Existing law generally provides for the placement of foster youth, and provides for the licensure and regulation by the State Department of Social Services of specified facilities that provide care for foster youth, including foster family agencies and short-term residential therapeutic programs.

This bill would require specified placement settings that provide care to dependent children and youth, nonminor dependents, and wards wards, and other appropriate placements identified by the department, to provide to the State Department of Social Services department a daily census of available beds and a comprehensive listing of the services provided by the placement setting, as specified. The bill would require the department to create and maintain a database on the departments Internet Web site that would allow county child welfare departments and county probation departments to view the above-mentioned information for the purpose of placing those children, youth, dependents, and wards in placement settings according to the best interests of the child.

This bill would require the department, on a biannual basis, to review the information obtained from the database in order to assess for capacity and the availability of services of the placement settings and would require the department to publicly report on its findings on its Internet Web site. The bill would require the department to convene a workgroup of interested stakeholders, as specified, to develop recommendations for the implementation of these provisions, and would require the department, after consultation with the workgroup, to issue an all-county letter on or before May 1, 2018, with specified information about the services in the listing reported by the placement settings.

The bill would incorporate references to provisions added by AB 404 that would become operative only if AB 404 is enacted, as specified, and becomes effective on or before January 1, 2018.

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 and to nonminor dependents up to 21 years of age. The program is funded by a combination of federal, state, and county funds. Existing law generally provides for the placement of foster youth, and provides for the licensure and regulation by the State Department of Social Services of specified facilities that provide care for foster youth, including foster family agencies and short-term residential therapeutic programs.

This bill would require specified AFDC-FC eligible placement settings that provide care to dependent children and youth, nonminor dependents, and wards to provide to the State Department of Social Services a daily census of available beds and a comprehensive listing of the services provided by the placement setting, as specified. The bill would require the department to create and maintain a database on the departments Internet Web site that would allow county child welfare departments and county probation departments to view the above-mentioned information for the purpose of placing those children, youth, dependents, and wards in AFDC-FC placement settings in the absence of the ability of the county placing agency to timely place the individual in a foster family home or a resource family home. placement settings according to the best interests of the child.

This bill would require the department, on a biannual basis, to review the information obtained from the database in order to assess for capacity and the availability of services of the placement settings and would require the department to publicly report on its findings on its Internet Web site. The bill would require the department to convene a workgroup of interested stakeholders, as specified, to develop recommendations for the implementation of these provisions, and would require the department, after consultation with stakeholders, the workgroup, to issue an all-county letter within 120 days of the effective date of this bill, on or before May 1, 2018, with specified information about the services in the listing reported by the placement settings.

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 and to nonminor dependents up to 21 years of age. The program is funded by a combination of federal, state, and county funds.

Existing funds. Existing law generally provides for the placement of foster youth, and provides for the licensure and regulation by the State Department of Social Services of specified facilities that provide care for foster youth, including foster family agencies and short-term residential therapeutic programs.

This bill would require specified AFDC-FC eligible placement settings that provide care to dependent children and youth, nonminor dependents, and wards to provide to the State Department of Social Services a daily census of available beds and a comprehensive listing of the services provided by the placement setting, as specified. The bill would require the department to create and maintain a database on the departments Internet Web site that would allow county child welfare departments and county probation departments to view the above-mentioned information for the purpose of placing those children, youth, dependents, and wards in AFDC-FC placement settings in the absence of the ability of the county placing agency to timely place the individual in a foster family home or a resource family home.

This bill would require the department, on a biannual basis, to review the information obtained from the databases described above database in order to assess for capacity, capacity and the availability of services of the placement settings, and the reasons for changes in placement, settings and would require the department to publicly report on its findings on its Internet Web site. The bill would require the department, after consultation with stakeholders, to issue an all-county letter within 120 days of the effective date of this bill, with specified information about the services in the listing reported by the placement settings and the reasons for changes in placement to be reported by the counties. settings.

(1)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 and to nonminor dependents up to 21 years of age. The program is funded by a combination of federal, state, and county funds.

Existing law generally provides for the placement of foster youth, and provides for the licensure and regulation by the State Department of Social Services of specified facilities that provide care for foster youth, including foster family agencies and short-term residential therapeutic programs.

This bill would, except as specified, require a facility licensed to provide care to foster youth, including probation youth, would require specified AFDC-FC eligible placement settings that provide care to dependent children and youth, nonminor dependents, and wards to provide to the State Department of Social Services a daily census of available beds and a comprehensive listing of the services provided by the facility. placement setting, as specified. The bill would require the department to create and maintain a database on the departments Internet Web site that will would allow county child welfare departments and county probation departments to view the above-mentioned information, and would require the department to adopt regulations to implement these provisions. information for the purpose of placing those children, youth, dependents, and wards in AFDC-FC placement settings in the absence of the ability of the county placing agency to timely place the individual in a foster family home or a resource family home.

Existing law generally provides for the placement of foster youth, and provides for the licensure and regulation by the State Department of Social Services of specified facilities that provide care for foster youth, including foster family agencies and short-term residential therapeutic programs.

This bill would, except as specified, require a facility licensed to provide care to foster youth, including probation youth, to provide to the State Department of Social Services a daily census of available beds and a comprehensive listing of the services provided by the facility. The bill would require the department to create and maintain a database on the departments Internet Web site that will allow county child welfare departments and county probation departments to view the above-mentioned information, and would require the department to adopt regulations to implement these provisions.

SENATE COMMITTEE ON

Senator Ricardo Lara, Chair

2017 - 2018 Regular Session

AB 1375 (Dababneh) - Foster care: placements: database

This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.

Bill Summary:

AB 1375 would require certain placement settings that provide care to foster youth, nonminor dependents, and wards to provide the California Department of Social Services (CDSS) with a daily census of available beds and a comprehensive listing of the services provided, as specified. The bill would also require CDSS to create and maintain a database on the department’s Internet Web site that would allow county child welfare departments and county probation departments to view the list in order to place foster children and wards in settings that are in the best interest of the child.

Fiscal Impact:

• Significant one-time costs of approximately $750,000 to create a new database of available beds and ongoing minor costs for CDSS to maintain the database. (GF)
• Significant one-time costs of $6.4 million to reimburse the federal government for funds given to the state to develop and maintain the current child welfare database system. Additionally, ongoing loss of $31.7 million per year for funds that the state will no longer receive from the federal government for maintaining the existing database system. (GF)
• Significant local assistance costs for collecting data on and reporting the aggregate number of beds and aggregate services provided. (GF)
• Likely minor costs for CDSS to convene a workgroup and produce an all-county letter that specifies the workgroup’s recommendations to implement the database.

Background:

The child welfare system oversees the care of around 61,000 children in California who were removed from their homes because of allegations of abuse, neglect, or exploitation. If a court determines that staying at home is not in the best interest of the child, the child welfare agency arranges for and monitors temporary or permanent placement of the child in the safest and least-restrictive environment, often with relative, non-related extended family members, or foster parents.

In January 2015, CDSS launched the Continuum of Care Reform (CCR) effort to ensure that children who cannot initially be safely placed in home-based family care may still go into congregate care, but with a care plan that aims to transition these children into home-based family care with their services following them. AB 403 (Stone, Chapter 773, Statutes of 2015) implemented CCR recommendations by eliminating group homes, emphasizing family-based care, and created a new Short Term Residential Therapeutic Program (STRTP) licensure category, effective January 1, 2017. All STRTPs are required to have national accreditation from an entity identified by CDSS, a mental health approval, and Medi-Cal certification from the county to provide treatment.

Private Foster Family Agencies (FFAs) were established to provide care for children who require more intensive care than a county-licensed foster family home, but who do not need the intensive services of an STRTP. FFAs recruit, certify, and train foster parents and provide professional support to the foster families.

The Federal Division of State Systems (DSS) within the Children's Bureau published information on a final rule called Comprehensive Child Welfare Information System (CCWIS). A CCWIS is a case management information system that states and tribes may develop to support their child welfare program needs. If a state or tribe elects to build a CCWIS, the federal government will provide additional funds to help pay for it. However, the system must be designed to support social workers automation needs to organize and record quality case information about the children and families receiving child welfare services.

Proposed Law:

This bill would:

• Declare legislative intent to ensure accessibility and quality care for children and youth with specialized needs who require appropriate placement in certain placement settings;
• Require that certain specified types of children’s residential placements that provide care to dependent children and youth, nonminor dependents, wards, and other appropriate placements provide census information to CDSS;
• Require the facility to update CDSS with the daily census of available beds, whenever there is a change in census and a comprehensive listing of specified services provided by the placement setting;
• Require a licensed foster family agency to report the aggregate number of beds available in and the aggregate services provided by all certified or approved homes used exclusively by the licensed foster family agency;
• Require a county or foster family agency participating in an intensive treatment foster care program, as specified, to be responsible for reporting the information on behalf of the intensive treatment foster care program;
• Require CDSS to create and maintain a database on the department’s website that will allow county child welfare departments and county probation departments to view the number of available beds for the purpose of placing dependent children and youth, nonminor dependents, and wards in the placement settings in the best interest of the child;
• Require CDSS to review the information obtained from the database on a biannual basis to assess for capacity and the availability of services, and to publicly report its findings on its website;
• Require CDSS to convene a workgroup of interested stakeholders to develop recommendations to implement the database – the stakeholder workgroup may include, but not be limited to, representatives of county welfare, probation, and behavioral health directors, child welfare advocates, regional centers, pediatric medical specialists, placement setting owners or operators, and former foster youth;
• Require CDSS, in consultation with the workgroup, on or before May 1, 2018, to issue an all-county letter specifying which services shall be reported by the placement settings, how often those placement settings shall update the listing, and how placing agencies will be able to access the listing;

Related Legislation:

AB 404 (Stone, 2017) is a cleanup bill for the original CCR enactment. It would establish the Intensive Services Foster Care category for children with high needs, create an option to license respite caregivers, and establish outcome requirements for FFAs. This bill is pending in the Senate Appropriations Committee.

AB 501 (Ridley Thomas, 2017) would authorize CDSS to license a children’s crisis residential program, as defined, and to provide care for children who have serious behavioral health disorders, among other conditions. This bill is pending in the Senate Appropriations Committee.

AB 1997 (Stone, Chapter 612, Statutes of 2016) was a cleanup bill for the original CCR enactment. It included requirements for mental health certification of STRTPs, made modifications to the RFA process, and required payment of basic rate to all families regardless of approval process.

AB 403 (Stone, Chapter 773, Statutes of 2015) implemented Continuum of Care Reform (CCR) recommendations to better serve children and youth in California's child welfare services system by eliminating group homes and emphasizing family-based care.

Staff Comments:

A CCWIS is a case management system that serves as the record hub for all children and families receiving child welfare support. Federal funding is available to both state and tribal title IV-E agencies to develop and maintain these automated systems. The DSS provides regulatory oversight of and generates regulatory and subregulatory guidance on the development and operation of these information systems.

If a state is found to be non-compliant with the CCWIS requirements, the federal Administration for Children and Families may recoup and subsequently suspend funds claimed for the CCWIS project. One such requirement for eligibility states that “a state title IV-E agency must uniformly use the same automated function or the same group of automated functions for all title IV-E eligibility determinations for all children in the state.” Creating a new database would potentially make California non-compliant, at which point, the state would have to reimburse all funds it has received to create the CCWIS project and would forfeit the receipt of any subsequent funds.

-- END --

SENATE COMMITTEE ON HUMAN SERVICES

Senator Wiener, Chair

2017 - 2018 Regular

Bill No: AB 1375

Subject: Foster care: placements: database

SUMMARY

This bill requires certain placement settings that provide care to foster youth, nonminor dependents, and wards to provide the California Department of Social Services (CDSS) with a daily census of available beds and a comprehensive listing of the services provided, as specified. The bill requires CDSS to create and maintain a database on the department’s Internet Web site that would allow county child welfare departments and county probation departments to view the list in order to place foster children and wards in settings that are in the best interest of the child. It also requires CDSS to review the database and assess for capacity twice a year.

ABSTRACT

Existing law:

1. Establishes a system of juvenile dependency for children who are, or are at risk of, being physically, sexually or emotionally abused, being neglected or being exploited to ensure their safety, protection and physical and emotional well-being. (WIC 300, et seq.)
2. Establishes a system of juvenile delinquency for children younger than 18 who violate any state or federal law, or any ordinance of any city or county of this state defining crime other than an ordinance establishing a curfew based solely on age, and permits the juvenile court to adjudge such person to be a ward of the court. (WIC 602)
3. Under the Community Care Facilities Act, defines a number of specific residential care or day programs for children and adults, including, but not limited to, physically handicapped, mentally impaired persons, and abused or neglected children (HSC 1502)
4. Requires, in order to reduce reliance on developmental centers, out-of-state placements and placement in mental health facilities, as specified, the Department of Developmental Services (DDS) to establish a statewide specialized resource service that does all of the following:
5. Tracks the availability of specialty residential beds and services.
6. Tracks the availability of specialty clinical services.
7. Coordinates the need for specialty services and supports in conjunction with regional centers.
8. Identifies, subject to federal reimbursement, developmental center services and supports that can be made available to consumers residing in the community, when no other community resource has been identified. (WIC 4418.25)
9. Requires regional centers to provide DDS with information about all specialty resources developed, as specified, and to make these resources available to other regional centers. (WIC 4418.25)

This bill:

1. Declares Legislative intent to ensure accessibility and quality care for children and youth with specialized needs who require appropriate placement in certain placement settings.
2. Requires that certain types of children’s residential placements that provide care to dependent children and youth, nonminor dependents and wards provide census information to CDSS. Defines the facility types as:
   1. A licensed foster family agency, as defined, for placement into a certified or approved home used exclusively by the foster family agency.
   2. A short-term residential therapeutic program.
   3. A community treatment facility
   4. A community care facility vendored by a regional center
   5. A transitional shelter care facility.
   6. An intensive foster care program, as defined.
3. Requires the facility update CDSS with the daily census of available beds, whenever there is a change in census, and a comprehensive listing of services provided by the placement setting, including but not limited to, all of the following, if applicable and as defined:
4. Health and medical services.
5. Mental health services.
6. Developmental services.
7. Culturally and linguistically competent services.
8. Prenatal, perinatal, and parenting services.
9. Specialized services for certain populations, including, but not limited to, lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT) services, substance abuse services, gang prevention services, and addiction prevention services.
10. Requires a licensed foster family agency to report the aggregate number of beds available in, and the aggregate services provided by, all certified or approved homes used exclusively by the licensed foster family agency. Clarifies that this does not require an individual home to report information to CDSS.
11. Requires a county or foster family agency participating in an intensive treatment foster care program, as specified, to be responsible for reporting the information on behalf of the intensive treatment foster care program.
12. Requires CDSS to create and maintain a database on the department’s Internet Web site to allow county child welfare and probation departments to view number of available beds and specialty services for the purpose of placing dependent children, youth, nonminor dependents and wards according to the best interests of the child.
13. Requires CDSS to review the information obtained from the database on a biannual basis to assess for capacity and the availability of services, and to publicly report on its findings on its Internet Web site.
14. Requires CDSS to convene a workgroup of interested stakeholders to develop recommendations for the implementation of this section. The stakeholder workgroup may include, but not be limited to, representatives of county welfare and probation directors, child welfare advocates, placement setting owners or operators, and former foster youth, and requires CDSS in consultation with the workgroup, to issue an all-county letter by May 1, 2018 to specify which services shall be reported, how often those placement settings shall update the listing, and other information.
15. Includes chaptering amendments, should this bill and AB 404 both pass the Legislature and be signed by the Governor.

FISCAL IMPACT

An analysis by the Assembly Appropriations Committee identified one-time costs of approximately $750,000 (GF) to CDSS to develop a new database system, and ongoing costs to CDSS, likely minor, to maintain the Website, review information and report findings. It also identified ongoing cost pressures to the state (GF) to fund counties and eligible placements for providing the required data.

BACKGROUND AND DISCUSSION

Purpose of the bill:

According to the author, when a county foster care placing agency has a client with a severe developmental disability, mental health issue or severe medical concerns who needs placement in a foster home, or other specialized facility, the county often has to call each known facility until an appropriate placement is found. For clients with developmental disabilities, the author states the county placing agency must contact the local regional centers and then rely upon and wait for each regional center to perform a statewide search until an appropriate placement can be found. “Significant delay results in many cases and in the interim, many clients end up residing in inappropriate settings like emergency shelters, or costly and extremely restrictive locked psychiatric hospital settings.”

The author further states that in this process, there is no way to ensure that the placement is the most appropriate for the client, particularly as it requires “one-by-one calls to a long list of agencies or facilities.” Under the current system, county placing agencies rely on word-of-mouth or institutional memory to locate possible placements with specialized service, the author states.

This bill will create a statewide database of specialized placements for children to enable foster care placing agencies statewide to search and assess suitability for children and youth.

Background

The child welfare system oversees care of some 61,000 children in California who were removed from their homes because of allegations of abuse, neglect or exploitation. If a court determines that staying at home is not in the best interest of the child, the child welfare agency arranges for and monitors temporary or permanent placement of the child in the safest and least-restrictive environment possible. Often children are placed with relatives, non-related extended family members (NREFM), or foster parents.

In January 2015, CDSS launched a massive foster care reform effort with publication of the “California’s Child Welfare Continuum of Care Reform” report. The report and associated working group were required to consider, at a minimum, how to ensure the provision of services in family-like settings, including after-care services, when appropriate.^[1] The CCR was enacted by AB 403 (Stone, Chapter 773, Statutes of 2015) and the subsequent AB 1997 (Stone, Chapter 612, Statutes of 2016).

One key element of the CCR effort was the elimination of foster care group homes and the creation of a new Short Term Residential Therapeutic Program (STRTP) licensure category, effective January 1, 2017. All STRTPs are required to have national accreditation from an entity identified by CDSS, a mental health approval and Medi-Cal certification from the county to provide treatment. The intent is to focus group treatment on specific, treatable, therapeutic issues rather than house children in large congregate facilities.

Children’s mental health

Approximately 20 percent of youth between the ages of 13 and 18 live with a mental health condition, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI).^[2] About 70 percent of the youth in juvenile justice systems have at least one mental health condition and 20 percent are living with serious mental illness. NAMI reports that almost half of children aged 8 to 15 who were diagnosed with a mental illness received no mental health services in the prior year.

Foster youth experience a heightened rate of mental illness, compared to their peers, according to various studies. An American Psychological Association report^[3] noted that nearly half (47.9 percent) of youth in foster care were found to have clinically significant emotional or behavioral problems, and more than half of children entering foster care exhibited behavioral or social competency problems that warranted mental health services. In addition to the high rate of mental health problems, children under age seven who enter foster care show high rates of developmental problems, the report found.

Short Term Residential Therapeutic Programs (STRTPs)

AB 403 created the new STRTP licensure category to replace the eliminated group home category. Placement of a child into an STRTP is authorized only when the case plan indicates that placement is to provide short-term, specialized and intensive treatment for the child, and the plan identifies why the treatment is needed, the nature of the treatment and expected duration. It must include a plan for transitioning the child to a less restrictive environment and the projected timeline for doing so. Placements lasting longer than six-months must be approved by the deputy director or director of the county child welfare agency or probation department.

An STRTP must obtain mental health approval, and licensure is contingent upon obtaining and maintaining the mental health approval. Effective January 1, 2017, all STRTPs are required to have national accreditation from an entity identified by CDSS. The bill permitted two-year conditional extensions to individual group homes and most group homes in California have not yet transitioned to STRTPs. This focus on short-term treatment requires an availability of appropriate foster homes to care for individuals with high treatment needs after they leave the STRTP.

Foster Family Agencies (FFAs)

Private FFAs were established to provide care for children who require more intensive care than a county-licensed foster family home, but who do not need the intensive services of an STRTP. FFAs recruit, certify and train foster parents and provide professional support to the foster families. Under CCR, all FFAs are required to become accredited, new rates were established, and probation departments are permitted to place youth into a certified home of an FFA.

Intensive Services Foster Care (ISFC)

AB 404 (Stone, 2017) is a clean-up bill in the current session to further implementation of the CCR. It creates a new category of licensure, Intensive Services Foster Care, which may be provided by a private nonprofit or a county-run program of home-based family care. ISFC is designed for children whose needs require specially trained resource parents and intensive professional and paraprofessional services in order to avoid congregate care, institutionalization or out-of-state placement. ISFC requires specific educational and training requirements for foster parents in order to care for children with high behavioral, medical or other needs. A component of this model of care is clinical support staff for foster parents to help with the child.

Developmental Disabilities

The Lanterman Act defines a developmental disability as a condition that originates before age 18, can be expected to continue indefinitely, and constitutes a substantial impairment in three or more areas of life activity. These conditions may include intellectual disability, Autism Spectrum Disorders, epilepsy, cerebral palsy and other related conditions.

Approximately 310,000 children and adults with developmental disabilities receive services in their communities under the state’s Lanterman Developmental Disabilities Act. DDS is responsible for overseeing provision of care and allocating funds, however direct coordination of services is the responsibility of 21 nonprofit regional centers located throughout the state.

Statewide Specialized Resource Services (SSRS)

In 2012, the Legislature required DDS to establish a statewide list of placements that regional centers could use to track the availability of specialized resources for clients with challenging needs. Each regional center is required to review the resources listed in its catchment area each month and to report to DDS all changes in specialized vendor services, including vacancy status. Regional centers are supposed to add any newly developed residential models to the list.

In accessing the SSRS list, regional centers are required to provide DDS with the consumer’s name, birthdate and other identifying information, primary and secondary diagnoses and challenging behaviors or medical conditions. In addition, the regional center must provide a history of the regional center services provided and attempts to address the consumer’s needs and other notable information. DDS then provides a list of potential services and contact information. Regional centers are responsible for evaluating potential resources and determining whether a specific resource will meet a consumer’s needs. As of January 31, nearly 800 consumers had been referred to the SSRS for DDS to match with a potential placement, and 7 were matched successfully.

Dual Agency Clients

Foster children with developmental disabilities are considered “dual agency” children, as their care is overseen by both county child welfare social workers and regional center case managers. According to DDS, as of June 2016, there were 3,780 children and youth aged birth to 20 who were dual agency clients. The number is about 2 percent of all the children and youth in the regional center system, as reflected in the chart below.

Department of Developmental Services

Related legislation:

AB 404 (Stone, 2017) is a cleanup bill for the original CCR enactment. It establishes the Intensive Services Foster Care category for children with high needs, creates an option to license respite caregivers, and establishes outcome requirements for Foster Family Agencies

AB 501 (Ridley Thomas, 2017) authorizes CDSS to license a children’s crisis residential program, as defined, and to provide care for children who have serious behavioral health disorders, among other conditions.

AB 1997 (Stone, Chapter 612, Statutes of 2016) was a cleanup bill for the original CCR enactment. It included requirements for mental health certification of STRTPs, made modifications to the RFA process, and required payment of basic rate to all families regardless of approval process.

AB 403 (Stone, Chapter 773, Statutes of 2015) implemented Continuum of Care Reform (CCR) recommendations to better serve children and youth in California's child welfare services system by eliminating group homes and emphasizing family-based care.

COMMENTS

This bill establishes a common resource list for counties and placing agencies that need to locate specialty services for foster youth. By establishing a searchable database, the bill enables counties to identify specialized needs and to sort programs by those needs. The bill places responsibility for updating the vacancy and specialty services listing on the provider, thus reducing county administrative time.

1. However, this list does not include at least two new types of services proposed in Legislation this year that may be of interest to placing entities, in addition to other types of placements that may become relevant but are not listed. Staff recommends adding language to enable CDSS to add additional types of programs, if appropriate.

WIC 16009 (b) This section shall apply only to all of the following placement settings that provide care to dependent children and youth, nonminor dependents, and wards, and other appropriate placements, identified by the Department:

1. While the list is designed to enable county child welfare and probation agencies to access a list of available services across other specialty care, it does not provide access to the list for regional centers, county mental health departments and others. Similarly, the task force required by this bill does not engage the knowledge of others whose perspective may be useful. Staff recommends amending the task force language as follows:

WIC 16009(f) (1) The department shall convene a workgroup of interested stakeholders to develop recommendations for the implementation of this section. The stakeholder workgroup may include, but not be limited to, representatives of county welfare and probation, and behavioral health directors, child welfare advocates, regional centers, pediatric medical specialists, placement setting owners or operators, and former foster youth.

1. Privacy concerns about information on the list, such as identifying the name or location of a treatment facility for children who have been exploited, are not addressed in this bill. Staff recommends requiring the department to identify how placing agencies will be able to access the list, as follows:

(2) The department, in consultation with the workgroup, shall issue an all-county letter on or before May 1, 2018. The all-county letter shall specify which services shall be reported by the placement settings specified in subdivision (b) in the listing described in subparagraph (B) of paragraph (1) of subdivision (c) and how often those placement settings shall update the listing. The letter also shall identify how placing agencies will be able to access the provider listings in a manner to protect the confidentiality and safety of clients in the placements.

PRIOR VOTES

POSITIONS

Support:

County Welfare Directors Association of California

Disability Rights California

National Association of Social workers, California Chapter

Public Counsel

The Junior League of San Diego

Oppose:

None received.

-- END --

1. http://www.cdss.ca.gov/cdssweb/entres/pdf/CCR_LegislativeReport.pdf ↑

2. Mental Illness Facts, Children and Teens, 2014 ↑

3. https://www.apa.org/pi/families/resources/newsletter/2012/01/winter.pdf ↑

ASSEMBLY THIRD READING

ATR Bill Id:AB 1375

Author:(Dababneh)

As Amended Ver:May 30, 2017

Majority vote

SUMMARY: Requires certain Aid to Families with Dependent Children- Foster Care (AFDC-FC) eligible placement settings to report a daily census of available beds and a comprehensive list of services provided by certain facilities and requires the Department of Social Services (DSS) to review and report certain information provided by AFDC-FC eligible placement settings on a bi-annual basis.

Specifically, this bill:

1. States Legislative intent to ensure accessibility and quality care for youth with specialized needs in appropriate AFDC-FC eligible placement settings.
2. Requires AFDC-FC eligible licensed foster family agencies (FFAs), short-term residential therapeutic programs (STRTPs), community treatment facilities, and community care facilities vendorized by regional centers, as specified, to provide the following information to DSS:
   1. A daily census of available beds; and
   2. A comprehensive list of services provided by the facility, including:
   3. Health and medical services;
   4. Mental health services;
   5. Developmental services;
   6. Culturally and linguistically competent services;
   7. Prenatal, perinatal, and parenting services; and
   8. Specialized services for certain populations, as specified.
3. Exempts foster family homes and resource family homes from the reporting requirements specified in the provisions of this bill.
4. Requires DSS to create and maintain a database on the department's Internet Web site to allow county child welfare departments and county probation departments to view the information collected in order to place youth in AFDC-FC placements in a timely manner when necessary, as specified.
5. Requires DSS to, on a bi-annual basis, review information obtained from the database in order to assess for capacity and the availability of specialized services provided by the facilities, as specified, and publicly report its findings on its Internet Web site.
6. Requires DSS, in conjunction with stakeholder input, to issue an all-county letter, within 120 days of the provisions of this bill becoming effective, specifying which services must be reported, and the frequency of reporting, by the facilities specified in the provisions of this bill.

EXISTING LAW:

1. Establishes a state and local system of child welfare services, including foster care, for children who have been adjudged by the court to be at risk or have been abused or neglected, as specified. (Welfare and Institutions Code (WIC) 202)
2. States that the purpose of foster care law is to provide maximum safety and protection for children who are currently being physically, sexually, emotionally abused, neglected, or exploited, and to ensure the safety, protection, and physical and emotional well-being of children who are at risk of harm. (WIC 300.2)
3. States the intent of the Legislature to preserve and strengthen a child's family ties whenever possible and to reunify a foster youth with his or her biological family whenever possible, or to provide a permanent placement alternative, such as adoption or guardianship. (WIC 16000)
4. Defines "community care facility" as any facility, place, or building that is maintained and operated to provide nonmedical residential care, day treatment, adult day care, or foster family agency services to children, adults, or children and adults, including, but not limited to, the physically handicapped, mentally impaired, incompetent persons, and abused or neglected children. (Health and Safety Code (HSC) 1502 (a))
5. Defines a "short-term residential therapeutic program" to mean a DSS-licensed residential facility to provide short-term, specialized, and intensive treatment, and 24-hour care and supervision to children. The care and supervision provided by a short-term residential therapeutic program shall be nonmedical, except as otherwise permitted by law. (HSC 1502 (a)(18))
6. Defines a "community treatment facility" as any residential facility that provides mental health treatment services to children in a group setting and that has the capacity to provide secure containment. (HSC 1502 (a)(8))
7. Defines a "foster family agency" as any public agency or private organization, organized and operated on a nonprofit basis, engaged in certain activities, including recruiting, certifying, approving, and training of, and providing professional supports to, foster parents and resource families; coordinating with county placing agencies to find homes for foster children in need of care; and providing services and supports to licensed or certified foster parents, county-approved resource families, and children to the extent authorized by state and federal law. (HSC 1502 (a)(4))
8. Establishes an entitlement to services for individuals with developmental disabilities under the Lanterman Developmental Disabilities Services Act (Lanterman Act). (WIC 4500 et seq.)
9. Establishes a system of 21 nonprofit regional centers throughout the state to identify needs and coordinate services for eligible individuals with developmental disabilities and requires DDS to contract with regional centers to provide case management services and arrange for or purchase services that meet the needs of individuals with developmental disabilities, as defined. (WIC 4620 et seq.)

FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee, this bill may result in the following costs:

1. One-time costs of approximately $400,000 (General Fund) to DSS to develop a new database system;
2. Ongoing costs to DSS, likely minor, to maintain the Web site, review information and report findings; and
3. Ongoing cost pressure the state (General Fund) to fund counties and eligible placements for providing the required data.

COMMENTS:

Child Welfare Services: The purpose of California's Child Welfare Services (CWS) system is to protect children from abuse and neglect and provide for their health and safety. When children are identified as being at risk of abuse, neglect or abandonment, county juvenile courts hold legal jurisdiction and children are served by the CWS system through the appointment of a social worker. Through this system, there are multiple opportunities for the custody of the child, or his or her placement outside of the home, to be evaluated, reviewed and determined by the judicial system, in consultation with the child's social worker, to help provide the best possible services to the child. The CWS system seeks to help children who have been removed from their homes reunify with their parents or guardians, whenever appropriate, or unite them with other individuals they consider to be family. There are currently over 64,000 children and youth in California's child welfare system

Continuum of Care Reform: In 2015, Governor Brown signed AB 403 (Stone), Chapter 773, Statutes of 2015, which reformed placement and treatment options for youth in foster care under what is called "Continuum of Care Reform." The bill, sponsored by DSS, built upon years of policy changes aimed at improving outcomes for youth in foster care. Primarily, and as a result of growing consensus among the child welfare field at both the national and state level, efforts have been made at reducing the reliance on group homes as a placement setting for foster youth. AB 403 aimed to ensure that youth in foster care would have their day-to-day physical, mental and emotional needs met and that they have the opportunity to grow up in permanent and supportive homes. AB 403 also included various changes to the Resource Family Approval program. In 2016, AB 1997 (Stone), Chapter 612, Statutes of 2016 was signed into law and adopted changes to further facilitate implementation of CCR recommendations.

Developmental services: In 1969, the Lanterman Developmental Disabilities Act established that individuals with developmental disabilities and their families have a right to receive the services and supports necessary in order to live independently in the community. The Lanterman Act outlines the rights of individuals with developmental disabilities, the rights of their families, and what services and supports individuals may obtain. The Lanterman Act also established California's regional center system, which is a statewide network comprised of 21 regional centers that serve communities throughout the state. Regional centers are responsible for providing information to and helping coordinate services and supports for individuals with developmental disabilities and their families, but do not directly provide services to individuals.

Difficulties faced when placing foster youth: A December 2016 article entitled "The Foster-Parent Recruitment Crisis in L.A. County by Zip Code" discussed the recent decline in available foster homes in Los Angeles County. According to the article, the number of foster homes (including both county foster homes and private foster family agency homes) dropped by 52% in the decade between 2005 and 2015. In January 2016, the county had 17,783 children in foster care; however, as of November 2016, approximately 9,193 beds were available across the estimated 4,018 licensed foster homes in the county.

Need for this bill: According to the author's office:

The current placement process causes significant delay in many cases, and in the interim, clients most often reside in inappropriate and restrictive settings, like emergency shelters. In addition, this process does not and cannot ensure that each placement is the most appropriate placement for the client. Because the current process requires one-by-one phone calls to a long list of facilities, placing agencies are likely to stop the search, out of necessity to place the client, once a reasonably appropriate facility is found, instead of continuing the search until the most appropriate facility is found.

Also, the county placing agencies must rely on word of mouth or institutional memory to locate possible facilities for a placement. There is no comprehensive, statewide listing available. So no one can be sure that a client has been placed in the most appropriate facility for the child because the county placing agency cannot make a fully informed comparison of all possible placements.

Because of the difficulty in securing appropriate placements for youth with significant special needs, some of these vulnerable foster youth in California are even being sent to costly out-of-state facilities while many others languish in inappropriate settings that typically result in further disruptive changes of placement for these youth.

By creating a statewide, updated database, county placing agencies will for the first time have a 'birds-eye' view of all the statewide facilities and STRTPs with available beds and have a listing of the series that each facility provides for its residents. This will allow county placing agencies to quickly make the most appropriate, effective placement possible for their foster youth. This will help to ensure that the youth is receiving all needed services, and it will significantly decrease waste and costs in the system. Further, by tracking the number of changes of placement and the reasons for these changes of placement, counties will be better informed about the appropriateness of each facility serving these youth.

PRIOR LEGISLATION:

AB 404 (Stone) of the current legislative session, this bill will further Continuum of Care Reform efforts made by AB 403 and AB 1997. This bill is currently on the Assembly Floor.

AB 1997 (Stone), Chapter 612, Statutes of 2016, furthered Continuum of Care Reform efforts.

AB 403 (Stone), Chapter 773, Statutes of 2015, implemented Continuum of Care Reform recommendations to better serve children and youth in California's child welfare services system.

AB 1089 (Calderon), Chapter 761, Statutes of 2014, established procedures for the transfer of a regional center consumer who is also placed in foster care from one regional center's catchment area to another.

Analysis Prepared by: Kelsy Castillo / HUM. S. / (916) 319-2089 FN: 0000902

Date of Hearing: May 17, 2017

ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS

Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher, Chair

ABPCA Bill Id:AB 1375

Author:(Dababneh) – As Amended Ver:April 19, 2017

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

SUMMARY:

This bill requires specified Aid to Families with Dependent Children- Foster Care (AFDC-FC) eligible placement settings to report a daily census of available beds and a comprehensive list of services provided to the Department of Social Services (DSS), and requires placing agencies to report changes in placements to DSS and further requires DSS to manage that information, as specified. Specifically, this bill:

1. Requires AFDC-FC eligible licensed foster family agencies (FFAs), short-term residential therapeutic programs (STRTPs), community treatment facilities, and community care facilities vendorized by regional centers, as specified, to provide a daily census of beds and a comprehensive list of services provided by the facility, as specified, to DSS. Exempts foster family homes and resource family homes from these reporting requirements.
   
2. Requires DSS to create and maintain a database on the department’s Internet Web site to allow county child welfare departments and county probation departments to view the information collected in order to place youth in AFDC-FC placements in a timely manner when necessary, as specified.
   
3. Requires DSS to, on a bi-annual basis, review information obtained from the database in order to assess for capacity and the availability of specialized services provided by the facilities, as specified, and publicly report its findings on its Internet Web site.
4. Requires a placing agency that makes a change in placement for a dependent child or youth, nonminor dependent, or ward, as specified, to provide a reason for the change of placement to DSS within 10 calendar days of the placement change.
5. Requires DSS to create and maintain a database on the department’s Internet Web site in order to track the monthly number of placements made by county welfare departments and county probation departments and the reasons for those changes in placement.

FISCAL EFFECT:

1. One-time costs of approximately $750,000 (GF) to DSS to develop a new database system.
2. Ongoing costs to DSS, likely minor, to maintain the website, review information and report findings.
3. Ongoing cost pressures to the state (GF) to fund counties and eligible placements for providing the required data.

COMMENTS:

1. Purpose. According to the author:

“The current placement process causes significant delay in many cases, and in the interim, clients most often reside in inappropriate and restrictive settings, like emergency shelters. In addition, this process does not and cannot ensure that each placement is the most appropriate placement for the client. Because the current process requires one-by-one phone calls to a long list of facilities, placing agencies are likely to stop the search, out of necessity to place the client, once a reasonably appropriate facility is found, instead of continuing the search until the most appropriate facility is found.

There is no comprehensive, statewide listing available. So no one can be sure that a client has been placed in the most appropriate facility for the child because the county placing agency cannot make a fully informed comparison of all possible placements.

Because of the difficulty in securing appropriate placements for youth with significant special needs, some of these vulnerable foster youth in California are even being sent to costly out-of-state facilities while many others languish in inappropriate settings that typically result in further disruptive changes of placement for these youth.

By creating a statewide, updated database, county placing agencies will for the first time have a ‘birds-eye’ view of all the statewide facilities and STRTPs with available beds and have a listing of the series that each facility provides for its residents. This will allow county placing agencies to quickly make the most appropriate, effective placement possible for their foster youth.”

1. Background. In keeping with the State's goal of moving away from reliance on congregate care, the licensing category of foster care group homes was eliminated and, effective January 1, 2017, the licensing category of short-term residential therapeutic program (STRTP) was created in order to provide brief, intensive, mental health interventions to youth and adolescents who qualify for that level of care. Current statute requires an STRTP to provide short-term, 24-hour nonmedical care and supervision. Similar to the goals of STRTPs, in order to ensure that youth with specialized needs have access to family-like placements, California provides a specialized care rate, which provides a supplemental payment to a family home provider in addition to the family home basic rate.

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the federal government does not have an official definition of “special needs,” and states define the term differently for purposes of federal adoption assistance eligibility when a child is adopted. While some youth with special needs may suffer from physical or mental disabilities, not all children with special needs require special education. Children may also qualify as having special needs if they are an older youth, are from a specific ethnic background, are part of a sibling group, or have a medical condition.

Analysis Prepared by: Jennifer Swenson / APPR. / (916) 319-2081

Date of Hearing: April 25, 2017

ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HUMAN SERVICES

Blanca Rubio, Chair

ABPCA Bill Id:AB 1375 (

Author:Dababneh) – As Amended Ver:April 19, 2017

SUBJECT: Foster care: placements: database

SUMMARY: Requires certain Aid to Families with Dependent Children- Foster Care (AFDC-FC) eligible placement settings to report a daily census of available beds and a comprehensive list of services provided by certain facilities and requires the Department of Social Services (DSS) to review and report certain information provided by AFDC-FC eligible placement settings on a bi-annual basis.

Specifically, this bill:

1. States Legislative intent to ensure accessibility and quality care for youth with specialized needs in appropriate AFDC-FC eligible placement settings.
   
2. Requires AFDC-FC eligible licensed foster family agencies (FFAs), short-term residential therapeutic programs (STRTPs), community treatment facilities, and community care facilities vendorized by regional centers, as specified, to provide the following information to DSS:
   
   1. A daily census of available beds; and
      
   2. A comprehensive list of services provided by the facility, including:
      
   3. Health and medical services;
      
   4. Mental health services;
      
   5. Developmental services;
      
   6. Culturally and linguistically competent services;
      
   7. Prenatal, perinatal, and parenting services; and
      
   8. Specialized services for certain populations, as specified.
      
3. Exempts foster family homes and resource family homes from the reporting requirements specified in the provisions of this bill.
   
4. Requires DSS to create and maintain a database on the department’s Internet Web site to allow county child welfare departments and county probation departments to view the information collected in order to place youth in AFDC-FC placements in a timely manner when necessary, as specified.
   
5. Requires DSS to, on a bi-annual basis, review information obtained from the database in order to assess for capacity and the availability of specialized services provided by the facilities, as specified, and publicly report its findings on its Internet Web site.
   
6. Requires DSS, in conjunction with stakeholder input, to issue an all-county letter, within 120 days of the provisions of this bill becoming effective, specifying which services must be reported, and the frequency of reporting, by the facilities specified in the provisions of this bill.
7. Requires a placing agency that makes a change in placement for a dependent child or youth, nonminor dependent, or ward, as specified, to provide a reason for the change of placement to DSS within 10 calendar days of the placement change.
   
8. Requires DSS to create and maintain a database on the department’s Internet Web site in order to track the monthly number of placements made by county welfare departments and county probation departments and the reasons for those changes in placement.
   
9. Specifies that the reasons for changes in placement to be tracked include, but are not limited to, lack of the following: educational services; appropriate health and medical services; appropriate mental health services; appropriate developmental services; appropriate prenatal, perinatal, and parenting services; and appropriate specialized services for certain populations, as specified.
   
10. Requires DSS to, on a bi-annual basis, review the information obtained from the database to assess the reasons for placement changes and to publically report its findings, as specified.
    
11. Requires DSS, in conjunction with stakeholder input, to issue an all-county letter within 120 days of the provisions of this bill becoming effective in order to specify the reasons for placement change reporting requirements.
    

EXISTING LAW:

1. Establishes a state and local system of child welfare services, including foster care, for children who have been adjudged by the court to be at risk or have been abused or neglected, as specified. (WIC 202)
   
2. States that the purpose of foster care law is to provide maximum safety and protection for children who are currently being physically, sexually, emotionally abused, neglected, or exploited, and to ensure the safety, protection, and physical and emotional well-being of children who are at risk of harm. (WIC 300.2)
   
3. States the intent of the Legislature to preserve and strengthen a child’s family ties whenever possible and to reunify a foster youth with his or her biological family whenever possible, or to provide a permanent placement alternative, such as adoption or guardianship. (WIC 16000)
   
4. Establishes AFDC-FC as aid provided on behalf of needy children in foster care, and specifies eligibility requirements. (WIC 11400 and 11402)
5. Defines “community care facility” as any facility, place, or building that is maintained and operated to provide nonmedical residential care, day treatment, adult day care, or foster family agency services to children, adults, or children and adults, including, but not limited to, the physically handicapped, mentally impaired, incompetent persons, and abused or neglected children. (HSC 1502 (a))
   
6. Defines a “short-term residential therapeutic program” to mean a DSS-licensed residential facility to provide short-term, specialized, and intensive treatment, and 24-hour care and supervision to children. The care and supervision provided by a short-term residential therapeutic program shall be nonmedical, except as otherwise permitted by law. (HSC 1502 (a)(18))
   
7. Defines a “community treatment facility” as any residential facility that provides mental health treatment services to children in a group setting and that has the capacity to provide secure containment. (HSC 1502 (a)(8))
   
8. Defines a “foster family agency” as any public agency or private organization, organized and operated on a nonprofit basis, engaged in certain activities, including recruiting, certifying, approving, and training of, and providing professional supports to, foster parents and resource families; coordinating with county placing agencies to find homes for foster children in need of care; and providing services and supports to licensed or certified foster parents, county-approved resource families, and children to the extent authorized by state and federal law. (HSC 1502 (a)(4))
   
9. Establishes an entitlement to services for individuals with developmental disabilities under the Lanterman Developmental Disabilities Services Act (Lanterman Act). (WIC 4500 et seq.)
   
10. Establishes a system of 21 nonprofit regional centers throughout the state to identify needs and coordinate services for eligible individuals with developmental disabilities and requires DDS to contract with regional centers to provide case management services and arrange for or purchase services that meet the needs of individuals with developmental disabilities, as defined. (WIC 4620 et seq.)
    
11. Creates a process by which regional centers may “vendorize” service providers, thereby providing a path to contract for services with that provider and ensuring maximum flexibility and availability of appropriate services and support for persons with developmental disabilities. (WIC 4648)
    

FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown.

COMMENTS:

Child Welfare Services: The purpose of California’s Child Welfare Services (CWS) system is to protect children from abuse and neglect and provide for their health and safety. When children are identified as being at risk of abuse, neglect or abandonment, county juvenile courts hold legal jurisdiction and children are served by the CWS system through the appointment of a social worker. Through this system, there are multiple opportunities for the custody of the child, or his or her placement outside of the home, to be evaluated, reviewed and determined by the judicial system, in consultation with the child's social worker, to help provide the best possible services to the child. The CWS system seeks to help children who have been removed from their homes reunify with their parents or guardians, whenever appropriate, or unite them with other individuals they consider to be family. There are currently over 64,000 children and youth in California’s child welfare system

Aid to Families with Dependent Children-Foster Care (AFDC-FC): AFDC-FC provides foster care benefits to youth and can be either federally-funded or state-only funded. In order to be eligible for federal AFDC-FC, the home from which a youth is removed must meet AFDC eligibility criteria established in 1996 in the month a petition is filed, or in any of the 6 months prior to a petition being filed. In 1996 the income limit for a family of 3 to qualify for AFDC was $723; as such, the population of foster youth who are federal AFDC-FC eligible is very small. Because of this, the State of California created state AFDC-FC, which is a blend of state and county funds provided to foster children who are placed with non-relative foster parents at a rate that is equal to the rate received by federal AFDC-FC eligible foster youth. In 2008, the Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act (P.L. 110-351) expanded federal AFDC-FC payments to a youth who is between 18 years and 21 years old and who lives in an approved placement setting.

Continuum of Care Reform: In 2015, Governor Brown signed AB 403 (Stone), Chapter 773, Statutes of 2015, which reformed placement and treatment options for youth in foster care under what is called “Continuum of Care Reform.” The bill, sponsored by DSS, built upon years of policy changes aimed at improving outcomes for youth in foster care. Primarily, and as a result of growing consensus among the child welfare field at both the national and state level, efforts have been made at reducing the reliance on group homes as a placement setting for foster youth. AB 403 aimed to ensure that youth in foster care would have their day-to-day physical, mental and emotional needs met and that they have the opportunity to grow up in permanent and supportive homes. AB 403 also included various changes to the Resource Family Approval program. In 2016, AB 1997 (Stone), Chapter 612, Statutes of 2016 was signed into law and adopted changes to further facilitate implementation of CCR recommendations.

In keeping with CCR’s goal of moving away from reliance on congregate care, the licensing category of foster care group homes was eliminated and, effective January 1, 2017, the licensing category of short-term residential therapeutic program (STRTP) was created in order to provide brief, intensive, mental health interventions to youth and adolescents who qualify for that level of care. Current statute requires an STRTP to provide short-term, 24-hour nonmedical care and supervision. Similar to the goals of STRTPs, in order to ensure that youth with specialized needs have access to family-like placements, California provides a specialized care rate, which provides a supplemental payment to a family home provider in addition to the family home basic rate in order to provide for the additional costs of caring for a youth with health and/or behavioral problems.

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the federal government does not have an official definition of “special needs,” and states define the term differently for purposes of federal adoption assistance eligibility when a child is adopted. While some youth with special needs may suffer from physical or mental disabilities, not all children with special needs require special education. Children may also qualify as having special needs if they are an older youth, are from a specific ethnic background, are part of a sibling group, or have a medical condition.

Developmental services: In 1969, the Lanterman Developmental Disabilities Act established that individuals with developmental disabilities and their families have a right to receive the services and supports necessary in order to live independently in the community. The Lanterman Act outlines the rights of individuals with developmental disabilities, the rights of their families, and what services and supports individuals may obtain. The Lanterman Act also established California’s regional center system, which is a statewide network comprised of 21 regional centers that serve communities throughout the state. Regional centers are responsible for providing information to and helping coordinate services and supports for individuals with developmental disabilities and their families, but do not directly provide services to individuals.

Because regional centers do not directly provide services, their main purpose is to contract with and provide funding for providers in the area to provide services in the community to individuals with developmental disabilities. Regional centers are responsible for vendorizing service providers before services can be provided; the vendorization process allows regional centers to verify that an applicant meets specific requirements and standards required to best serve the needs of individuals, and makes a provider eligible to provide services paid for by regional centers.

Difficulties faced when placing foster youth: A December 2016 article entitled “The Foster-Parent Recruitment Crisis in L.A. County by Zip Code” discussed the recent decline in available foster homes in Los Angeles County. According to the article, the number of foster homes (including both county foster homes and private foster family agency homes) dropped by 52% in the decade between 2005 and 2015. In January 2016, the county had 17,783 children in foster care; however, as of November 2016, approximately 9,193 beds were available across the estimated 4,018 licensed foster homes in the county. Shortages in Los Angeles are representative of a national trend in which the amount of available foster homes has decreased in recent years. Beginning in 2013, the number of foster children in care across the country rose to 402,378, which is a 1% increase from the 397,000 youth in care during the previous year. A March 2016 article entitled “Foster Parent Shortages in the United States,” cites foster parent shortages in Massachusetts, Minnesota, and New Jersey, among other states, and attributes substance abuse and the recent heroin epidemic as contributing factors for the increase in children placed into care. In addition to the shortage of available foster homes, county welfare agencies face even greater challenges when attempting to place youth with high needs.

In 2015-16, the Orange County Grand Jury assessed whether the county’s Children and Family Services Division was prepared to implement changes made by AB 403(Stone), Chapter 773, Statutes of 2015, which adopted CCR recommendations. The report, “Fostering a Better Foster Care System,” found that the county’s Children and Family Services Division would need to license between 100 and 150 quality foster homes by January 2017 in order to meet the needs of youth in the county, as the county faced a severe shortage of foster homes, specifically homes for “hard-to-place youth.” The study focused on the availability of placements for particularly vulnerable youth, including teens, children with serious medical and psychological needs, and sibling sets. Studies have shown a relationship between frequent placements and the existence and severity of behavioral problems; children who experience multiple placements in foster care are more likely to engage in delinquency and become involved in the criminal justice system. In addition to behavioral problems, the study found that the number of dependent youth with serious psychological problems is growing; however, statistics are difficult to obtain, as many youth are not routinely psychologically assessed and are not seeing therapists. There are also very few homes available and willing to accept these youth, and very few foster parents are adequately trained to deal with the complexities of psychological needs.

In order to address the growing shortage of foster family homes, the Governor’s 2017-18 Budget includes an allocation of $35 million to child welfare departments and $22.1 million to county probation departments for foster parent retention, recruitment, and support (FPPRS). Funds must be used on activities aimed at retaining, recruiting, and supporting foster parents, relative caregivers, and resource families, and include activities related to: staffing to provide and improve direct services and supports to foster parents; removal of barriers for areas defined as priorities in a county’s FPPRS plan; exceptional child needs not covered by the caregiver-specific rate; child care; intensive relative finding; and emerging technological, evidence-informed, or other non-traditional approaches for outreach to potential foster parents and caregivers.

Need for this bill: According to the author’s office:

“The current placement process causes significant delay in many cases, and in the interim, clients most often reside in inappropriate and restrictive settings, like emergency shelters. In addition, this process does not and cannot ensure that each placement is the most appropriate placement for the client. Because the current process requires one-by-one phone calls to a long list of facilities, placing agencies are likely to stop the search, out of necessity to place the client, once a reasonably appropriate facility is found, instead of continuing the search until the most appropriate facility is found.

Also, the county placing agencies must rely on word of mouth or institutional memory to locate possible facilities for a placement. There is no comprehensive, statewide listing available. So no one can be sure that a client has been placed in the most appropriate facility for the child because the county placing agency cannot make a fully informed comparison of all possible placements.

Because of the difficulty in securing appropriate placements for youth with significant special needs, some of these vulnerable foster youth in California are even being sent to costly out-of-state facilities while many others languish in inappropriate settings that typically result in further disruptive changes of placement for these youth.

By creating a statewide, updated database, county placing agencies will for the first time have a ‘birds-eye’ view of all the statewide facilities and STRTPs with available beds and have a listing of the series that each facility provides for its residents. This will allow county placing agencies to quickly make the most appropriate, effective placement possible for their foster youth. This will help to ensure that the youth is receiving all needed services, and it will significantly decrease waste and costs in the system. Further, by tracking the number of changes of placement and the reasons for these changes of placement, counties will be better informed about the appropriateness of each facility serving these youth.”

PRIOR LEGISLATION:

AB 404 (Stone), 2017, this bill will further Continuum of Care Reform efforts made by AB 403 and AB 1997. This bill is currently awaiting hearing in the Assembly Human Services Committee.

AB 1997 (Stone), Chapter 612, Statutes of 2016, furthered Continuum of Care Reform efforts.

AB 403 (Stone), Chapter 773, Statutes of 2015, implemented Continuum of Care Reform recommendations to better serve children and youth in California’s child welfare services system.

AB 1089 (Calderon), Chapter 761, Statutes of 2014, established procedures for the transfer of a regional center consumer who is also placed in foster care from one regional center’s catchment area to another.

REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:

Support

Public Council

National Association of Social Workers, CA Chapter

Opposition

None on file.

Analysis Prepared by: Kelsy Castillo / HUM. S. / (916) 319-2089