AB 1164 (Thurmond): Foster Care Placement: Funding is a bill that establishes Emergency Child Care Bridge Program for Foster Children. Authorizes welfare departments to administer the bridge program and distribute vouchers to an eligible child who is placed with an approved resource family, a foster family, or an approved relative or nonrelative extended family member, or who is the child of a young parent involved in the child welfare system.
The text of the bill can be found at: http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB1164
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Introduced: |
02/17/2017 |
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Last Amend: |
03/27/2017 |
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Disposition: |
Pending |
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Location: |
Assembly Second Reading File |
2017 CA A 1164: Bill Analysis - 03/31/2017 - Assembly Human Services Committee, Hearing Date 04/04/2017
Date of Hearing: April 4, 2017
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HUMAN SERVICES
Blanca Rubio, Chair
AB 1164 ( Thurmond) - As Amended March 27, 2017
SUBJECT: Foster care placement: funding
SUMMARY: Establishes the Emergency Child Care Bridge Program for Foster Children to facilitate access to child care for foster youth and the families with whom they are placed through the provision of child care vouchers and/or payments, navigator services, and trauma-informed training and coaching for child care providers.
Specifically, this bill:
1) Makes a number of Legislative findings and declarations related to the need for immediate, accessible child care for resource families who provide placements for foster youth, and the barriers that lack of such child care can create in recruiting and retaining resource families.
2) Establishes the Emergency Child Care Bridge Program for Foster Children, to be implemented at the discretion of each county, in order to stabilize foster children with families at the time of placement by providing:
a) A payment or voucher, for up to six months immediately following placement, for child care and development services; and
b) A child care navigator to assist the family in accessing long-term subsidized child care.
3) Requires county welfare departments that choose to participate to administer the Emergency Child Care Bridge Program for Foster Children, contingent upon an appropriation of $11 million in the 2017-18 fiscal year and $22 million each year thereafter.
4) Permits counties to establish local priorities and to provide payments directly or through contracts with alternative payment programs (APPs) to distribute vouchers, as specified, and further, requires that:
a) Counties that elect to provide direct payments to a child care provider or distribute vouchers pay commensurate with the regional market rates (RMRs), as specified; and
b) For counties that elect to contract with a local APP to distribute vouchers, the vouchers be in an amount commensurate with the RMRs and the contract not displace, or result in the reduction of, an existing contract with a current local APP.
5) Requires county welfare departments to determine the eligibility of a child for the Emergency Child Care Bridge Program for Foster Children.
6) Specifies that family placements eligible to receive a payment or voucher under this program include all of the following:
a) Approved resource families and families that have a child placed with them based on an emergency or for a compelling reason, as specified;
b) Currently licensed or certified foster care providers, as specified;
c) Currently approved relatives or nonrelative extended family members, as specified; and
d) Parents under the jurisdiction of the juvenile court, including, but not limited to, nonminor dependent parents.
7) Authorizes participating counties to provide a payment or voucher to a resource family if work responsibilities or activities associated with parenting a child in foster care prevent that family from being at home with the child for whom they have care and responsibility, as specified.
8) Requires each child receiving a monthly child care payment or voucher to be provided with a child care navigator, as specified.
9) Requires each child receiving a monthly child care payment or voucher to be eligible to receive that payment or voucher for up to six months and further, specifies that, if the child and family access long-term subsidized child care prior to the end of that six-month period, eligibility for the monthly payment or voucher shall terminate upon enrollment in the long-term, subsidized child care.
10) Authorizes a county welfare department, at its discretion, to extend eligibility for a monthly payment or voucher for an additional six months, not to exceed 12 months in total, if the child and family have been unable to access long-term, subsidized child care during the initial six-month period.
11) Requires the Department of Social Services (DSS) to seek all federal approvals necessary to claim federal reimbursement under Title IV-E of the Social Security Act in order to maximize state and local funding for child care.
12) Prohibits the provisions of this bill that establish the Emergency Child Care Bridge Program for Foster Children from being interpreted as creating an entitlement to a child care payment or voucher.
13) Specifies that the Emergency Child Care Bridge Program for Foster Children established pursuant to provisions of this bill is intended to complement county child welfare agency efforts to recruit, retain, and support resource families and that any funding provided to counties pursuant to these provisions shall supplement county activities, as specified.
14) Requires child care resource and referral programs, contingent upon an appropriation of $2.5 million in the 2017-18 fiscal year and $5 million each year thereafter, to be responsible for the provision of a child care navigator to support children in foster care, children previously in foster care upon return to their home of origin, and children of parents in the child welfare system, as specified.
15) Requires the child care navigator to work with the child's resource family, social worker, and child and family team (CFT) to, as specified: assess child care opportunities, identify opportunities for an ongoing child care subsidy, assist in the completion of child care program applications, and develop a long-term child care plan for the child.
16) Requires each resource and referral agency to, as a condition of receiving funding for providing navigation services pursuant to provisions of this bill, develop and enter into a formal agreement with the county child welfare agency so as to facilitate interagency communication and, to the maximum extent possible, leverage federal funding, as specified. Alternatively, requires the resource and referral agency to annually provide a written statement explaining why entering into such a formal agreement is not practical or feasible.
17) Prohibits the provisions of this bill related to resource and referral agencies from limiting the provision of child care navigation support to children who are in the foster care system, as specified.
18) Requires child care resource and referral programs, contingent upon an appropriation of $2 million in the 2017-18 fiscal year and $4 million each year thereafter, to be responsible for the provision of trauma-informed training and coaching, as specified, to child care providers working with children in the foster care system.
19) Requires each resource and referral agency to, as a condition of receiving funding for providing navigation services pursuant to provisions of this bill and in coordination with the California Child Care Resource and Referral Network, develop and enter into a formal agreement with the county child welfare agency so as to, to the maximum extent possible, leverage federal funding, as specified. Alternatively, requires the resource and referral agency to annually provide a written statement explaining why entering into such a formal agreement is not practical or feasible.
20) Authorizes a child who meets the eligibility criteria of the Emergency Child Care Bridge Program for Foster Children to be provided with:
a) A voucher for child care services for up to six months immediately following a child's placement; and
b) A child care navigator to assist the child and resource family in accessing long-term subsidized child care.
EXISTING LAW:
1) Establishes the Child Care and Development Services Act to provide child care and development services as part of a coordinated, comprehensive, and cost-effective system serving children from birth to 13 years old and their parents, and including a full range of supervision, health, and support services through full- and part-time programs. (EDC 8200 et seq.)
2) Defines "child care and development services" to mean services designed to meet a wide variety of children's and families' needs while parents and guardians are working, in training, seeking employment, incapacitated, or in need of respite. (EDC 8208)
3) States the intent of the Legislature that all families have access to child care and development services, through resource and referral where appropriate, and regardless of demographic background or special needs, and that families are provided the opportunity to attain financial stability through employment, while maximizing growth and development of their children, and enhancing their parenting skills through participation in child care and development programs. (EDC 8202)
4) Requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to administer general child care and development programs to include, among other things as specified, age- and developmentally-appropriate activities, supervision, parenting education and involvement, and nutrition. Further allows such programs to be designed to meet child-related needs identified by parents or guardians, as specified. (EDC 8240 and 8241)
5) Requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to adopt rules and regulations regarding eligibility, enrollment, and priority of services. (EDC 8263)
6) Provides for child care resource and referral programs to be established to serve a defined geographic area with: identification of the full range of existing child care services and development and maintenance of a resource file of those services; establishment of a referral process that responds to parental need for information, as specified, that affords parents maximum access to all referral information; provision of technical assistance to existing and potential providers of all types of child care services, as specified; and other specified services. (EDC 8210 et seq.)
7) To allow for maximum parental choice, authorizes the operation of Alternative Payment Programs (APPs) and provision of alternative payments and support services to parents and child care providers by local government agencies or non-profit organizations that contract with CDE. (EDC 8220)
8) Establishes rules and requirements for APPs and providers, as contracted agencies with CDE, to observe, including but not limited to accounting and auditing requirements, attendance monitoring requirements, referral requirements where applicable, and reimbursement and payment procedures. (EDC 8220 et seq.)
9) Requires the Superintendent to adopt rules, regulations, and guidelines to facilitate funding and reimbursement procedures for subsidized child care. (EDC 8269)
10) States that the purpose of foster care law is to provide maximum safety and protection for children who are currently being physically, sexually, or 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)
11) Declares the intent of the Legislature to, whenever possible, preserve and strengthen a child's family ties and, when a child must be removed from the physical custody of his or her parents, to give preferential consideration to placement with relatives. States the intent of the Legislature to reaffirm its commitment to children who are in out-of-home placement to live in the least restrictive family setting and as close to the child's family as possible, as specified. Further states the intent of the Legislature that all children live with a committed, permanent, nurturing family and states that services and supports should be tailored to meet the specific needs of the individual child and family being served, as specified. (WIC 16000)
12) Requires out-of-home placement of a child in foster care to be based upon selection of a safe setting that is the least restrictive family setting that promotes normal childhood experiences and the most appropriate setting that meets the child's individual needs, as specified. Further requires the selection of placement to consider, in order of priority, placement with: relatives, nonrelated extended family members, and tribal members; foster family homes, resource families, and nontreatment certified homes of foster family agencies; followed by treatment and intensive treatment certified homes of foster family agencies or multidimensional treatment foster care homes or therapeutic foster care homes; group care placements in the order of short-term residential treatment centers, group homes, community treatment facilities, and out-of-state residential treatment, as specified. (WIC 16501.1)
13) Provides for extended foster care funding for youth until age 21, as well as adopts other changes to conform to the federal Fostering Connections to Success Act. (WIC 241.1, 303, 366.3, 388, 391, 450, 11400, 11402, 11403)
14) Defines "nonminor dependent" as a current or former foster youth who is between18 and 21 years old, in foster care under the responsibility of the county welfare department, county probation department, or Indian Tribe, and participating in a transitional independent living plan, as specified. (WIC 11400)
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. Of those youth, 16,892 (26.1%) have been in foster care for over three years, 11,800 (18.3%) have been in care for over 4 years, and 8,842 (13.7%) have been in care for over 5 years.
Subsidized child care: California's subsidized child care system is designed to provide assistance to parents and guardians who are working, in training, seeking employment, incapacitated, or in need of respite. This child care is available through a number of programs; additionally, California offers State Preschool Programs to eligible three-and four-year-olds.
Parents participating in CalWORKs, as well as families transitioning off of and no longer receiving CalWORKs aid, can be eligible for child care, which is offered in three "stages." The Department of Social Services (DSS) administers Stage 1, and the California Department of Education (CDE) administers Stages 2 and 3. CDE also administers non-CalWORKs child care. The largest programs are: General Child Care, which includes contracted centers and family child care homes; the California State Preschool Program, which provides developmentally, culturally, and linguistically appropriate curriculum to eligible three- and four-year olds; and APPs, which provide vouchers that can be used to obtain child care in a center, family child care home, or from a license-exempt provider. Waitlists for non-CalWORKs child care are common.
Resource and referral agencies: Resource and Referral (R&R) agencies, located in every county in the state, provide a wide range of services for parents, providers, and local communities. Services are free, accessible to all parents and child care providers, and include, among other things: helping parents to locate child care that best suits the needs of their family; maintaining databases of local child care providers; tracking providers' licensure status, age groups served, schedules, languages spoken, and number and type of spaces available; and providing training to providers.
Continuum of Care Reform: SB 1013 (Senate Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review), Chapter 35, Statutes of 2012, realigned child welfare services to counties, placed a moratorium on the licensure of new group homes, and directed DSS to convene a working group to examine the use of group homes in California. This culminated in DSS submitting a report to the Legislature in January 2015 that contained a number of recommendations intended to reform the foster care system and reduce California's reliance on group homes as a viable placement for foster youth. These efforts were initially named "Congregate Care Reform," but were later renamed "Continuum of Care Reform" (CCR) to reflect the need to strengthen the state's system of home-based care and supports while decreasing reliance on group homes. AB 403 (Stone), Chapter 773, Statutes of 2015, and AB 1997 (Stone), Chapter 612, Statutes of 2016, adopted many of the CCR report recommendations into law, including enacting a sunset for existing licensure, rate-setting, and other provisions for group homes and providing for a new licensure category of Short-Term Residential Therapeutic Programs (STRTPs) to offer temporary housing and intensive up-front services for youth prior to placing them with a family.
The Resource Family Approval (RFA) program is a child-centered approval process for all families seeking to care for a foster youth, regardless of whether or not the youth is related to the family. The RFA process replaces foster parent licensing and certification, relative approval, guardianship approval, and adoption. Per the RFA program, which went statewide as a part of CCR, all caregivers of children and youth will be approved to be "resource families" who can be an emergency, temporary, and/or permanent family for a youth. A key component of CCR is the recruitment and retention of a sufficient number of resource families capable of providing care and support for youth in the child welfare services system as the state moves away from reliance on group homes.
Need for this bill: The Association of Community Human Service Agencies (ACHSA), which represents over 85 nonprofit community agencies that provide a variety of child welfare, mental health, and juvenile justice services in Los Angeles County, conducted an online survey in October 2015 of foster family agencies (FFAs) regarding foster children's access to subsidized child care. Findings from that survey, which received responses from 15 FFAs in Los Angeles County, included the following:
* All FFAs surveyed responded that concerns about child care had impacted recruitment of certified foster parents, with two-thirds stating that it has "significantly" impacted recruitment efforts and one-third stating that it had "somewhat" done so; and
* All FFAs surveyed responded that concerns about child care had impacted foster parent willingness to accept children into their care, with 60% saying it had significantly impacted willingness, and 40% saying it had somewhat done so.
Individual comments by FFA respondents to the survey included:
* "If subsidized child care were available, more families would become certified...especially families with two parents working";
* Child care is "a huge barrier to recruitment and placement" and "the biggest barrier"; and
* Many parents are unable to accept foster children under five "due to the high cost of child care."
According to the author, "Increasing access to child care would enable a larger pool of families to become foster parents, providing a stable home for more children in need. The childcare system was not designed to be an emergency response system and this bill will help both systems work together to better support the needs of our foster youth."
Writing in support of this bill, Children Now states that:
"County child welfare agencies rely on the commitment of countless resource families to provide children, who have been abused and neglected, with safe and loving homes. Unfortunately, many willing resource parents cannot provide homes for foster children because they lack access to child care. Although foster children are eligible for state child care subsidies, one of the main barriers to accessing child care is a 'timing gap.' When children are removed, they are in crisis and prospective resource parents - often relatives - instantly need to access child care in order to care for their new family member and keep their jobs. Yet, child care programs typically operate at full capacity, with short enrollment windows, that rarely align with a child's placement into foster care. This makes it nearly impossible for caregivers who work to take in young children. This proposal addresses this 'timing gap' so that children can be promptly placed and stabilized with loving relatives or with the right resource family.
...The success of the Continuum of Care Reform (CCR) depends on increased recruitment, retention and support of resource families. Many counties continue to struggle with declines in the available number of caregivers, in part due to positive outcomes as children exit to adoption and guardianship, and difficulty in recruiting working families. In Los Angeles County alone, state-licensed homes have declined by over half, from more than 8,000 in 2005 to fewer than 4,000 in 2015. The child welfare system cannot succeed in its mission to provide loving foster homes for our most vulnerable children unless this barrier to recruiting caregivers is addressed. In addition, we know that, for all the benefits that high-quality child care has for young children, the impact can be far more dramatic for children who have experienced the trauma of abuse, neglect and removal from their homes."
Recommended amendments: Committee staff recommends the following technical amendments, including amendments that clarify that eligible families may include those providing emergency placements and those still converting to resource families during CCR transition:
Beginning on line 14 of page 5 of the bill:
(5) (A) (i) Contingent upon an appropriation of four million dollars ($4,000,000) annually two million five hundred thousand dollars ($2,500,000) in the 2017-18 fiscal year and five million dollars ($5,000,000) annually thereafter for purposes of this subparagraph, provision of a child care navigator to support children in foster care, and children previously in foster care upon return to their home of origin. origin, and children of parents involved in the child welfare system, including the children of nonminor dependents . The navigator shall work with the child's resource family, licensed or certified foster family, or family with a placement based on an emergency or for a compelling reason as described in WIC 16519.5, and social worker, and child and family team to assess child care opportunities appropriate to the child's age and needs, assist the resource family in identifying potential opportunities for an ongoing child care subsidy, assist the caregiver in completing appropriate child care program applications, and develop an overall, long-term child care plan for the child.
(ii) As a condition of receiving funds pursuant to this subparagraph, each resource and referral program agency shall develop and enter into a memorandum of understanding, contract, or other formal agreement with the county child welfare agency in order to facilitate interagency communication and, to the maximum extent possible, to leverage federal funding, including administrative funding, available pursuant to Title IV-E of the Social Security Act, to enhance the navigation support authorized under this subparagraph, or the resource and referral program agency shall explain, in writing, annually, why entering into a memorandum of understanding, contract, or other formal agreement with the county child welfare agency is not practical or feasible. This section shall not limit the provision of child care navigation support to children who are in the foster care system, including children who are eligible for the Emergency Child Care Bridge Program for Foster Children established pursuant to Section 11461.6 of the Welfare and Institutions Code. Navigator services provided pursuant to this subparagraph shall be made available to any child in foster care, child previously in foster care who returns to his or her home of origin, and child of parents involved in the child welfare system, including any child who meets the eligibility criteria for the Emergency Child Care Bridge Program for Foster Children established by Section 11461.6 of the Welfare and Institutions Code. Eligibility for navigator services shall not be contingent upon a child's receipt of a child care payment or voucher.
Beginning on line 9 of page 6 of the bill:
(ii) As a condition of receiving funds pursuant to this subparagraph, each resource and referral program agency , in coordination with the California Child Care Resource and Referral Network, shall develop and enter into a memorandum of understanding, contract, or other formal agreement with the county child welfare agency in order to, to the maximum extent possible, leverage federal funding, including training funds, available pursuant to Title IV-E of the Social Security Act, to enhance the training support authorized under this subparagraph, or the resource and referral agency shall explain, in writing, annually, why entering into a memorandum of understanding, contract, or other formal agreement with the county child welfare agency is not practical or feasible.
Beginning on line 28 of page 7 of the bill:
(1) (A) A child who meets the eligibility criteria of the Emergency Child Care Bridge Program for Foster Children, as established by Section 11461.6, may be provided with a voucher for child care services for the child for up to six months immediately following the child's placement as well as a child care navigator to assist the child and resource family , licensed or certified foster family, or family with a placement based on an emergency or for a compelling reason as described in WIC 16519.5 in accessing long-term subsidized child care.
Beginning on line 11 of page 10 of the bill:
(2) Chapter 773 of the Statutes of 2015 and Chapter 612 of the Statutes of 2016, commonly known as Continuum of Care Reform, aggravates reinforces California's shortage of need for foster care placements and demands that we address the major barriers to parent recruitment.
Beginning on line 28 of page 10 of the bill:
(b) The Emergency Child Care Bridge Program for Foster Children is hereby established established, to be implemented at the discretion of each county, for the purpose of stabilizing foster children with resource families at the time of initial placement by providing a payment or voucher for child care and development services for up to six months immediately following the child's placement and by providing the resource family with a child care navigator to assist the family in accessing long-term subsidized child care.
Beginning on line 7 of page 11 of the bill:
(d) (1) As determined by the county welfare department, and consistent with guidance issued jointly by the State Department of Social Services and the State Department of Education, counties may establish local priorities and may either provide payment directly to the resource family or child care provider, or contract with a local alternative payment program agency to distribute vouchers for child care.
(2) Counties that elect to provide payment directly to a family or child care provider or to distribute vouchers shall pay commensurate with the regional market rates, as described in Section 8357 of the Education Code.
(3) For counties that elect to contract with a local alternative payment agency, as described in Section 8220 of the Education Code, to distribute child care vouchers, the vouchers shall be in an amount commensurate with the regional market rates, as described in Section 8357 of the Education Code and the contract shall not displace, or result in the reduction of, an existing contract with a current local alternative payment program.
(d)
(e) (1) Participating county welfare departments shall determine eligibility of a child for the Emergency Child Care Bridge Program for Foster Children and provide an eligible child between birth and four years of age placed with an approved resource family or the child of a young parent involved in the child welfare system, including a nonminor dependent, with a monthly voucher for child care commensurate with regional market rate requirements, as specified in Section 8357 of the Education Code, upon and for up to six months following the child's initial placement. Children using the criteria outlined in paragraphs (2) and (3) .
Beginning on line 7 of page 12 of the bill:
(3) A participating county welfare department may provide a payment or voucher if work responsibilities preclude resource families from being at home when the child for whom they have care and responsibility is not in school or for periods when the resource family, licensed or certified foster family, or family with a placement based on an emergency or for a compelling reason as described in WIC 16519.5 is required to participate, without the child, in activities associated with parenting a child in foster care that are beyond the scope of ordinary parental duties, including, but not limited to, attendance at administrative or judicial reviews, case conferences, and resource family training.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
Advancement Project
Advokids
Alliance for Children's Rights
Alliance for Men and Boys of Color, Sigma Beta Xi
American Academy of Pediatrics, California
California Alliance of Care Givers
California Alliance of Child and Family Services
California Child Care Resource and Referral Network
Child Care Alliance of Los Angeles
Child Care Law Center
Child Care Resource Center
Children Now
Children's Advocacy Institute
Children's Law Center of California
County of Santa Cruz Human Services Department
County Welfare Directors Association of California
First Place for Youth
Riverside County Department of Public Social Services
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by: Daphne Hunt / HUM. S. / (916) 319-2089
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