Bill Text: CA AB1675 | 2023-2024 | Regular Session | Introduced
NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft
Bill Title: Foster care: enrichment activities.
Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill
Status: (Failed) 2024-02-01 - From committee: Filed with the Chief Clerk pursuant to Joint Rule 56. [AB1675 Detail]
Download: California-2023-AB1675-Introduced.html
Bill Title: Foster care: enrichment activities.
Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill
Status: (Failed) 2024-02-01 - From committee: Filed with the Chief Clerk pursuant to Joint Rule 56. [AB1675 Detail]
Download: California-2023-AB1675-Introduced.html
CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE—
2023–2024 REGULAR SESSION
Assembly Bill
No. 1675
| Introduced by Assembly Member Alanis |
February 17, 2023 |
An act to add Sections 14021.1 and 16001.6 to the Welfare and Institutions Code, relating to foster care.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 1675, as introduced, Alanis.
Foster care: enrichment activities.
Existing law establishes the jurisdiction of the juvenile court, which may adjudge children to be dependents of the court under certain circumstances, including when the child suffered or there is a substantial risk that the child will suffer serious physical harm, or a parent fails to provide the child with adequate food, clothing, shelter, or medical treatment. Existing law generally provides for the placement of foster youth in various placement settings, and governs the provision of child welfare services. Existing law entitles every child adjudged a dependent of the juvenile court who is placed in foster care with the right to participate in age-appropriate extracurricular, enrichment, and social activities.
Existing law establishes the Medi-Cal program, which is administered by the State Department of Health Care Services, under which
qualified low-income individuals receive health care services. The Medi-Cal program is, in part, governed and funded by federal Medicaid program provisions.
This bill would require the State Department of Social Services, State Department of Health Care Services, and State Department of Education to develop a plan to maximize and leverage the usage of any available funds to support participation in enrichment activities for children and youth in foster care. The bill would, if the State Department of Health Care Services’s application for a federal Medicaid demonstration project, known as the California Behavioral Health Community-Based Continuum Demonstration (CalBH-CBC), is granted by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, require the State Department of Health Care Services, in collaboration with the State Department of Social Services, to convene a stakeholder workgroup, as specified, to assist in developing how the activity stipend benefit for
current and former foster youth and children who have received or are receiving family maintenance services under the project will be implemented.
Existing law, the Budget Act of 2022, appropriates $50,000,000 to the State Department of Social Services to allocate funding to county and tribal entities to, among other things, cover costs to facilitate a foster caregiver’s and child’s participation in child and youth enrichment activities that are not covered by the caregiver-specific rate and that would stabilize the placement or enhance the child’s well-being, and requires the department to post a summary report describing participating entities’ outcomes and other program information to its internet website and to submit it to the Legislature no later than March 1, 2026.
This bill would require the department to additionally include in that summary report information on how those funds were used to support participation in
enrichment activities for children and youth in foster care, the impact of this funding on children and youth well-being, and best practices and challenges around the fund usage.
Digest Key
Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: YES Local Program: NOBill Text
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
SECTION 1.
The Legislature finds and declares both of the following:(a) While current federal and state law require that children and youth in foster care have a meaningful opportunity to participate in enrichment activities to support the experience of normalcy, healthy child and adolescent development and well-being, and healing from exposure to trauma, children and youth in foster care continue to face challenges to access these enrichment activities, primarily due to a lack of allocation of funding for this purpose.
(b) It is the intent of the Legislature to leverage all existing funding opportunities for enrichment activities for children and youth in foster care, and to
provide accountability to ensure foster children and youth participation in enrichment activities is consistent with existing federal and state law.
SEC. 2.
Section 14021.1 is added to the Welfare and Institutions Code, to read:14021.1.
(a) If the department’s application for a federal Medicaid demonstration project authorized under Section 1115 of the federal Social Security Act, known as the California Behavioral Health Community-Based Continuum Demonstration (CalBH-CBC), is granted by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the department, in collaboration with the State Department of Social Services, shall convene a stakeholder workgroup to assist in developing how the activity stipend benefit for current and former foster youth and children who have received or are receiving family maintenance services under the project will be implemented.(b) The stakeholder workgroup shall include, at a minimum, all of the following:
(1) Young people with experience in foster care.
(2) Caregivers.
(3) Child welfare caseworkers.
(4) Legal advocates and Court-Appointed Special Advocates (CASAs).
(5) Probation officers.
(6) Child welfare advocates.
(7) Providers of behavioral health services.
(8) Representatives of tribal entities.
