Bill Text: CA SCR65 | 2023-2024 | Regular Session | Chaptered

California Senate Concurrent Resolution 65

Bill Title: Foster Youth Awareness Month.

Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Democrat 53-16)

Status: (Passed) 2023-06-20 - Chaptered by Secretary of State. Res. Chapter 102, Statutes of 2023. [SCR65 Detail]

Download: California-2023-SCR65-Chaptered.html

Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 65

CHAPTER 102

Relative to Foster Youth Awareness Month.

[ Filed with Secretary of State June 20, 2023. ]

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

SCR 65, Ashby. Foster Youth Awareness Month.

This measure would designate the month of May 2023 as Foster Youth Awareness Month.

Fiscal Committee: NO

WHEREAS, California’s children and youth are our hope for the future, and all children deserve a safe, loving, accepting, stable, and nurturing home; and

WHEREAS, A child’s success is best supported in a child welfare system that is family focused, child centered, and community based; and preserving families is the primary goal of the child welfare system; and

WHEREAS, Kinship families and foster families play a critical role in serving as a support for the parents of children in foster care, making family reunification possible; and

WHEREAS, Nearly 100 times per day, a child is placed in foster care in California; and

WHEREAS, One-third of all the nation’s unaccompanied homeless youth are in California; and

WHEREAS, California has over 60,000 children in the foster care system, disproportionately from Black and Native families; and

WHEREAS, The proportions of Black and Native youth in foster care are around four times larger than the proportions of Black and Native youth in California overall; and

WHEREAS, In 2022, the state’s child welfare agencies received 440,212 reports of abuse or neglect; and

WHEREAS, One-half of all children in foster care have endured four or more adverse childhood experiences such as abuse, neglect, and abandonment, which can negatively impact their health and development; and

WHEREAS, Numerous national studies have documented that children involved with the child welfare system have increased rates of chronic health problems, developmental delays and disabilities, mental health needs, and substance abuse problems; and

WHEREAS, Research indicates foster youth experience rates of homelessness ranging from 11 percent to 38 percent, disproportionately higher than that of the general population; and

WHEREAS, Twenty-five percent of youth who age out of care experience post-traumatic stress disorder, double the rate of United States war veterans; and

WHEREAS, For children and youth in the foster care system, we must continue finding them loving temporary homes, provide them with the resources they need, and deliver safe and supportive permanent homes; now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the Senate of the State of California, the Assembly thereof concurring, That the Legislature designates the month of May 2023 as Foster Youth Awareness Month; and be it further

Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate transmit copies of this resolution to the author for appropriate distribution.