Doing right by California’s foster youth costs money. Not doing it will cost more | Opinion
When former foster children turn 18, they are at risk of losing the support that many other young adults receive well into their 20’s including financial support by the state that goes to their caretakers, even if the child is no longer living in the home.
A whole slate of legislation has been announced this session to advance long-needed changes and to close gaps in coverage that will improve the lives of one of California’s most vulnerable populations.
Six bills by Assemblymember Patrick Ahrens, D-Silicon Valley, and another by Assemblymember Rick Chavez Zbur, D-Hollywood, introduced to the legislature this session would help to extend the support foster youth receive both as minors and young adults.
No young person in the foster care system should lose the critical support they need to achieve their dreams, and so California must address the core issues that lead to homelessness for nearly a quarter of former foster children; a group that is almost wholly dependent on the state’s support.
Former foster children should not have their lifelong success limited by time spent in a system they had never had a choice in joining.
In 2010, Assembly Bill 12, also known as the California Fostering Connections to Success Act, allowed foster youth to remain in care and receive benefits up to age 21 under certain circumstances including remaining in school or working at least 80 hours per month.
But more than a decade after AB 12 was signed into law, some former foster youth still aren’t receiving the care and benefits they’re eligible for.
“One in four foster youth become homeless after age 18, but it doesn’t have to be that way,” said Adrienne Shilton, Senior Vice President of Public Policy and Strategy for the California Alliance of Children and Family Services. “We know extended foster care support reduces the probability of homelessness by as much as 80% compared to peers.”
Closing a loophole
Zbur’s legislation, Assembly Bill 1967, would strengthen foster youth’s ability to seek protection from county child welfare agencies and give timely access to extended foster care services, as established by AB 12, for young adults who need transitional support to adulthood.
Co-sponsored by the Alliance for Children’s Rights and the California Coalition for Youth, this bill would establish requirements for action within 30 days by county child welfare agencies when a foster child files for protection. Currently, a response by the state can take up to 90 days or more. Many youth shelters in the state limit guests’ stay to a maximum of 90 days — meaning their time at an emergency shelter can be cut off before they ever see a response to their petition.
The bill also would work to give non-minors in extended foster care, ages 18 to 21, access to investigatory services when a guardian or adoptive parent continues to collect benefits on their behalf without providing support. This is particularly of concern as many former foster youth who become homeless report being kicked out of their homes by their adoptive or foster parents, while those adults continue to collect benefits.
“We know that this is a particularly vulnerable group of kids,” Zbur said. “The rules ... just assume that a foster care placement is always going to be successful. That’s just not always the case. So when a foster care placement isn’t successful, we need to make sure that the system still prioritizes the youth.”
Ahrens’ slate of six
On Monday, Ahrens introduced six Assembly bills to expand support for California’s more than 60,000 foster youth and their families. These bills would:
- Expand the scope of programs that provide cash assistance and other services to foster children and adopted children.
- Increase California’s food assistance to offset federal cuts by the Trump Administration, and instruct the California Department of Social Services to maximize exemptions for foster youth.
- Expand priority housing for foster youth and homeless students attending community college in California, and align the education system’s housing deposits and fee payments with the state’s financial aid disbursements.
- Require the state to immediately start the process of finding a family member after a child is removed from a parent’s custody.
- Require any of the state’s colleges, universities and higher education institutions to defer any unpaid enrollment fees for foster youth until financial aid is disbursed.
- And seek to ensure that no foster child loses support by expanding California’s Adoption Assistance Program support to foster youth through their high school graduation, or up to 19 years old.
“As someone who has personally faced homelessness, hunger and needed to rely on state support growing up, I am living proof of the importance of these supports to help some of California’s most vulnerable kids create a successful future and positively contribute to society,” Ahrens said at a press conference announcing his legislative package.
California’s foster care system is the largest in the nation, serving more than 60,000 children. Of the many issues inherent in the system, placement instability and the over-representation of LGBTQ, Latino and Black children are among the most pressing for advocates.
Many of these bills will likely cost California taxpayers money, and in a budget year that already promises to be tight. But it is an expense we must be prepared to pay. Foster children are uniquely dependent upon the state to prepare them for adulthood, and right now, we’re failing too many of them.
That failure is morally wrong, but we have a chance this year to make the foster care system a little bit better for everyone involved.
