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AB 12 Question of the Week
Q: I am working with a youth who has been adopted, and she is applying for financial aid for college. What age would this youth have to have been adopted after, to qualify for financial aid for foster youth? For the answer, follow this LINK.
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Governor Signs Bill to Ensure and Expand Priority Registration for Foster Youth
Last Wednesday, Governor Jerry Brown signed Senate Bill 906 into law, which will improve post-secondary education outcomes for vulnerable students, including current and former foster youth.
Specifically, SB 906 will ensure priority registration remains available for foster youth by removing a sunset clause that would have eliminated priority registration on January 1, 2017. The provision also changes priority registration eligibility for foster youth. Currently, foster youth are eligible for priority registration if they were in foster care on or after their 18th birthday and under age 23. Under the new criteria, foster youth would be eligible for priority registration if they were in foster care on or after their 16th birthday, and were under age 26.
A special thank you goes to Senator Jim Beall and his staff members, who have been long-time, effective champions of foster youth, including authoring the bill that extended foster are to age 21 (AB 12) when he was in the Assembly. Thank you also to Governor Jerry Brown. This is the third measure Governor Brown has signed that will improve college outcomes for foster youth. Others include the expansion of the Chafee Education and Training Voucher and the recent signing of AB 2506 which establishes loan default and graduation requirements for schools receiving the Chafee Education and Training Voucher.
The John Burton Foundation would like to acknowledge the hard work of current and former foster youth, campus representatives, community-based organizations and fellow advocates, who wrote letters, visited the Capitol, provided testimony and did much more to let our elected officials know the importance of this issue. Thank you!
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Governor Agrees: No Such Thing as a Child Prostitute
Yesterday, Governor Jerry Brown signed Senate Bill 1322 into law, which decriminalizes prostitution and loitering with intent to commit prostitution for minors. The bill was authored by Senator Holly Mitchell and requires peace officers who encounter children involved in commercial sex acts are to report suspected abuse or neglect of the minor to the county child welfare agency.
The new state law builds on Senate Bill 855 which was enacted in 2014 to clarify that commercial sexual exploitation is child abuse and victims should be served by child welfare agencies.The efforts was championed by a broad coalition of county agencies, advocates, and human rights organizations. To learn more about the issue and its status in states across the U.S., visit the rights4girls website.
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Rubber Hits the Road On California's Reform Efforts: New Foster Care Rates Issued
Yesterday, the California Department of Social Services issued All County Letter 16-79, which provides new foster care rates to be implemented on January 1, 2017 as part of the Continuum of Care Reform effort.
According to the ACL, the new rate setting system is different from the current one in three ways: it is not based solely on age, it provides the same basic rate regardless of whether the child is placed with a relative or whether the child is federally-eligible for foster care and Foster Family Agencies will receive two new components to their rate: additional funding for activities related to Resource Family Approval and additional funding for provision of supports and services.
According to the letter, effective January 1, 2017, the basic level rate for all children placed in a Home-Based Family Care will be $889. FFA rates will range from $2,112 for a child under age 4 to $2,288 for a child aged 15 to 21.
As many are aware, the Continuum of Care Reform is phasing out group homes and replacing them with Short-Term Residential Therapeutic Programs (STRTP). The rate set for a child placed in a STRTP is $12,036. In addition to foster care rates, the ACL explains the rates for the Kinship Guardianship Assistance Program, the Adoption Assistance Program and children placed with Non-Related Legal Guardians will also increase, to $889. The rate for a child placed in Wrap-Around is $8,573.
As the letter explains, these rates are considered Phase I rates. Phase II will provide a tiered Level of Care (LOC) rate structure, where rate determinations will be based on a set of domains for each level based on frequency, duration and intensity of services delivered. This is current under development. A date for the release of the LOC rate structure was not specified.
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New State Guidance Clarifies: Data Sharing Doesn't Violate Privacy Rights
Earlier this month, the Bureau of Children’s Justice at the California Department of Justice, in collaboration with the California Department of Education (CDE), and the California Department of Social Services (CDSS), released guidance regarding data sharing between school districts, county offices of education, and child welfare agencies.
Under the Local Control Funding Formula, foster youth are named as a special population entitled to a range of services. In order for districts to accurately track foster youth outcomes and direct services to this population, schools must know which children qualify.
This guidance makes clear that schools and child welfare agencies may share information to keep children on track, and in many cases must share this information. The guidance provides clarity on the scope of information which can be shared under the law both between local educational agencies and child welfare agencies and with caregivers.
In addition to providing clarity on the state of the law, the guidance encourages local educational and child welfare agencies to collaborate with each other to create joint data systems for the continued sharing of information regarding foster youth between and within their respective agencies. To read the complete guidance, follow this LINK.
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CalYOUTH Study Seeking Youth Recruiters
Through the California Youth Transitions to Adulthood Study (CalYOUTH), researchers with Chapin Hall asked hundreds of current and former foster youth how they’re faring in several areas of their life, including education, health, their relationships and employment. CalYOUTH in the Loop is sharing the results from the study with current and former foster youth to get their feedback.
CalYOUTH in the Loop is currently recruiting young adults to assist with gathering this feedback in order to improve Extended Foster Care in California. They are looking for “Youth Perspective Recruiters,” responsible for reaching out to their peers and collecting responses to a short survey, advocating for the importance of including youth voice and perspectives, and providing feedback on the reactions youth share when they are asked to participate. To learn more about how to become a Youth Perspective Recruiter, which provides compensation, download the flyer.
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