of abuse.

The county offers up to $2,000 in emergency funding for caregivers and set up a “warm line” earlier this year to lend support to foster families.

Compliance with the new law — which seeks to relegate group homes to offering short-term, intensive care services, rather than long-term placements – – will also mean recruiting more foster parents overall.

The county’s Department of Children and Family Services has struggled to find enough families to care for all of its foster kids. Officials have attributed the problem to the financial pressures of raising a child and the county’s policy of working toward reunifying families. Some parents are reluctant to foster a child who may ultimately be returned to their birth parents.”

Save the kids: LA County wants foster children with relatives, not group homes[My News LA 5/21/16 by Hillary Jackson]